Can you eat ballistic gel?
In this brief guide, we will answer the query, “Can you eat ballistic gel?” and will discuss the use of ballistic gel.
Can you eat ballistic gel?
Yes, you can eat ballistic gel. Ballistics gel is thick gelatin that resembles jelly but isn’t as delicious (at least not to most of us). Ingesting this should have no negative consequences.
What is ballistic gel?
“Ballistic gel” may signify a lot of different things, much like a lot of other things. In most cases, it refers to a block of solid gelatin used to research the terminal performance of ammunition, such as penetration, expansion, stretch cavities, and permanent cavities produced by bullets striking a non-solid medium.
To put it another way, this is what you’d use to compare 10mm with 9mm. There are also specialist gel products, like transparent ballistic gelatin, that are manufactured specifically for ballistic gels. They aren’t the only kind of gel that may be used for this purpose, as we’ll see later.
Does it make sense? Now the issue is, what exactly is a ballistic gel composed of? Synthetic and natural gelatin are the two main types of ballistic gelatin.
Synthetic ballistic gelatin is produced using man-made (rather than natural) ingredients, which is how the transparent material is usually obtained. Then there’s a natural ballistic gel, which is composed of natural components, either plant or animal-based.
You may be asking what the difference is between ballistic gel and regular food gelatin, such as the kind used to create fruit cake, head cheese, or other similar dishes. The answer is…There are none. Ballistics testing may be done using the same gelatin found in the baking section of most supermarkets. What’s essential isn’t the composition; we’ll get to it in a minute.
Composition of ballistic gel
The ballistic gel is gelatin. Gelatin is collagen that has been hydrolyzed, which means that all water has been removed by exposing collagen to an electric current, which separates water from the other components – and this is the Reader’s Digest version, so bear with the glossing over of many nuances.
Collagen is a kind of protein that is present in most connective tissues in the body and is made up of a combination of amino acids. It’s made up of amino acids that branch out to create fibrous, helical strands in body connective tissues including tendons, ligaments, and skin. It’s tough yet malleable at the same time.
Ballistic gel density
Ballistic gel’s density, therefore, is governed by the gelatin powder to water ratio. After the gelatin has set in the mold, it will form a denser block.
There are several standard densities, each named by the proportion of gelatin used in the block’s construction. Formulae for 10% and 20% ballistic gels are common. These formulas are 1 part gelatin to 9 water or 2 parts gelatins to 8 fluid ounces, respectively.
Again, you may manufacture and test this ammunition on your own at home. Seriously. As you can see, it’s a two-ingredient recipe with no complicated steps. You can make gelatin if you’ve already prepared mac and cheese from a box.
The FBI procedure will be brought up at some time, I’m sure. An American Rifleman report says that following the 1986 Miami gunfight the FBI’s ammunition testing procedure asks for the use of 10% ballistic gelatin and for the bullet to pass through 12 to 18 inches of gel in naked gelatin as well as clothes or obstacles.
Because the FBI uses 10% (by weight) ballistic gelatin, anybody who uses it is using the same ballistic gel they use, and the FBI standard is one of the greatest predictors of ammunition performance in the real world that we have, whether it’s better or worse.
Why is ballistic gel a good medium for testing?
Ammunition testing uses ballistic gel because of its two important properties: its elasticity (the substance stretches) and that it can be made by hand or purchased in blocks of a certain density, allowing the tester to fine-tune their test’s medium density.
But as previously said, it isn’t an ideal testing environment. This is the reason:
The human body is not made up of uniform cells. A person’s body is made up of a variety of tissues and structures including skin, muscle, sinew, bone, blood, and fat, among others. Unlike other proteins, gelatin is a homogeneous substance that has the same makeup throughout. As a result, the comparison isn’t apples to apples.
What is the purpose of using it?
Some many distinct tissues and materials make up a person’s body, all with varying densities. By using gelatin, you may get the average density of all those tissues.
Professionals that test this thing have known for years that it works, which is why ballistic gelatin is used instead of another substance as the standard for testing.
Again, it’s far from ideal in every way. Gelatine, on the other hand, may be used to evaluate the terminal performance of ammunition since it replicates the typical tissue density of a fleshy target. Ballistics gelatin, However, over time, researchers have discovered a link between gelatin performance and performance in defense shootings involving police and civilians.
That is to say, ammunition that performs well in a laboratory setting utilizing defensive ammo testing procedures HAS A TENDENCY TO DO SO IN THE REAL WORLD. It’s the same with hunting ammunition: what works well in the lab will work well in the field, too. Until someone comes up with a better method to evaluate and forecast the performance of ammo, it’s about the only option we have.
To learn how to make the ballistic gel, click here
Conclusion
In this brief guide, we answered the query, “Can you eat ballistic gel?” and discussed the use of ballistic gel.
