Scientific Model Shows How Vibrations from Hits Wobble the Brain Despite Football Helmet

With fall football season comes helmet-to-helmet collisions, the hardest of which can lead to player concussions. The physics of how the impact of a helmet hit transfers to the brain are not well understood, so a research team from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., has created a simplified experimental model of the brain and skull inside a helmet during a helmet-to-helmet collision. The model illustrates how the fast vibrational motion of the hit translates into a sloshing motion of the brain inside the skull. Researchers presented their findings at the 164th meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA). For more information, click here to read the full release.