I have felt like a duck here lately as the end of the school year approaches, “staying afloat but paddling like the dickens!” But did you know that there is something that is helping ducks stay afloat? That little something is oil that they carefully place on their feathers each day.
I have been so lucky to help organize my daughter’s science week at school and I was asked to look into animal adaptations of ducks. I found a great experiment involving cotton balls, water, and vegetable oil here and decided to try it as a hands on experiment for the students.
Let’s imagine that this duck adaptation of being waterproof didn’t exist using cotton balls.
What you need: 1 clear cup, three cotton balls, 2 capfuls of vegetable oil
How to do it:
- Make a hypothesis: What would happen if a duck did not preen its feathers at all?Drop a dry cotton ball into the water. Observe what happens. The cotton ball will absorb water and sink.
- Make a hypothesis: What would happen if a duck only preened half of its feathers? Soak only half of the cotton ball in vegetable oil. The cotton ball should float and then flip upside down.
- Make a hypothesis: What will happen if we soak the entire cotton ball duck in oil?
What’s the science?
Oil and water do not mix. You can shake them together but in the end they will separate because oil is less dense than water and will always float on top of the water. Good thing for the ducks! Ducks spread oil on their feathers to them waterproof and keeps the feathers from being weighed down by water while the duck searches for food.
A dry cotton ball, represents feathers with no oil, that will absorb water and sink. But the more it is filled with oil, it will take on the properties of oil and float on top of the water.
This is a great book to read about ducks and their amazing abilities!
What is the oil in your life that is keeping you afloat? Dreaming of summer? A talk with a good friend? A good cup of coffee? It’s all of the above for me! Thanks ducks!
Leave a Reply