**The Coolness of Helmets**
A helmet is cool for the same reasons that a car is cool. It's a beautiful thing that has a job. When F1 drivers unveil their helmets, it's almost as big as when they unveil their car. It's as iconic as a leather jacket. Technically, they're both safety equipment, but they look badass.
Darth Vader in a helmet is the most iconic, scariest villain in cinematic history. But then you take it off, and he looks like your toe after a long bath. This sentiment highlights the dual nature of helmets – they can be cool and intimidating, yet also serve a practical purpose.
The concept of a helmet has been around for a while. The first helmets were leather, and they were more about keeping your head warm and protecting your ears from noise. This may seem like a minor concern, but it's better than nothing.
However, the importance of helmets became evident in 1956 when Pete Snelldied in a racing accident. His buddy, George Snively Jr., was like, "What's the point of having all these fancy safety features if we're still going to get hurt?" This experience led to a significant shift in helmet design and materials, making them more effective at protecting drivers' heads.
In conclusion, helmets are not just functional objects; they can also be stylish and iconic. From their origins as simple leather caps to the advanced materials used today, helmets have evolved to become an essential part of many industries, including racing and motorsports.
WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- A helmet is cool for the same reasonsthat a car is cool.It's a beautiful thing that has a job.When F1 drivers unveil their helmet,it's almost as big as whenthey unveil their car.It's as iconic as a leather jacket.Technically they're both safety equipment.But they look badass.Darth Vader in a helmet,is the most iconic,scariest villain in cinematic history.But then you take it off,and he looks like yourtoe after a long bath.(gags)As cool as they are,helmets exist to keepour heads from explodingwhen they hit things.(hip hop music)Pop!This is cars down to the atom.Science!The first helmets were leather,and they were more aboutkeeping your head warm,and protecting your ears from noise,which I guess is better than nothing.But in 1956 Pete Snelldied in a racing accident.His buddy, George Snively Jr. was like,- "Dang, I miss Pete.I just wish there was somethinghe could have put on his head that washarder than my jacket,my couch, or my shoes."- Snively incorporated theSnell Memorial Foundationin 1958 and published thefirst Snell Safety Standardsfor Protective Headgear.They smack them on machines.They hit 'em on anvils.And they burn them with torcheslike a Frankenstein monster.(monster screams)So this one claims thatit meets Departmentof Transportation standards.Technically it's illegalto put DOT on helmetunless it meets their standards but,as far as we can findit's kind of like an honor code.Snell on a helmet,that's the Snell Foundation,telling you they tested this helmetand it meets their standards.A Snell approved helmet istested by the Snell Foundation.I guarantee it.- So Bart, how does a helmet work?- Pretty well James, pretty well.Now you may have heard someonesay a helmet absorbs impact.Physics tells us that energycan't be destroyed or created.So in the helmet biz, they say managed.The helmet has to take theenergy of an impact andmanage it by spreading it out,so it doesn't hurt you.The energy of the impact hasto be distributed througha number of layers of different materials,so that it doesn't get distributedinto your skull.The better the materials are,the better the energy management is.The hard stuff manages the impact,the soft stuff cushions your head.Armadillo...arma-pillow.- Ha!- Alright, let's do some "science stuff".This is my friend Brian.He's going through a divorceand just bought a motorcycleand decided to cheap out andget a discount helmet online.Brian's like "Hey, I got thisbike, I need to get a helmet.40 bucks, I'm legal."Colin spent 400 bucks andgot a medium grade helmet.Alright, bear with me, Ihaven't done this in a while.This is a shock pad.It's designed to burst whenit experiences 75 Gs of force.Government scientists saythat is you experience75 Gs of force,you're gonna be severely injured.Or dead.Here goes Brian in the 40 dollar helmet.Good luck Brian.(helmet thuds)And now Colin in themore expensive helmet.Good luck Colin.(helmet thuds)Let's see how my buddy Briandid in his 40 dollar helmet.Oh Jesus Brian,(slurp)you feeling OK, huh?How are you...oh Brian.You've experience over 75 Gs.I don't know how to tell you this buddy,no, you'll be fine, don't worry.We'll get you some help.He cracked his melon.Alright now let's see how Colin did.Hey buddy, you hear about Brian?He didn't make it.Colin's fine!And look at this guys,the shock watch didn't burst.That means this helmet keptit under 75 Gs on his head.That means Colin's not severely injured.That's pretty cool.I mean, this is a melon.Both helmets look the same on the outside,so the answer must be on the inside.- You good?- So let's find out what's on the inside!(saw motor whirring)Something smells bad,like stuff was melting.That's not good.Let's crack her open.What in the...It's just one solid piece.It's got a weird lining,it's got packing tape.And now, the more expensive helmet.(saw motor whirring)Whoo!Look!This is Princess Leia'shelmet when she was on Endor.(motorcycle noises)Dude, that's totally how that happened.It's pretty obvious thatthe more expensive helmetis better in this case.This shell is thin andis just made of plastic.It even melted under the grinder.Where the Snell helmet hasa proprietary thick liner,this inexpensive helmet has afoam that's much less dense,and I couldn't tell you what it's made of.I can tell you that it alsomelted under the grinder.If you're in a car accident,you don't want stuff melting to your head.If you look at the mostexpensive Snell certified helmet,it's really easy to seewhy it was so effective.First, the diamond blademade a nice clean cut.Nothing in here melted,and that's a good sign.This shell is a thick,layered fiberglass compositewith a fire retardantresin and enamel coating.And beneath that is thistwo tiered, bead all liner.These things together arewhat saved Colin's melon.The visor is a three millimeterthick piece of Kevlar.That's the stuff in bullet proof windows.Helmets started asglorified winter racing hatsmade out of cows butt skin.But over the yearsthey've evolved into thesewell thought out, high tech life savers.You can see the differencebetween a more expensive,certified helmet and a budget helmet.So wear a good helmet like a good car boy.Thanks for watching Science Garage!I had a great, great timecutting these helmets open.This was one of your ideas, so thanks.Give me more ideas about stuffyou think I should cut open,or blow up,or I don't know, drink.Follow Donut on Instagramat Donut dot Media.If you're thinking aboutgetting into racingcheck out Tony's video on thebest tuner cars under 10 grand.You wanna know more about helmets?Check out this video we did on theevolution of racing helmets.Hit that like button.Hit that subscribe button.Check back every Wednesdayto learn more science.Don't tell my wife I did this.Bye guys!
