Helmet Design 
 
 Introduction
Claudio Notconi is driving a monowheel at 10 m/s (~22 mph). Claudio Notconi is both
bad at balancing and bad at decision making, so he doesn’t slow down in front of a brick wall
and runs into it.
Claudio Isconi is about as smart as his twin brother, but is slightly more intelligent as he
decides to wear a helmet when he drives his monowheel into the same brick wall at 10 m/s as
well. Claudio Notconi dies and Claudio Isconi survives. The end.
Well, not really. This is the main reason that people need to wear helmets. People can
make mistakes. People can be stupid. Helmets can prevent both situations from being lethal.
Also, every human is different. This means that every human will have different
thresholds for death and injury. There are several ways a crash can lead to death, and a helmet
serves to prevent them in a typical situation. A briefly sustained deceleration of about 640 m/s​2
(~65 g) will kill an average human, as will a force of 4,900 N (~1,100 lbf) to the head.​1,2 These
are the benchmark numbers that our helmet will attempt to prevent in a reasonable situation.

General Design
Our helmet is a design based on a basic racing helmet. However, it includes a much wider
visor for the purposes of increased visibility and is constructed out of Lexan 6 mm (~¼ in) thick.
The general helmet shell is constructed out of colored fiberglass laced with carbon fiber for
increased strength. This type of shell will break apart on impact and act as a crumple zone,
directing the impact force around the wearer’s head along the lines of fracture, guided by the
carbon fiber. Below are 4 potential variants of this helmet design.

Iteration 1: ​https://a360.co/2tVdfes
Iteration 2: ​https://a360.co/3cggYnZ
Iteration 3: ​https://a360.co/2vlMeBy
Iteration 4: ​https://a360.co/2I2Re0w

The Situation
Let’s say that when Claudio Notconi crashed into that brick wall, it took 5 ms for his hard
head to decelerate on the immovable brick wall. If Claudio has a mass of about 70 kg (~150 lbs)
and hasn’t lost any speed due to air resistance, he would impact the wall with a force of about
140,000N (~31,000 lbf). As noted previously, this kills him when a helmet is not involved. When
the helmet is involved, let’s say the impact time is slowed down to about 200 ms, as the padding
disperses and slows the initial impact. This would mean that the impact force would be reduced
to just 3500 N (~790 lbf), a survivable force.
We can also calculate the deceleration to see if the Claudios will die in a different way.
Claudio Notconi’s speed goes from 10 m/s (~22mph) to 0 m/s in 5 ms. This leads to a

-1-
deceleration of 2000 m/s​2 (~200 g). This is lethal. Claudio Isconi decelerates from 10 m/s to 0
m/s in 200 ms, with a deceleration of 50m/s​2 (~5 g). While this is not lethal for most people,
Claudio Isconi will likely wake up with severe neck pain in the morning―not dead, but
definitely in pain.

Conclusion
According to 49 CFR § 571.218 - Standard No. 218, S5.1(b), an acceleration of 200g
should not be sustained for longer than 2 ms.​3 Without a helmet, Claudio Notconi experienced an
acceleration of 200g for a full 5 ms, which was more than enough to cause death. Claudio Isconi,
on the other hand, never came close to this threshold because he was smart and wore a helmet. In
conclusion, wearing a helmet is safer than not wearing a helmet.

References
1. https://hypertextbook.com/facts/2004/YuriyRafailov.shtml
2. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/06/03/no-you-cant-crush
-a-mans-skull-with-your-bare-hands/
3. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/571.218

Appendix: Calculations

Variables

F Force of impact m Mass of Claudio a Claudio’s acceleration

Δt Duration of impact Δv Change in Claudio’s velocity J Impulse

Formulas

J = FΔt = mΔv Impulse-Momentum Equation F = ma Newton’s Second Law of Motion

Claudio Notconi Claudio Isconi

(no helmet) (has helmet)
m = 70kg m = 70kg
Δv = 10m/s Δv = 10m/s
Δt = 5ms Δt = 200ms

FΔt = mΔv FΔt = mΔv

F (0.005s) = 70kg (10m/s) F (0.2s) = 70kg (10m/s)
F = 70kg (10m/s) / 0.005s F = 70kg (10m/s) / 0.2s

-2-
 F = 140,000N F = 3,500N

F = ma F = ma
140,000N = 70kg (a) 3,500N = 70kg (a)
a = 140,000N / 70kg a = 3,500N / 70kg
a = 2,000m/s​2 a = 50m/s​2

-3-