Riley CrandallMay 16, 2014Dr. StokesPreventing Concussions in Football: A Newtonian PerspectiveRecently, the topic of concussions and their prevention has gained widespread attention among athletes of all ages. Football in particular has received much attention due to the high rate of concussions among its participants. While efforts such as changing the rules have been made to make soccer safer, these injuries continue to occur at a higher rate than many deem acceptable. What can be done to prevent these injuries from continuing? Is it possible to make football safer while maintaining the high-speed nature of the sport? The answer lies in the field of physics. Newton's three laws of motion state that: 1. the state of motion of an object tends to remain constant unless an external force is applied. 2. The force applied to the object is equal to the object's mass times its acceleration, and the force and acceleration vectors are in the same direction 3. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. When we consider these laws in the analysis of a tough fight in football, we make a few observations. First, we observe that for a concussion to occur, a rapid change in skull motion must also occur within a short period of time. time. This causes the brain (which tends to remain in a constant state of motion) to collide with the inside of the skull as the skull begins to change its state of motion. This causes a compressive force on the brain resulting in brain injury. Second, the force providing the change in motion is primarily the result of a rapid change in the acceleration of the objects involved (assuming the individual masses of the players remain constant). a...... middle of the paper......y will occur (Demarest). Increasing the amount of padding in a helmet further increases the impact time, thus decreasing the strength of an equivalent transfer of momentum. The principle described is that of elasticity. If a collision is very elastic, more kinetic energy is conserved resulting in greater acceleration or deceleration of the objects involved. In the context of football helmets, inelastic collisions mean less acceleration intensity and less brain injury. Given the requirements stated above, it would appear that the most effective way to prevent concussions in football while maintaining the high-speed nature of the sport would be to make better helmets that increase collision time. This can be done by adding more padding or introducing more inelastic materials into football helmets and pads.