P3_6 Testing Bulletproof Vests

Abstract

Wearing the right type of body armour is vital for people working for the police or the military. This why bulletproof vests are very carefully examined and tested before being used. Here, we investigate if a III-A bulletproof vest is capable of stopping a 9x19 mm Parabellum bullet, so that the person wearing the vest is not injured. We find that the bullet penetrates 2 mm into the vest, which is not enough to cause any injuries to the person being shot. In addition, we also calculate the energy of the bullet after firing, which is 483 J, and the velocity imparted to the target, which is 0.04 ms−1 .