Blog Post

How Magnets Make Football Safer

  • By osdadmin
  • 14 Mar, 2017
Because of the high-impact nature of the sport, football is notoriously linked with concussions and […] The post How Magnets Make Football Safer appeared first on Argus International.
Because of the high-impact nature of the sport, football is notoriously linked with concussions and head injuries. It’s not surprising though; concussions happen with impacts of more than 100 g’s, and on the field, players running at almost 20 miles per hour can cause up to 150 g’s of force upon impact. In fact, every year, more than 100,000 concussions occur at all levels of the 1.2 million people who play it in America.
Leave it to science to come up with a trick to reduce the risk of head injuries in this beloved sport. By adding magnets to helmets, research suggests that when two players collide, the magnets in their helmets would repel each other, reducing the force of the impact and protecting the players.
According to neuroscientist Raymond Colello, “All helmet design companies and manufacturers have the same approach, which is to try to disperse the impact energy after the impact’s already occurred.” While this has, of course, prevented some injuries, it hasn’t been the most effective design. With the addition of magnets, the impact would be slowed or halted before it occurred.
While this design has yet to be tested with real players in action, the research and data is extremely promising, pointing towards magnets to actually reduce injury by repelling each other.
So what are they testing in these helmets? Rare earth magnets, of course. These powerful and strongest commercial magnets  are the perfect material for the job. When two rare earth magnets are only ¼ of an inch away from one another, they repel almost 100 pounds of repulsive force.
The addition of magnets to football wouldn’t completely change the design of the helmet, but would rather complement the existing model. Professional football helmets currently cost a few hundred dollar and adding magnets would increase the cost by anywhere from $50 to $100. For lower level players who do not have the force and impact that professional players exude could have these helmets made for less, with less powerful, more affordable magnets to match their force. 
By osdadmin 30 May, 2017
Whether for hobby, a science experiment, or playing with friends, every kid plays with magnets […] The post How to Separate Magnets appeared first on Argus International.
By osdadmin 02 May, 2017
Forget steroids and performance-enhancing drugs, cyclists have taken cheating to a new level with ‘motor […] The post Cyclists Use Magnets and Motors to Cheat appeared first on Argus International.
By osdadmin 14 Mar, 2017
Because of the high-impact nature of the sport, football is notoriously linked with concussions and […] The post How Magnets Make Football Safer appeared first on Argus International.
By osdadmin 06 Feb, 2017
While rare earth magnets, such as neodymium magnets, have a variety of commercial uses, it’s […] The post Safety and Rare Earth Magnets appeared first on Argus International.
By osdadmin 17 Jan, 2017
When it comes to adhering magnets for a project or job, you may wonder, how […] The post How to Glue Rare Earth Magnets appeared first on Argus International.
By osdadmin 29 Dec, 2016
Neodymium magnets, or neo magnets, are a type of rare earth magnet with the highest […] The post Neodymium Magnets appeared first on Argus International.
By osdadmin 10 Nov, 2016
Can humans really have a link to a sixth sense? And no, we’re not talking […] The post Magnets Linked to Sixth Sense? appeared first on Argus International.
By osdadmin 10 Nov, 2016
Can humans really have a link to a sixth sense? And no, we’re not talking […] The post Magnets Linked to Sixth Sense? appeared first on Argus International.
By osdadmin 31 Oct, 2016
Thousands of years ago when magnets were first discovered, people believed in their healing powers; […] The post Do Magnets Heal? appeared first on Argus International.
By osdadmin 26 Oct, 2016
When you think of robots, you normally imagine a large, metal, clunky object, but in […] The post Ingestible Magnetic Robot appeared first on Argus International.
More Posts
Share by: