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- The purpose of this webpage is to explain the physics behind collisi=
ons
and protective equipment in sports
- It is intended to be used as a presentation for high school students
with three demonstrations to explain why physics is relevant in spor=
t
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- Inertia
- Take a 30cm x 15cm x 3cm metal brick (any metal with a density >=
8)
- Carefully place the metal brick on top of two regular 250mL styrofo=
am
cups
- Drop a 500g weight onto the brick from 1m high
- It does not crush the cups
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- Inertia
- Now take a wood brick of the same dimensions
- Place it on top of two new 250mL styrofoam cups
- Drop the same 500g weight from the same height of 1m
- It will dent or crush the cups
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- The metal brick does =
not
dent the styrofoam cups because it has a lot of mass while the wood
brick does because it is relatively light. Inertia tells us that a hea=
vier
object resists changes in its state of motion better than a lighter
object.
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- Accelerometer
- An accelerometer is strapped onto the top of a toy car
- Crash the toy car into a hard surface
- Next, tape 1cm of soft foam onto the toy car’s front bumper a=
nd
crash the toy car into the same hard surface
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- The accelerometer will show the force of the collision against
time. The peak force w=
ill be
higher on the car without foam since the time for the collision to s=
top
is shorter due to the harder surface. Another interesting thing t=
o note
is the area under both graphs will be the same. Why? Because the momentum of the
collision is conserved.
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- “Bed of Nails”
- A 5 feet by 2.5 feet wood board is pierced with over two thousand 1=
0cm
long nails 1cm apart
- Gently place a volunteer on top of the nails with the entire body
making contact with the nails at the same time
- When dismounting the nails, lift the entire volunteer at same time =
(do
not sit on the nails!)
- This demonstration is excellent for explaining pressure
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- The “bed of nails” does not injure the volunteer because=
the
pressure of the body is spread over many nails which increases the
surface area. If you
decrease the density of nails/area, this demonstration becomes very
dangerous. Use caution=
.
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- Mouthguards have not been shown to prevent or reduce injury
- They do a great job at reducing broken teeth by spreading the force =
of
impact over all teeth evenly like the “bed of nails”
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- Protective equipment follow two basic principles:
- 1. Maximize stopping time
- This reduced the force of the impact
- 2. Maximize the surface area
- This reduces the pressure on any one area of the body
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- A hockey helmet lengthens the stopping time by using padding and spr=
eads
the force over a large area with a solid exterior shell reducing the
pressure
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- The average football player
weighs approximately  =
;
120kg (264lbs) &n=
bsp;  =
;
and some can run as fast as 10m/s!
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- The average tackle in football can stop a player from 10m/s to 0m/s =
in
0.2s
- (according to Dr. Tim Gay)
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- Since F =3D m a
- The acceleration felt by the running back is (10/0.2) m/s2 or 50 m/s=
2
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- That’s 5g’s
- or
- F =3D 120kg x 50m/s
2  =
;
F =3D 6000N
- That is like trying to lift 612kg!
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- A concussion is sustained when the brain is required to stop very
quickly
- When our bodies are in motion, so are our brains
- When we hit something and stop, our brains continue moving in the sa=
me
direction (Newton’s First Law)
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- In our heads we have two main defenses against concussions:
- We have meninges that are thin membranes that protect our nerves and
spinal cord
- In between the meninges we have cerebrospinal fluid which is like a
“cushion” between your brain and your skull
- When your brain hits your skull very hard, you sustain a concussion=
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- Helmets cause the head to decelerate more slowly than if the head ma=
kes
direct contact with a hard object, this reduces the force of the imp=
act
between your brain and your head as well as your head and the hard
object
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- Headaches
- Nausea
- Loss of memory
- Confusion
- Loss of balance
- Slowness in thinking, acting and speaking
- Loss of taste or smell
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- They maximize the time of a collision resulting in a smaller impulse=
- They spread the force of impact over a larger surface area, reducing=
the
pressure on one specific area
- The factors mentioned above will protect you from injury and may save
your life
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- The contact area on your head is
- about 5cm x 5cm =3D 25 cm2
- The pressure of the football collision from slide 13 without a helme=
t is
2,400,000N/m2!
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- The contact area on a helmet is
- 17.5cm x 17.5cm =3D 306.25cm2
- The pressure of the football collision from slide 13 with a helmet is
200,000N/m2
- 12X less than without a helmet!
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- When your neck vertebrae are lined up (in the flexion position), a f=
orce
on top of the head will cause an axial compression and can break your
vertebrae
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- Always wear your equipment
- Absorb all collisions as much as possible to maximize the stopping t=
ime
- Make the contact area as large as possible
- Avoid getting hit by bigger, faster people
- Heads up, don’t duck
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- popular mechanics
- The Physics of Football by Dr. Timothy Gay, Ph.D.
- Dr. Gay’s website: http://physics.unl.edu/outreach/football.ht=
ml
- Physics for Scientists and Engineers by Dr. Douglas Giancoli, Ph.D.=
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