Day 1103 of 365 Again.
I like science.
Well, I don’t care much for the useful kind, but give me a good formula to calculate how hot a woman is or let me analyze vulgar names for genitalia and I’m all kinds of happy.
So Morgan was telling me earlier that she was watching a show called SportScience and they were analyzing the question of what causes a harder impact: a full speed football tackle or a cheerleader falling from 20 feet in the air.
It took me a while to think about it, and I was leaning towards the cheerleader but then without actually doing the math, I estimated and said the football tackle.
Apparently the show went the other way. They theorize that the football player receives 1800 lbs. of force to the cheerleaders 2000lbs.
It didn’t sound right to me.
I think the key here is the specifics of the football players. They specifically said full force tackle, but that depends on how fast the players are moving, exactly what kind of tackle they hit each other with and how much all the players weigh.
By my calculations, I figure a 110 lbs cheerleader hitting the gym floor on a missed catch from 20 feet packs about 2190 lbs of force, whereas two 250 lbs. football players colliding at 4.2 speed should hit with about 6040 lbs. of force. Of course, one could argue that you don’t generally hit 4.2 speed in a real football situation so I could see colliding at half that speed and you drop all the way down to about 1500 lbs. Realistically it’s probably somewhere in between, but I maintain they said full force, and that means we should use the optimal numbers.
God I miss new episodes of Mythbusters.
Math is hard. Let’s go shopping.
Still would hurt no matter what. Pain=Pain no matter how you calculate it 🙂
Well, there’s no question that cheerleading is extremely dangerous:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/31/sports/31cheerleader.html
As for the force of a football impact, that’s tricky. That "full force" phrase is hard to interpret. 4.2 is very fast for even a lightweight receiver/corner type player. For instance, Mike Wallace is thought to be the Steelers’ fastest draft pick and possibly fastest player. He only ran a 4.3, and weighs just 180lb. A 4.2 for a 250 lb. player would be an incredible feat, wouldn’t it? Plus, most tackles and blocks happen at angles. The question is where to draw the line realistically.
Let me put it this way, if you drop 1000 cheerleaders from 20 feet, and you run 1000 football tackle plays, I think your cheerleaders are going to wind up in worse shape on average by a LOT.
I still can’t believe you sat there and tried to calculate it out! They had force sensors on the cheerleader dummy and the football dummy. Both falls looked wicked, but the cheerleader was definitely worse.
Math IS hard. Let’s go shopping!
You know that sh– gives me a headache! I’m all in for the shopping though!
I thought it was acceleration (not force) that’s responsible for injuries. If this is true, then it’s even worse for the cheerleader since she’s only half his weight…