Welcome to SBF (Science Behind Football)! Today, we'd like to tell you how football helmets are being improved scientifically in order to reduce injuries on the field. Let's get into it!
Denver Broncos CB Aqib Talib and Oakland Raiders WR Michael Crabtree are running at each other. Crabtree is holding the ball, and he shoves his head down to brace the impact. However, so does Talib. Their heads collide, and now they both have a concussion. It's that simple to get a devastating head injury. That's why scientists are offering new football helmets with three layers of protection, superior to the old one layered helmets.
According to NFL scientists, current helmets do a decent job to reduce the force exerted that gets to the skull. But, reducing force isn't the only problem. The blow may send waves of kinetic energy, or the energy of motion. Why is this bad? Well, let's imagine you have an egg and you hit it very lightly. It could crack its shell, but the impulse of kinetic energy could send the egg flying. Now, imagine that was an NFL player. Not good.
New helmets are being designed to reduce MORE force than the old ones, featuring three layers of protection. Furthermore, to sop up that extra kinetic energy, scientists are adding a substance to one layer called viscous elastomer. It's like elastic -- hitting it will make it bend but it will return to its original state. But it does this slower. As the elastomer goes back to its original shape, it sheds some of that kinetic energy. This means that less energy will get into the head and skull.
The other two layers are being used to level the frequency of the blow. If a guy hit sticks other guy, the impulse of kinetic energy will spread throughout the entire head at different frequencies, and the elastomer will not shed all of them. So these other two layers, which are incredibly soft, level the frequency to one. Thus, the elastomer will be more effective in shedding all of the kinetic energy.
