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A badminton shuttlecock behaves very differently from a tennis ball or a baseball because of its feathered or synthetic skirt.
The skirt creates enormous air resistance, causing the shuttlecock to slow down rapidly after being hit. This is why a powerful smash can travel extremely fast at first but lose speed much sooner than expected.
The shuttlecock's shape also makes it naturally rotate so that the cork end points forward during flight. This unusual aerodynamic behavior is one reason badminton can be played on a relatively small court despite extremely fast shots.
A tiny change in the shuttlecock's construction can noticeably affect how it flies.
© Badminton World Federation