Armour (orarmor U.S.) is a protective covering orclothing to preventinjury from attack. Armour can be worn by a person, or it can be used to protect machines, animals, evenbuildings. Armour has always been made from the strongest materials available at the time, but weight has always been a problem. Earlybody armour was made fromleather. Later,metals were used (e.g.mail or plate armour). Some modern armour, likebullet-proof vests, are made fromplastics that do not stretch or break, such asKevlar. These plastics may be woven into a cloth and used in layers, which makes them even stronger.
Plastic lamination (layers) is often used to protect windows against bullets. Manyjewellery stores,embassies, and vehicles havebullet-proof glass with this feature.
Armour put on vehicles is usually made of metal and can include one layer over another with open spaces in between (spaced armour) or multiple layers of metal; ceramics (baked clay), and other materials. Another type of armour uses blocks of explosive that explode when another explosion goes off near it. This explosive armour protects by pushing against the other explosion. Vehicle armor is often angled to increase the amount of armour that must be shot through to get inside and to make the shot bounce off rather than piercing the armour.
Tanks have the heaviest armour of all land vehicles. Other military vehicles have armour, but not as much as a tank.
Sometimes armour is put in non-military vehicles, such aslimousines used by leaders of a country or by anyone who thinks they might be attacked such as film stars or leaders of major companies.
In the past, armour has also been used in wars to protect animals such asdogs,elephants, andhorses. Today,police dogs and horses sometimes wear woven plasticbullet-proof vests.
Manysports involve violent physical contact and may be highly dangerous if the players are unprotected. Such sports includeice hockey,American football andkendo. Sports armour is usually made from hardplastic.
