How fat would you have to be to become bullet-proof?

[D.B. Cooper]

Title.

[Axeman]

Well it depends.

Its all really a mathematical formula.

First you have to cauculate the speed of a bullet, and how many MPS it travels, then you have to cauculate the density of the fat, and the rate of decrease of velocity and force of the bullet once it hits the fat. This is of course not taking into accounts alot of varialbes on the bullet itself, like trajectory, accuracy, where on the body it was shot *I am almost posotive fat on different parts of your body have different density levels*

Basically, ALOOOOOT of fat, because its not that dense. May I ask, why do you need to know this, or are you raising your postcount behind a seemingly lujidiment thread?

[LSJ]

But technically you would never be bullet proof, since your body fat is under your skin, which, if pierced, can still cause bleeding and infections that may lead to death should treatment not be sought soon enough.

This is of course, if you you are the impossibly-fat one, and not simply using the other guy as a meatshield.

[Tankfriend]

What a weird question, I'd really like to know why you ask this... :hmmm:

But anyway, I've googled around a bit and the possible amounts of fat that you would need in order to be "bulletproof" (as said already: it depends on where you are hit) are everything else than comfortable.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/...last-word.html

For a man 175 cm tall and weighing 75 kg, this yields a body surface area of 1.91 m². So in order to cover this area with a 30-cm-thick layer of fat with a density of 1 gram per cm³, we would need at least 573 kilograms. When you add this to the weight of the body, you find that a typical bulletproof person would weigh about 650 kilograms.

http://calorielab.com/news/2005/11/0...u-bulletproof/

A 9mm bullet will stop after penetrating about 2 feet of human fat. Of course, there will be tissue damage around the immediate path of the bullet, but as long as there is 2 feet of solid fat, no major organs will be directly hit.

So as you can see, carrying around some 570kg of fat is obviously not really advisable - you may be bulletproof that way but your health will be anyway while you would quite resemble a turtoise as moving around at a reasonable speed would be out of your capabilities.
Besides, as said above already, you would have to pay attention to the possible shock effect of the bullet hitting your body; perhaps you survive the immidiate hit of the bullet but then entering a stat of shock and possibly bleeding to death further negates the "bulletproofness".

[Captain Arrrgh!]

Being fat would be worse for you, not better. More contact for a round to yaw, mushroom and fragment through. I wouldn't want to get shot at all, but maybe being skinnier is better.
In the whole 'Blackhawk Down' fiasco, Rangers were frustrated that their ball ammo was passing through the malnourished, scrawny population, who they called 'skinnies'.

[Tankbuster]

In the whole 'Blackhawk Down' fiasco, Rangers were frustrated that their ball ammo was passing through the malnourished, scrawny population, who they called 'skinnies'.

That was also because the bullets were designed to pass through, and that's not the best way to immobilise someone.

Take rabbit hunting, for example. My dad did it for a while, and he once brought a long rifle with him. Long rifles shoot bullets frighteningly fast, and they went straight through the rabbit. Guess what, the rabbit is badly hit, but if no vital organs are hit, the rabbit runs away, under the ground, and you lost it.

Lead shots work best. It doesn't pass through the bunny, but it hits it like a wall of lead. The rabbit is knocked out, unable to move, and you have acquired a prey

[Captain Arrrgh!]

Did some rabbit hunting 2 weeks ago. Lead shot's illegal these days in this area.

[Blau&Gruen]

Title.

Really fat. A whale was not enough.

[Simetrical]

Really fat. A whale was not enough.

Tankfriend's fascinating post seems to indicate otherwise. I think you'll find that a handgun, at least, is probably not sufficient to kill a whale*― indeed precisely because it has so much padding. Now, if we're talking an elephant gun, you'd have to be really fat.

[Blau&Gruen]

I agree. Still, the consideration as such appears disturbing somehow.

[Ozy]

Once a friend of mine got shot in the belly when some dudes robbed his dad's store. He was at that time about 1.60 m, and i guess he must have been honestly at least 100kg (he was VERY fat). He made it and the doctor actually said the fat had kind of helped him stop the bullet from doing some major damage...

[Tiwaz]

Once a friend of mine got shot in the belly when some dudes robbed his dad's store. He was at that time about 1.60 m, and i guess he must have been honestly at least 100kg (he was VERY fat). He made it and the doctor actually said the fat had kind of helped him stop the bullet from doing some major damage...

Of course it did. Bullet spends energy as it goes through any medium. More dense the medium, more energy it loses. And soft fat helps to avoid fragmentation.

But still, wouldn't opt cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure and other cons over slightly increased chance of surviving handgun shot. (not to mention increased odds of failing to get into cover due to extra bulk do drag around)

Specially since amount of fat required goes up dramatically when opponent switches from handgun to something more potent.

[Bokks]

Well, there are two problems with this, 1) the amount of body fat that you'd need to save yourself from a bullet would probably kill you, and 2), no matter how fat you are, the fat alone would never make you bullet proof. The bullets would slice through fat just as easily as it always does, which would mean that a LOT of fat could possibly decelerate a bullet before it reaches your organs and kill you, but it would still slice through a LOT of your a lot. It's possible then, to have so much fat that you'd survive a bullet shot directly at your heart or something, but it would still penetrate your skin and fat and ... fat... and therefore prove you're not bullet proof.
I guess it's all in definition, though! I'd say that you'd need at least 20 feet of fat on all sides to even entertain the possibility. This, clearly, would make you the heaviest man that ever lived, and probably the heaviest land animal to have lived since the late-Cretaceous, or more.

[Captain Arrrgh!]

Once a friend of mine got shot in the belly when some dudes robbed his dad's store. He was at that time about 1.60 m, and i guess he must have been honestly at least 100kg (he was VERY fat). He made it and the doctor actually said the fat had kind of helped him stop the bullet from doing some major damage...

We also need to narrow down the type and calibre of bullet in this hypothesis; is it a pistol round? rifle? 9mm, .45, 5.56, 7.62? Hollow point, fmj, green tip, dum dum, cross head, boat tail?

[Thanatos]

As fat as those people on youtube are when you type in "fat women."

[Code_Knight]

have you ever heard the term "beached whale", ya that would be a super model compared to this person. Why does my Gym teacher come in mind.....

[kaleus Khron]

What about from a 12.7?

[Yuiis]

So fat that you'd die of actually being so fat. So there's no real point in being fat to avoid being shot.

[Farnan]

What about from a 12.7?

Seeing as a 12.7mm, or .50 cal, round is designed to be armor piercing and was originally anti-tank I'd say fat enough you personally would fill a house.

[Tankfriend]

What about from a 12.7?

Well, I hope that I'm calculating correctly now...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9x19mm_Parabellum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12_mm_caliber

According to Wiki:
- the average 8g (123gr) 9x19mm FMJ bullet has an energy of ~494J
- the 12.7x33mm (I chose .50AE to remain in the "handgun" area) has an energy of ~1666J

According to the sources of my first post here:
- a 9mm can penetrate some 1-2 feet worth of body fat (30.49-60.98cm)
- a 30cm layer (~1 foot) of fat all around a given body would weigh ~573kg

My calculations:
- the .50AE has ~3.4 times the energy of the 9x19mm
- this should translate into ~3.4 times of fat penetration power
- this in turn would mean: the layer of fat needs to be 3.4 times larger than that of the 9mm-target
- if taking the maximum estimated amount of fat needed against a 9mm (2 feet) and multiplying it by 3.4, we get some 6.8 feet of fat (207.3cm)
- like the size of the fat layer, the weight would have to increase similarly (meaning: multiply by 6.8 because the weight of ~573kg was based on 1 foot of fat rather than 2), giving us a layer of fat weighing some 3896.4kg or 8590.1 pounds.

So, ummmm.... carrying around some 4t worth of body fat wouldn't be an option would it?
At least I hope noone considers it to be one.