A Cornflour and Water Suit????

As a kid did you ever try the simple experiment of mixing cornflour and water?  What results is an extremely cool combination of a liquid and a solid type material.  If you pour the substance out of a glass it flows similar to a liquid but when it hits a solid surface it bounces and acts as a solid.  A company called D30 has synthetically produced a material that is very similar to this.  Although it does not flow like a liquid it is very foamy and flexible until impacted when it becomes much more solid and disperses the energy involved in the impact.  This material is now being implemented into protective gear.  The science behind this material is very complicated however the best way I can describe it is that it is an elastomeric polymer that distributes energy very efficiently throughout the complex matrix that makes up its crystal structure.  Basically it is like a chain-link fence.  When a certain area of the "fence" is impacted the energy is dispersed throughout each of the "links" and the blow is softened.

You may have seen this technology being used during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.  Both the US and the Canadian ski teams wore suits that incorporated the D03 material.

 Maybe the American hockey team should of used this material to soften the blow of losing in the gold medal game ;) Go Canada! :)

Sean