Django Wilson's Science Experiment Pictures I marked both the helmet and its melon with a 4 so that I would know afterwards that they went together.  The picture above shows the melon before the drop. Below: This picture was taken after the drop. After falling 5 feet onto concrete, the melon in this helmet was undamaged. We ate the cantalope later.   Above: This is the melon that I dropped onto the concrete from 5 feet with no helmet. It cracked all of the way open on both sides. We threw it away after the experiment. More Pictures - Django's Additional Test Helmets The melon with the black helmet on the far left was my test melon. In addition to my main experiment, I dropped three other melons with helmets to see whether they would all protect equally well. The ones that were in the bike helmets in the middle had a small crack on the side that was facing out. The ones on the ends had no damage. The helmets that protected the melons with no damage were both multi sport helmets. The melon that I dropped with no helmet is in the front. All of the melons that were in helmets looked much better than the one that was dropped without one. I interviewed experts to find out more about bike helmets for my experiment. Randy Swart said that less expensive helmets can protect better than more expensive ones. Of the 4 helmets I tested, the less expensive ones did the best job protecting the melons. You can read the interviews here: Interviews  Above: Here is one of the helmets I dropped - this is the helmet I used to wear when I was a baby. The melon had a crack on the side facing out after the drop.This helmet was made in 2002.  My mom and I bought this multi-sport helmet at a thrift shop. It was the oldest one, made in 2001, but protected the melon with no damage.   Above: This helmet was made in 2008 and was in good condition before the drop. The melon cracked slightly on the side facing out, near the top after being dropped from 5 feet onto the concrete yard behind West Town Bikes. Find out more about my experiment here: |
