Any sport played on a court that is divided by a net requires two primary sporting equipment. The first is a hand-held sporting equipment or a part of the body. This is used to hit the second primary equipment which is hit across the other side of the net within bounds. In badminton, the first primary equipment is the racquet whereas the second is the shuttlecock.
Shuttle refers to the back and forth moment of a loom, whereas cock refers to a rooster. So how are these two connected? The shuttlecock is conical shaped and has a rounded base made of cork or rubber. The feathers are taken from the wings of live goose or duck. Some shuttlecocks have feathers that are synthetic and are made of plastic.
A regulation birdie (another name for shuttlecock) will weigh between 4.75 to 5.5 grams. There are 16 feathers, with each feather being as long as 62 to 70 mm. The diameter of the base varies from 25 to 28 mm and the diameter of the concentric circles that the feathers make are between 58 to 68 mm.
Shuttlecocks made of feather are more commonly used in professional tournaments. These shuttles need to be humidified four hours prior to the match in order to achieve their best aerodynamic quality. Moreover, humidification of feather shuttles improves their resilience. If not humidified, feather shuttles tend to break and weather off easily.
Plastic shuttles have a slow trajectory through the air as they descend or near the end of their projectile. Moreover, they might not always drop down vertically like the feather shuttles. Feather shuttles are quicker through the air but slow down upon descend. These shuttles can reach a speed of over 200 mph (320 km/hr) when hit with a perfect timing with the racquet.
