Carter

Carter

Mr. De Groot 

Lit 7

March 12,2024

Bullet-Proof Vests 

McKinley was giving a speech when a bullet grazed his body. Seconds later, he was on the ground with a bullet in his abdomen. You could be walking down the street one minute and, the next, have a bullet in your abdomen. But how do they work? What makes them stop a bullet? The fabric inside bullet-proof vests is so tightly woven and pancaked that it can stop a bullet.

History shows that in the late 1800s, people would wear animal skins to protect them from attacks. These did not stop any caliber of bullets. It mainly slows the bullet down. In the late 1920s, bulletproof vests were redesigned and found to be more effective. This is because they were made from kevlar. 

Kevlar is made from amine and acid chloride. They mix these things together, and it creates a reaction that makes the materials (fig.) used to make kevlar The chemicals create such a strong fabric. According to Scott Burton, the ballistic material will stop a bullet similar to how a net will stop a tennis ball or volleyball. This means that the vest will quickly and immediately stop the bullet.” 

Spider silk is bullet-proof, and when compacted and woven, it can be used in bullet-proof vests. All in all, they are pretty simple to make. It is more elastic and stronger than normal kevlar. Silk worms can be mass-produced, so they would be faster to make. This product was released in 2018 and is in use in the army. These panels are now called dragon silk." Just one layer of spider silk can stop a slow-moving 

Whatever is inside the bulletproof plates is so packed and squashed that it can stop a bullet. If it's made from spider silk or kevlar, it can and will stop a bullet to save your life.

Works Cited

Wells, Melanie. "This Truly Is A Bullet-Proof Niche: Bullet-Proof Vest Maker Shoots for a Bigger Market." Washington Business Journal, vol. 9, no. 46, 15 Apr. 1991, pp. 1+. Gale OneFile: Business, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A10662408/GPS?u=iowaec&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=e5e2d535. Accessed February 20, 2024. 

“Bullet-Proof Vest Moulded From Plastic." The Engineer, vol. 273, no. 7061, 25 July 1991, pp. 34+. Gale OneFile: Business, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A11198918/GPS?u=iowaec&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=5408c526. Accessed February 20, 2024. 

Burton, Scott. "34 Things People Didn’t Know About Bulletproof Vests." Body Armor News, 12 Jan. 2024, www.bodyarmornews.com/how-much-does-body-armor-cost/. “ Accessed February 20, 2024.” 

"The History of the Bulletproof Vest." Bullet Safe, 2024, bulletsafe.com/pages/the-history-of-bulletproof-vests. Accessed February 20, 2024. 

Bulletproof vest. 2024, Adobe Stock. as2.ftcdn.net/v2/jpg/00/71/27/87/1000_F_71278743_qY3ijkNzBXxl9uF92SjzgmNThrRSmfDT.jpg. Accessed 22 Mar. 2024.