|
For the kids in the audience.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fazPiaHvFcg |
|
Read about a similar idea in a Larry Niven science fiction book,
20 years ago. Book was written in 1970. He called it impact armor. Flexible substance that reacted to a sharp blow by becoming rigid over it's entire surface. His would stop bullets. Interesting that he was at least partly right. Postulated the idea 40 years ago. |
Forget kevlar, get Oobleck! 
First heard of non-newtonian substances in a Dale Brown book called Tin Man, though that version used a battery pack for some reason. It talked about using the stuff to line airliner baggage areas, the curtains between cabins, etc to contain bomb blasts, as well as lining the windshield with a clear version to eliminate bird strikes. |
|
Quoted: Read about a similar idea in a Larry Niven science fiction book, 20 years ago. Book was written in 1970. He called it impact armor. Flexible substance that reacted to a sharp blow by becoming rigid over it's entire surface. His would stop bullets. Interesting that he was at least partly right. Postulated the idea 40 years ago. I remember that in Ringworld as well. |
|
I recall this material, or something similar, was used for bicycle helmets.
Basically the material has an unheard of negative coefficient of restitution... or is it a negative poisson's ratio?... In effect the faster it is deformed, (i.e. the faster it is hit) the harder it gets. |
|
Weren't the Pitchmen pitching this crap a couple years ago?
Billy Mays and that other clown? Yup "High Impact" Insoles http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/pitchmen-high-impact-hit.html |
|
Quoted: Must be some kind of non-Newtonian fluid, similar to cornstarch in water. It is. I remember reading about something similar a few years back. They were hopeful that it would be able to stop bullets and would spawn a new revolution in body armor for soldiers and police. |