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Slanted body armor

 Inspired by tanks
  (+4, -2)
(+4, -2) 		  [vote for,
against]

During WW2 engineers discovered that a slanted plate of armor are vastly more likely to deflect a projectile (1: the depth of the armor respective to the bullet is increased when the plate is at an angle. 2: the angle makes it more likely that the bullet is reflected and sent spinning away)

Body armor however, is basically round as it is flexible and wrapped around the body. This means that a shot to the centre of the body tends to hit the armor straight on.

By shaping the plates as pyramids or cones, or covering the armor in armor studs, the odds of hitting a slanted surface would improve. Even if the bullet was deflected inwards towards the rest of the armor, it would still have lost momentum and stability when it strikes to main layer of armor

—undercover_neandertal, Oct 12 2004

Dalek Base http://freespace.vi...PG/Dalek%20Base.jpg
Ahead of their time...? [vigilante, Oct 12 2004]

Wired: "Army Reboots GIs' Tired Fatigues ... Future Force Warrior" http://wired.com/ne...,1282,63581,00.html
"...The body armor is probably the biggest improvement ... the scarab-like shell can take five to seven direct hits from a machine gun ..." [bristolz, Oct 12 2004]

I've done some research in this area... The_20other_20Spiral_20Slug_20Stopper
[normzone, Jun 04 2007]

This tank in particular. http://images.googl...%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG
This photo captures its slopiness nicely. [pertinax, Jun 08 2007]

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       There's probably a reason you don't see troops in scale mail.
—absterge, Oct 12 2004
   

       Prototypes already rolling off the production line, ready to exterminate. See link.
—vigilante, Oct 12 2004
   

       I'm not convinced causing a projectile to deflect into possibly another (unarmoured) part of my body is something I'd want to happen. I'd prefer my armour to just concentrate on stopping power, or hiding power.
—zen_tom, Oct 12 2004
   

       As someone currently serving in the US military in Afghanistan said to me a couple of weeks ago, the body armour isn't there to stop you getting killed. It's there to ensure that there's something left for your family to bury afterwards.
—DrBob, Oct 13 2004
   

       so morale is pretty high then Bob?
—etherman, Oct 13 2004
   

       Well I couldn't comment on morale in general but I think that the Americans are discovering what the British, the Russians and most other invaders found out the hard way. It's easy enough getting into Afghanistan but it's not a very nice place to stay and it's a nightmare to get out of.
—DrBob, Oct 13 2004
   

       I have no objections. I'm not sure I like the studding idea, though, as that could easily ricochet a bullet up, towards that pesky thing we call a head. [+-]
—shapu, Oct 13 2004
   

       [treon] I suggest you read the coin shrinking website more closely - the electromagnet is usually destroyed in the process - hence the kevlar blast shield.
—AbsintheWithoutLeave, Jun 04 2007
   

       ..and the big cloud of copper vapour?
—AbsintheWithoutLeave, Jun 04 2007
   

       I know every word you use, Treon, but your (?)sentences never mean anything to me. I don't think the problem is on my end.
—GutPunchLullabies, Jun 05 2007
   

       Seconded. I get the feeling that there is some genuine deep thought processes going on, and that the issue is with the communication.   

       My hypothesis is that either english is [treon]'s second language, or that [treon] is some errant internet AI program, trying to communicate in pure technical jargon without any connecting sentence structure.   

       Care to clear the issue up, [Treon]?
—Custardguts, Jun 08 2007
   

       This was baked some 500-600 years ago. Jousters would shape their armor in a more slanted way so that when the poles came at them they would just slide off.
—punk_punker, Jun 08 2007
   

       Synthesis of [Custardguts] and [punk_punker]: [Treon] is a knight-errant internet AI program, whose explanations of his relevant experience are muffled by his visor. ;)   

       Actually, I used to write like [Treon]. It is curable. I recommend two fields of study:
1. classical rhetoric
2. any programming language which makes you declare everything before you use it
—pertinax, Jun 08 2007
   

       a language that requires declaration before use cannot propose something that does not exist   

       [pertinex] have you discovered a creativity cure?
—madness, Jun 11 2007
   

       Actually, [madness], it can; it just has to propose it (in some form) before using it. [edit - removed pompous grandstanding]
—pertinax, Jun 11 2007
   

       I understand you --- but not myself...
—madness, Jun 11 2007
   


 

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