Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

For his science fair project, my 6th grade son posed the question, "How can one type of helmet and mouth piece over another type of helmet and mouth piece help to prevent concussions in players of american football? In doing research, he found an article online about Virginia Tech's (Wake Forest) football helmet ratings for reducing concussion risks <http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2011/ ... tings.html>

The challenge is in how to translate a very advanced concept and study into one that can be approached and experimented by a 6th grader. We did find a similar project at <http://www.selah.k12.wa.us/SOAR/SciProj ... mdonA.html> entitled, "The Effect of Football Helmet Padding Pressure on the Effect of Force of Impact."

We thank you in advance for any assistance.

Very respectfully,
We Three Tree

Experiments that test hypothesis that involve human subjects of this kind are NOT appropriate for Science Fair projects.

I strongly recommend that you pursue a different kind of project.

If you are really interested in experimenting with ways to physically protect things from damage, then there are all sorts of packaging of things (fruits, vegatables, eggs, equipment, etc.) to prevent / reduce shipment damage.