Question

a high school students experiment with bike helmet safety might lead to better helmets in contact sports such as hockey. claire longcroft created a fitted cap out of a gel - filled material. it can be worn comfortably beneath a bike helmet. to test the caps effectiveness, she dropped weights on helmets with and without the insert. a typical helmet absorbed about 88 percent of the impacts energy. by adding the gel insert, 97 percent of the energy was absorbed. this extra protection could reduce the incidence of concussions.
the inserts

the impact.

dampen

avoid

conceal

exert

Explanation:

To solve this, we analyze the context: the gel insert increases energy absorption (from 88% to 97%), meaning it reduces the impact's force. "Dampen" means to reduce the intensity of something (like impact), "avoid" would mean the impact doesn't happen (not the case), "conceal" is about hiding (irrelevant), and "exert" means to apply force (opposite of what's happening). So "dampen" fits.

Answer:

A. dampen