In a message dated 8/18/2001 3:33:44 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
tboicey@brit.ca writes:
>
>
> If I was going to put you in a box and chuck you down
> a few flights of stairs, would you rather it be made of
> half inch iron plate or sterofoam?
>
> All that F=MA proves is that the iron crate would
> be more likely to damage the stairway. It might do quite
> a number on the building and still look brand new, the
> same wouldn't be said for the passenger!
>
Trevor is right. A motorcycle helmet would be useless if made of iron rather
than engineered from a material designed to break BEFORE the skull does. I
remember a motorcycle dealer telling me that a lady had brought a helmet back
for refund because her son had wrecked his bike and the helmet had broken on
impact. The boy was ok. The dealer had a difficult but successful time
explaining to the lady that the reason her son is OK was because the Helmet
HAD broken and had taken up the energy of the impact BEFORE his skull was
crushed. While the newer cars crush easier and quicker than the old cars,
the crushing is a feature that absorbs the energy of the impact and actually
makes them safer. Especially when part of a system that includes air bags
and seat belts.
--David C.
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