Microscopic 'Bullets' Put Armor To Test - Spokane, North Idaho News & Weather KHQ.com

YAHOO.COM - Lasers and microscopic "bullets" have helped test the strength of lightweight materials that can better stop gunshots than any existing armor. The testing may lead to thinner, lighter protection that makes soldiers wearing Kevlar helmets and vests look as outdated as knights in steel plate armor.

The lightweight material consists of extremely tiny glass and rubber layers that form a multilayered sandwich — each layer is measured in nanometers (one billionth of a meter) while a human hair is about 100,000 nanometers wide. Researchers fired microscopic silica glass spheres at supersonic speeds against the material so that they could figure out the best way to arrange the material's layers for the ultimate protection. click here to read more