The second coming of the hair shirt?
In a new study, researchers at the University of California San Diego investigate why hair is incredibly strong and resistant to breaking. The findings could lead to the development of new materials for body armor and help cosmetic manufacturers create better hair care products.
Hair has a strength to weight ratio comparable to steel. It can be stretched up to one and a half times its original length before breaking.
[...] The faster hair is stretched, the stronger it is. "Think of a highly viscous substance like honey," Meyers explained. "If you deform it fast it becomes stiff, but if you deform it slowly it readily pours."
Hair consists of two main parts -- the cortex, which is made up of parallel fibrils, and the matrix, which has an amorphous (random) structure. The matrix is sensitive to the speed at which hair is deformed, while the cortex is not. The combination of these two components, Yu explained, is what gives hair the ability to withstand high stress and strain.
And as hair is stretched, its structure changes in a particular way. At the nanoscale, the cortex fibrils in hair are each made up of thousands of coiled spiral-shaped chains of molecules called alpha helix chains. As hair is deformed, the alpha helix chains uncoil and become pleated sheet structures known as beta sheets. This structural change allows hair to handle up a large amount deformation without breaking.
An abstract is available but the full article is paywalled.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 19 2017, @07:11AM
Patriotic research helps Our Troops!
Funding! Funding! Funding! Funding!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 19 2017, @07:35AM
I was thinking why "body armor"? Why not something useful? And why do they need body armor in the first place? What have they done to the masses that they fear their punishment is coming? Most people will never wear body armor, so why mention it? The reason I think is so the people can be brainwashed into becoming slaves.
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Thursday January 19 2017, @09:55AM
So you are proposing we have more hairy men on our front lines? "Men, with our new findings, we have new thinner, lighter body armor for you, as your layer of ultra strong hair bolsters the armors effectiveness. Now get out there and kill some towelheads!"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 19 2017, @07:36AM
The matrix is sensitive to the speed at which hair is deformed
I'm getting an image of pubes being thrust together with great vigor.
Surely I'm not the only one who got that mental image.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 19 2017, @07:39AM
Thank you for informing us, hairy porn is your fetish.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 19 2017, @10:14AM
I never said anything about porn.
That was you.
...and the word you're looking for is "natural"
While other mammals have hair everywhere, Mother Nature decided that humans only need it in specific places.
I trust her judgment that it serves a purpose and that removing it makes things weird.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Interesting) by CoolHand on Thursday January 19 2017, @02:39PM
[...] The faster hair is stretched, the stronger it is. "Think of a highly viscous substance like honey," Meyers explained. "If you deform it fast it becomes stiff, but if you deform it slowly it readily pours."
That reminds me of the D3O motorcycle armor [d3o.com] I have in my newest gear. It's very flexible normally, but on impact it becomes hard as a rock. I like to pull the backplate out of my jacket and have people punch it to demonstrate.
Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job-Douglas Adams
(Score: 2) by linkdude64 on Thursday January 19 2017, @04:31PM
Reminds me of Suprotect impact foam, which Held uses in their gloves. From one rider to another, the Held Titans are the most protective gloves on the market, period. Above and beyond the Knox Handroid. If you like your hands as much as I do for typing/drawing/writing/working, etc. I highly recommend them.
(Score: 2) by CoolHand on Thursday January 19 2017, @05:50PM
Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job-Douglas Adams
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @01:28PM
> It's very flexible normally, but on impact it becomes hard as a rock.
I believe this could be a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-Newtonian_fluid [wikipedia.org]