Football Helmets HOME History         Rough contact sports like football create many injuries because the players run into each other and often their heads will collide. this can result in sever concussions, brain damage and in some cases, even becoming paralyzed. When helmets first started being worn they started as thin leather covers that offered little protection, but were better than nothing at all. slowly the leather and padding became thicker until it finally evolved into the plastic helmets lined with padding that we have today.                                                                                                                    Image source-http://www.extremeteamsports.com/Football-Pop%20Warner/HistoryOfFootballHelmets.htm The Physics         Today, football helmets are composed of a hard outer plastic shell with a inner liner made up of compressible padding and then shock absorbing pads attached to the foam these foam layers reduce the rotational forces and inner strain on your brain so that concussions become less likely.     An example: The play starts, you as a defense man run into the player your supposed to block, your heads collide. The hard plastic shell does its job and spreads the impact, while then inner foam increases the time it takes for your head to impact the side of the helmet. This laves you feeling fine and able to tackle the guy with the ball.                                             Inside of a football Helmet- The hard plastic shell is the blue on the outside, the impact                                            foam is the grey on the inside and the shock absorbing foam is the white squares on the                                            very inside.   Source-http://www.weplaysports.com/Schutt/DNA/Recruit/Recruit-Inside.jpg