When Put to the Test, Which Birds' Feet Are Best?

Overview

Objectives/Goals At the beginning of my project I had a clear idea of what I thought would happen. I believed that the duck feet would swim the fastest because they use their feet the most. However, after all my testing I found that it wasn't because they use their feet the most, but because they don't have as large of a gap in between their toes. Overall, my hypothesis was correct by answering the problem of, which bird's feet swam the fastest, but my theory was incorrect. When I did the testing for this project, there were some struggles along the way that I didn't account for when I first started. Luckily, I had people there to help me control my test and make sure everything was safe. For example, I had to make my technique the same, so when I had different flippers on, the times wouldn't change because of my own swimming, but because of the different style of the flippers. I also made sure I was safe at all times when doing the testing, by having an adult near the pool. Furthermore, I wore a wetsuit to insulate my body from the cold water, similar to how a ducks flipper can keep itself warm even in freezing water. After completing 25 laps with each style of flipper, I have concluded that the duck's flipper swam the fastest, the Penguin's flipper came in second, the Grebe's flipper came in third, and the Non-swimming bird came in last.

Competition history

• CSEF 2011 Zoology · Entry J2219

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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