I was thinking about collisions in real life when I saw the perfect topic for my blog on TV: the Texans vs. Titans game! I was going to go find some footage of tackling in football when Cortland Finnegan and Andre Johnson provided me with all the footage I needed:
Collisions
When the punching starts, Andre Johnson's fist clearly has more momentum than Cortland Finnegan's face, as Finnegan's head bounces back every time Johnson strikes him. This means that, since the equation for momentum is p=mv, Johnson's fist has either greater mass or greater velocity - in this case, it is less massive than Finnegan's head and therefore must have far greater velocity. Additionally, both players exert enough force to overcome the friction between each other's heads and helmets and tear the helmets off at the onset of the fight. It's exciting to see physics concepts at work!! :)
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