Safety instructions at a construction site in China

Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although the mechanisms for providing protection vary widely, the basic meaning of the term remains the same. This is illustrated by an explanation found in a manual on electrical wiring: Some kind of protection is a characteristic of all life, as living things have evolved at least some protective mechanisms to counter damaging environmental phenomena, such as ultraviolet light. Biological membranes such as

bark Bark may refer to: * Bark (botany), an outer layer of a woody plant such as a tree or stick * Bark (sound), a vocalization of some animals (which is commonly the dog) Places * Bark, Germany * Bark, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland Arts, ...

on trees and skin on animals offer protection from various threats, with skin playing a key role in protecting organisms against pathogens and excessive water loss. Additional structures like scales and

hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and f ...

offer further protection from the elements and from predators, with some animals having features such as spines or camouflage serving exclusively as anti-predator adaptations. Many animals supplement the protection afforded by their physiology by burrowing or otherwise adopting habitats or behaviors that insulate them from potential sources of harm. Humans originally began wearing clothing and building shelters in prehistoric times for protection from the elements. Both humans and animals are also often concerned with the protection of others, with adult animals being particularly inclined to seek to protect their young from elements of nature and from predators. In the human sphere of activity, the concept of protection has been extended to nonliving objects, including technological systems such as computers, and to intangible things such as intellectual property, beliefs, and economic systems. Humans seek to protect locations of historical and cultural significance through historic preservation efforts, and are also concerned with protecting the environment from damage caused by human activity, and with protecting the Earth as a whole from potentially harmful objects from space.

Physical protection

Protection of objects

* Fire protection, including passive fire protection measures such as physical firewalls and fireproofing, and active fire protection measures, such as fire sprinkler systems. * Waterproofing, though application of surface layers that repel water. * Rot-proofing and rustproofing * Thermal conductivity resistance *

Impact resistance In materials science and metallurgy, toughness is the ability of a material to absorb energy and plastically deform without fracturing.

Protection of systems

Protection of technological systems

Protection of technological systems is often symbolized by the use of a padlock Icon (computing), icon, such as "🔒", or a padlock image. *Protection mechanism, in computer science. In computer sciences the separation of protection and security is a computer design, design choice. William Wulf has identified protection as a Mechanism (technology), mechanism and security as a policy. *Power-system protection, in power engineering *A way of Object-oriented_programming#Encapsulation, encapsulation in object-oriented programming

Protection of ecological systems

*Environmental protection, the practice of protecting the natural environment

Protection of social systems

*Consumer protection, laws governing sales and credit practices involving the public. *Protectionism, an economic policy of protecting a country's market from competitors. *Protection of rights, with respect to civil and political rights. *Data protection through information privacy measures. *Intellectual property protection.

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