Shuttlecock

badminton · sports · physics · engineering

Made from feathers or plastic. The cone part is built from real feathers (usually goose feathers) or synthetic plastic, all stuck into a rounded cork base. This design makes the shuttlecock look a bit like a tiny parachute.

Slows down on purpose. Shuttlecocks are high-drag projectiles, which means they're designed to lose speed really fast when they fly through the air. This makes the game slower and easier to control than if you were hitting a regular ball.

Always flies cork-first. No matter how you hit it or which way it's spinning, the shuttlecock will always flip itself around so the cork end goes first. This is because of its cone shape, which makes it aerodynamically stable, like it has a built-in GPS for the right way to fly.

The heart of badminton. Shuttlecocks are the main projectile used in badminton, one of the fastest racquet sports in the world. Players can hit them at speeds over 200 miles per hour, even though they slow down super quickly.