Badminton play is characterized by the unusual flight dynamics of the shuttlecock. Although world-class players can launch the projectile almost 140 m/s off the racket (the fastest tennis serves are only about 70 m/s), since aerodynamic drag is the dominant force it not only allows the shuttlecock to travel at manageable speeds by the time it crosses the court, but it permits an analytic solution for the flight path. A very approachable open-access paper by Cohen et al. in the New Journal of Physics covers everything from the history of the game to the effects on the gameplay from subtle differences in shuttlecock design.
Abstract:
The conical shape of a shuttlecock allows it to flip on impact. As a light and extended particle, it flies with a pure drag trajectory. We first study the flip phenomenon and the dynamics of the flight and then discuss the implications on the game. Lastly, a possible classification of different shots is proposed.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by VLM on Tuesday June 23 2015, @11:39AM
necessitate the killing of the birds
Do they? I mean the total current population of birds will be dead in Z years, because they're individually not eternal, so rather than letting the carcasses rot or shoveling them into landfills...
I mean you don't necessarily have to turn birds into mcnuggets as a mandatory pre-req to collect feathers. I would imagine the demand for natural feather gaming products is extremely low so natural harvesting wouldn't be terribly difficult. I found a giant feather on my driveway this morning just kinda laying there. Giant by local bird standards. Must have fallen off a raven or a goose or something big, that was no robin.
Much like greenwashing exists by applying a false PR story to the same old product, something to look out for is I guarantee you'll see "naturally harested vegan badminton products inc" setting up shop coincidentally next door to the local McNugget factory so there would be believability issues with the overall marketplace.