Electromagnetic Reactive Armor

The armor is composed of a large number of loosely connected plates that are contoured to the body of the wearer. Each is a thin sandwich of thin metal on the outside, then a insulator, then a thicker inner plate. Each piece contains a capacitor which is charges from a central battery and is connected to all adjacent pieces. When a projectile presses the surface layer through the insulator contact is made and the capacitor charge is activated, magnetically locking the adjacent plates to the one that was struck. Edge connections could be made with radial teeth to allow for a variety of locking angles. The original idea I had was for muscle wire to do this locking, but it is way to slow. Problems include charge time on capacitors for multiple impacts and disconnection of the original contact (as there is a substantial chance that the surface plate will be deformed by the initial impact).

Possible improvements could include programmed patterns that would insure more body integrity during impact, like always activating neck and shoulder areas during strikes to the head to avoid neck trauma from impact (a sort of virtual flinch), or stabilizing lateral aspects of legs to avoid knee wrenching.