A Better Football Helmet?
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indyman87
Members Posts: 1,132 ✭✭✭✭
Reading about the sad news recently about a teen that died during a scrimmage game after breaking his neck in Atlanta and just yesterday on huffingtonpost.com there was an article about another teen who died after crashing helmet to helmet I began researching the mechanics of Football helmets. on Wikipedia I was shocked to learned that the NFL only allots 1 Million a year for research for developing new football helmets to limit the impact of concussions which to me is a shame considering the amount of money the NFL owners and even the colleges make off of football. Also, the NFL has awarded over $1.6 million in sports medical research, almost $1 million of which has been toward concussion prevention.[12] All this concussion prevention research has led football helmet manufacturers to develop safer products. A joint effort between Virginia Tech and Wake Forest has been testing current football helmets and giving them yearly ratings since 2011. On a scale out of 5 stars, only one helmet was awarded a 5 in 2011. In 2012, two additional helmet designs were awarded 5 stars.[13][14]
I'm not a scientist but even I have found something that's probably better than what Football Players are wearing- Silicon Aerogels.
http://www.jhuapl.edu/ott/technologies/technology/articles/P02234.asp
Kinetic Energy Absorbing Aerogel Composite Structures for Use in Crash of Impact Protection and Body or Vehicle Armor
Reference#: P02234
Materials absorb kinetic energy by various mechanisms including plastic deformation, elastic deformation, the dynamics of fluid flow (gases or liquids) within the material and brittle fracture. Most energy absorbing materials in use today exhibit elastomeric or plastic deformation. They are typically organic materials such as polyurethanes, polyethers, polyethylene, and expanded polystyrene. Silica or silicon dioxide aerogels, on the other hand, are inorganic materials and they are prone to brittle fracture.
maybe the NFL should give me the Million.
I'm not a scientist but even I have found something that's probably better than what Football Players are wearing- Silicon Aerogels.
http://www.jhuapl.edu/ott/technologies/technology/articles/P02234.asp
Kinetic Energy Absorbing Aerogel Composite Structures for Use in Crash of Impact Protection and Body or Vehicle Armor
Reference#: P02234
Materials absorb kinetic energy by various mechanisms including plastic deformation, elastic deformation, the dynamics of fluid flow (gases or liquids) within the material and brittle fracture. Most energy absorbing materials in use today exhibit elastomeric or plastic deformation. They are typically organic materials such as polyurethanes, polyethers, polyethylene, and expanded polystyrene. Silica or silicon dioxide aerogels, on the other hand, are inorganic materials and they are prone to brittle fracture.
maybe the NFL should give me the Million.