When you bike, board, or play ball, you wear a helmet. But do you know how helmets work?
- ‘Smart’ football helmet – A new “smart” football helmet could tell coaches on the sidelines how much impact their players are taking in real-time. Merrell was able to create the smart helmet by adding nanoparticles, which are 1/100 the size of a human hair, into the foam of a helmet with a microcontroller. The nanoparticles enable the foam to become an electric sensor, so whenever the helmet is hit, a signal is sent to a tablet on the sidelines. The technology was named XOnano because the prefix “exo” refers to protection or an outer shell, and the letters “X” and “O” are often used to indicate plays for sports, he said.
What’s the problem?
how helmets work (video 10:15) – Visit a roller derby rink and a brain bank to see why wearing a helmet to protect your brain is so important.
- Ask – When you bike, board, or play ball, you wear a helmet. But do you know how helmets work?
- Imagine –
- Design, Build –
- Improve –
Do It
Challenges for you to work on…
- Put a lid on it – design your own helmet for a crash-test dummy.
engineering 4 kids 