RE: [HoE] A Burning Question

["Phalen, Patrick" <pphalen@avionics.itt.com>]

>An electrical attack should do less damage if your wearing metallic armor
>because the current (the stuff that fries your insides) would mostly flow
>through the less resistive path, which would be the armor. One visual
>example of this is that if you are in a car and a power line falls on it,
>you should be safe inside, unless of course the sparks ignite your petrol.

It is because the rubber tires doesn't conduct electricity.  When the power
line falls on your car, it is looking for a "grounding path" (i.e., the
ground).

>With heat damage metallic armor would still offer better protection than
>bare flesh. It would tend the distribute the heat over a larger area. An
>example of this is by putting you finger on a hot lightbulb, ouch! Now wrap
>some aluminium foil around another finger and try again. This time it look
a
>lot longer to feel the pain.

Try it with copper foil!  Aluminum foil is a poor conductor.  The point I
was trying to make about metal armor and heat damage wasn't made too well.
What I was getting at was that because a heat attack would also heat up the
armor, the after-effects would be much worse, which would, in turn, do more
damage.  

Ex: You're standing next to me wearing a breast plate and I have just a
jacket on.  We both get hit with a flame-thrower.   My jacket will burn and
I'll be hurting, but I won't keep taking damage.  You'll take less damage
than me, but now you're wearing a White hot piece of metal on your body


Pat

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