There are many requirements for the safety and proficiency of a standard helmet to be up to code and meet the proper standards. The helmet has to be able to withstand large amounts of force or friction to be able to keep the head safe. Newton’s 2nd Law of Motion says that the force that acts upon you (for example in a car crash) is reliant upon your mass and how fast you’re moving. This is why there are different sized helmets based on a person’s weight. Based on Newton’s 2nd Law, the heavier you are, the more protection you need.
If you are riding a motorcycle and you hit a pole, you will hit the object with a force that is the product of the acceleration of your vehicle and your mass. For example, if you are driving at 80 mph and weigh 170 pounds, the force that hits you will be stronger than if you are going 40 mph and weigh 95 pounds.
Proper helmets have to meet standards of impact, energy absorption, penetration resistance, and retention system. They also have to have a peripheral vision that is greater than 105 degrees from the helmet midline. Motorcycle helmets have to go through a series of tests that will show that all of these standards are met. They include dropping the helmet onto a metal surface, dropping sharp object from a large height and making sure the object doesn’t go far enough so that it would touch their head. The retention is tested by placing different large loads on the ends of the straps for 120 seconds.
Without helmets, almost all head injuries would be fatal. They are required to protect the brain and bones in the human skull. Foam that lines the insides serves as a medium to control the crash energy that is created in impact. The thicker the foam, the greater protection it has. Helmets are important because they dissipate the crash energy when your head hits something really hard.
Without helmets, motorcycle and car injures would have much higher fatalities. They are required for safety and wellbeing of anyone involved in motor sports or activities.
In a lab test, graphs of the impact energy the brain sees look like this, with a smooth curve extending over 6ms for the good helmet (on the left) and a huge spike for a bare head (on the right).
Below, I have attached pictures of the helmet I created.
Key Concepts: -acceleration is a change in speed over a period of time; the higher the acceleration, the faster the change in speed. For example, if a car goes from 0 miles per hour (mph) to 60 mph in 2 seconds, it is a higher acceleration than if the car goes from 0 mph to 40 mph in 2 seconds. Acceleration is a rate of change of speed; NO change means NO acceleration. If something is moving at constant speed, it is NOT accelerating. -coefficient of friction is the measurement of the level of friction embodied in a particular material. The formula is μ = f/N, where μ is the coefficient of friction, f, is the amount of force that resists motion, and N is the normal force. Normal force is the force at which one surface is being pushed into another. -crumple zones are areas of an object designed to deform and crumple in an impact, as a means to absorb the energy of a collision. The fronts of most automobiles are designed as crumple zones to protect the passengers from frontal collisions. -drag is a term used in fluid dynamics that is sometimes referred to as air resistance or fluid resistance. Friction is one of multiple factors that influence the amount of drag encountered by a body moving through a fluid such as air or water. -inertia is when an object remains still or moves in a constant direction at a constant speed. -g force is when a force acting on a body as a result of acceleration or gravity, informally described in units of acceleration equal to one g. -friction is a force that resists motion when two objects or surfaces come in contact. -force causes masses to accelerate; they are influences that cause a change of movement, direction, or shape. When you press on an object, you are exerting a force on it. When a robot is accelerating, it does so because of the force its wheels exert on the floor. Force is measured in units such as pounds or newtons. For instance, the weight of an object is the force on the object due to gravity (accelerating the object towards the center of the earth). -kinetic friction (or dynamic friction) occurs when two objects are moving relative to each other and rub together (like a sled on the ground).
Reflection
This project was very interesting. I got to learn a lot about real life situations that could actually effect me and the people I know. I liked to learn about how helmets actually work, why they are used, and the consequences we would face if we did not have them to protect us in our daily lives. Something I liked about it was the relativity. Often in school we work on assignments that are interesting, but not very significant to our lives. However, this project is very close to what many people do every day. Something I could have worked on what getting better at using the Autodesk 360 Program, because at first it was very confusing and it didn't ever become very clear to me. Overall, I liked the project and also learned a lot from it.