For what reason?

[pyronerd]

yeah, so a thick, soft helmet :P

and anything is better than nothing. It could make a more substantial difference than you realise- for instance, your head will have the force absorbed by  the ground  in like 0.05 of a second (yes that's a rough guestimate :P ), a reasonably thick helmet could take like 0.1 seconds to absorb the force, which would increase proportionally the time the brain takes to slow down substantially.

I dunno if I've explained that well or not... I'm normally good with concepts, but not terminology for physics (hence why I could struggle for my final :P )

those are reasonable estimates I believe btw (I'm just basing this off the fact a basketball is in contact for 0.1 of a second while bouncing ftr :P )

It's got nothing to do with the brain slowing down, as the brain doesn't move at all until it hits the side of the skull, the helmet would actually have to slow the acceleration of the head during the hit to lessen the impact on the brain, as it will have time to catch up in velocity before it hits the skull, for this to have a substantial effect the the distance of compression of the helmet would have to be large.


an also, if the helmet were to absorb 0.1s of compression, assuming whatever hits the has an inital velocity of 20km/h, as assuming in the time it's velocity halves, then it would still travel 46cm

[Ziplock]

that's what I meant (I think?), if the head slows down, then the brain impact won't be as large right? :s

[pyronerd]

sort of, in a case of which the head is moving then hits something, then the heading slowing down at a slower rate would be beneficial, and if a stationary head takes a hit from a moving object, then the rate at which the head accelerates would need to be lessened

[valkorum]

@ziplock - Which brings it back to my original point in that a helmet (regardless how soft it is) is not going to significantly slow head movement during impact (and therefore impact of the brain inside the skull).  All it is going to do is make the player think he is a lot safer than what he is and go even harder at the ball. 

Imagine if Joel Selwood had this mentality and put on a helmet - I reckon he would kill himself.

Its also why you see in motor racing they have the harness around the neck and connected to the helmet.  It stops head movement in the event of an accident. 

[CFC 1979]

it depends. Soft helmets would absorb the impact and lessen the bouncing.

No scientific proof of this.  It doesnt matter what you put on the OUTSIDE of your head the gap between your brain and skull on the INSIDE of your head is still the same.

spot on Valk. The brain floats in fluid independant of the skull.

What Is a Concussion and What Causes It?



The brain is made of soft tissue and is cushioned by spinal fluid. It is encased in the hard, protective skull. When a person gets a head injury, the brain can move around inside the skull and even bang against it. This can lead to bruising of the brain, tearing of blood vessels, and injury to the nerves. When this happens, a person can get a concussion â€" a temporary loss of normal brain function.


Helmets would do jack for preventing it