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How would you do it ?


gygmy

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If I am not mistaken Cadillac used to make armoured cars. The president's car is still an armoured Cadillac is'nt it? With this war in Iraq and our men and women getting shot at I just started to wonder if there could be a better way of protecting them thru the use of "armour". We've got depleted armour, reactive armour, etc., but what about addressing the problem in a different way. What I am about to bring into disscussion may be old stuff, I do not know. I do have respect for the mechanical and engineering talent which has made its self known on this forum and would like to spark some sort of discussion on this subject. To begin, when a bullit is shot at a car and strikes the vehicle the knetic energy of the bullit is transfered to the point of impact on the car, punching a hole through the car. Most armour, from my limited understanding, uses mass to asbsorb the energy. Reacts with an application of energy,(explodes out) or uses a combination with ceramics too actally degrade the projectile. How about if the knetic energy could be transfered, instead of being just absorbed, into a storage unit? Is this against the "laws" of physics? If this energy could be stored it could be used to power the vehicle or power a weapon. Sorry if this sounds nuts to you folks but maybe something good could come from thinking about how we might better protect those who serve.

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Shuuurn kwaafween spletoonie shaazbatt!

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No. There is no way to convert the force of a gun shot into any thing but heat and still stop the projectile. The armour does not absorb the energy, it converts it to heat due to friction. The heat generated is so small that bullit resistant glass would just feel a little warm after being shot at a few times. The heat generated would be so small that you could not do any thing with it.

As far as powering something, think of each spark plug detonation in you car as a gun being fired. Now think of how many gunshots that would be for your car just to idle. 1000 rpm would be 8000 detonations per minute in a V8 engine. How many times is a vehicle going to be shot at?

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Cadillac's Protection Model:

http://www.cadillac.com/cadillacjsp/prov/o...type=protection

Cadillac joined forces with Scaletta Moloney Armoring (SMA) to produce an armored vehicle as technologically advanced in its unique construction as it is in its range of protection and mobility-enhancing features. The result is the Cadillac DeVille Protection Series. Also available is an 8-inch stretched edition, the only OEM extended-wheelbase armored sedan on the American market

Uncompromising Protection and Security

Protective Armored Steel Shell — withstands attacks from firearms as large and powerful as a .44 magnum and a 9mm submachine gun.

Transparent Armor (bullet-resistant glass) — incorporates individual layers of standard automotive glass and polycarbonate material, thereby creating transparent armor.

Enhanced Mobility System — provides continuous mobility for up to 30 miles at 30 mph, even with zero tire pressure.

Self-Sealing Fuel Tank — incorporates a multi-layered system with a vulcanized exterior rubber coating that automatically seals in the event of a puncture.

Reinforced Commercial Vehicle Chassis — includes over 200 specifically designed components and over 390 reinforcing welds to enhance carrying capacity.

To your original question, though, the best way to minimize friendly casualties is to continue toward more unmanned platforms. In WW II, Japan ran out of experienced pilots long before they ran out of planes. The more we can do to keep the pilot and make the plane expendable the better.

Bruce

2023 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing

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Here is a link to a friend's company. The original owner was building armoured check cashing vans for my friends company. The guy wanted out of the business, so my friend bought him out about two years ago. Great timing. He now has the Haliburton contract for company vehicles.

http://www.texcalibur.com/index.shtml

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If the bullet bounces off, lots of the energy is deflected. The problem is that we have yet found a way to store kinetic energy. We can store water, and extract the energy, but we cannot store energy in its kinetic form.

Seeing that this involves thinking outside of the box, we need to consider how big it is outside of the box. If we could gather energy from a bullet and store it, it would still be an energy waste because I'm sure the energy expended to send the bullet on its way exceeds the kinetic energy in exponential porpotions.

If we could store kenetic energy, why dink with chump change? Can you fathom the kenetic energy in a hurricane? It boggles the imagination at the amoung of energy gain we could receive if we could harness a hurricane, extract and store its kenetic energy. And the amount of energy would be in an exponential amount unlike anthing one could imagine.

Let's stay outside of the box: Let's say that we found a way in which to harness a hurricane, and make it into a huge electrical trubine. One thing to keep in mind is that we would be dinkin' with the natural hydralic cycle. If we didn't have the hurricains plowing into the North American contenent, as they have for eons, it could have catostrophic affect on our climate and water supply.

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Still,... has any one been able to store kinetic energy?

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Storing kinetic energy is easy (lift a rock and you have just stored kinetic energy).

In your context, I believe you are referring to near-instant conversion of kinetic energy to another energy form (such as electrical) in a controlled, useful manner.

A good definition of energy is: the ability to do work. And a very good definition of work is: the transfer of energy.

Certainly, energy is transferred all around us, but we loose quite a lot of heat to entropy. It is hard to do useful work (transfer of energy) when dealing with uncontrolled explosions (outside of a car engine for example).

Structures like embassies have deflection/absorption honeycombs built into the walls. That kind of cost and sheer bulk is acceptable in this application.

Defeating a single projectile is at least fathomable. Consider the Patriot missile defense system for an example. If the detection, targeting and delivery velocity were attainable. Then a truckload of gear would have to miniaturized and mounted on a vehicle. Perhaps an incoming projectile could be met by an outgoing one (messy at best). However, would any "friendlies" want to be anywhere around if (more likely when) it misses the incoming? Yow!

The Aegis class boats literally throw up a wall of lead against an incoming threat. Does it work? Probably, but consider that the threat is re-distributed in smaller pieces across the boat's armor. That approach, although tempting - is not really practical for a vehicle in a urban setting.

As was pointed out, there are multiple threats and a roadside bomb is perhaps the most challenging. Armor works well and is getting better - but it isn't' perfect. There are simply too many variables (projectiles and paths) to defend against and too much energy to transfer efficiently.

I don't think we can get there from here (just yet anyway with our science). :(

Add power to leave problems behind. Most braking is just - poor planning.
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