Engineering
The Physics of Stopping a Bullet with Ceramics
Quick fact
A thin ceramic plate can stop a high-velocity bullet that would easily penetrate much thicker steel, because the ceramic erodes the bullet's tip and spreads the impact energy across a wide area of fracture.
Why this is interesting
You might think that a material that cracks and shatters could never stop a bullet—yet ceramics are some of the best armor materials we have. How can something so brittle be so protective?