Hooked on Science: Football helmet experiment

Using a few materials from around the house, you can demonstrate what would happen if a football player decided not to wear a helmet.

Materials

* Two melons of equal size

* Football helmet

Instructions

STEP 1: Place one of the melons inside the football helmet.

STEP 2: Have one person hold the helmeted melon and another hold the unhelmeted melon.

STEP 3: Drop each melon from the same height at the same time and observe.

Explanation

The unhelmeted melon smashes as it hits the floor while the helmeted melon is protected by the helmet. High school and teen football players sustained 14 brain injuries with long-lasting damage in 2011. That is the highest number in more than 25 years.

Jason Lindsey is a science outreach educator with Hooked on Science. Check out his website www.hookedonscience.org for webcasts and experiments.