Inside a Feather

Theme: Feathers show God’s design.

Bible Verse: Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.” (Genesis 1:20)

Materials Needed:

• Several feathers (often sold in craft stores)

• Water

• Dish soap

Bible Lesson

This world is filled with the Creator’s handiwork, especially seen in living creatures. Our Bible verse describes the first animal life that appeared on earth, including the sea creatures and the birds. They were supernaturally made in great abundance on the fifth day of the creation. These first animals were not primitive ancestors of today’s life. Instead, they were made in all of their intricate complexity. In particular, birds show God’s careful attention to detail. Flight in nature is a marvel of engineering. The smallest flying insect displays a greater ability to take off, maneuver, and land than even our most advanced military aircraft.

One day in 1948, the Swiss engineer Georges de Mestral was walking his dog in the woods. Arriving back home, he noticed cockleburs caught in the dog’s fur coat. These are round seedpods with a prickly surface that readily cling to clothing or animal fur upon contact. Closer inspection showed tiny hooks on the ends of the burrs. From this finding, de Mestral invented the Velcro fastener made of tiny nylon hooks and loops. Velcro has been called one of the great inventions of the past century, but this fastener actually has been around since the creation of cockleburs. Bird feathers show a similar fastener design in the connections of their side vanes. These are explored in our science activity.

What additional useful ideas remain in nature, awaiting discovery? Surely there are many. God planned all the parts of our world, complete with endless applications and benefits for us to discover and utilize.

Science Activity

This activity works best if a feather can be given to each person or to selected participants. Packages of colored feathers are often sold in the craft departments of stores. Feathers found in the outdoors probably should not be used since they may not be clean. Note that feathers have a solid, waterproof surface. They provide excellent lightweight insulation. Hold a feather up before the audience and show how the side vanes can be pulled completely apart in several places. Listen closely and you may hear the individual parts, called barbules, snap loose with a click. The feather no longer looks smooth but is instead disorganized.

Now comes the interesting part. With your fingers, stroke softly upward on the sides of the feather several times. The barbs should reattach to one another and once again become a smooth surface. The fasteners within the feather consist of many tiny hooks that grasp each other, equivalent to the Velcro fasteners found on shoes and jackets. The unzipping and quick repair of a feather can be repeated almost endlessly. Birds sometimes separate their feathers in a similar way when cleaning or preening them. Clearly, the Creator’s Velcro is very durable.

Additional activities with feathers are also of interest. A drop of water placed on the feather will form a round bead, showing the feather is entirely waterproof. If a small trace of soap is added to the water drop, however, the surface tension is broken and the water quickly soaks through the feather. It is important for birds to keep their feathers oiled and waterproof.

As an additional activity, hold a feather horizontally and blow gently across the top surface. The feather should tend to pull upward. This lift is how birds and airplanes are able to fly. The air movement decreases the air pressure across the top of the feather or aircraft wing, causing the upward thrust.

Magnified views of a feather and also Velcro. The enlarged feather detail shows the side barbs that connect together. The Velcro has loops that catch and hold nylon strands when the two surfaces are pressed together.

Science Explanation

A feather’s material is made of beta-keratin, a fibrous protein. The figure shows a feather and also a piece of Velcro, each magnified about twenty-five times. The feather’s central shaft has side barbs, which in turn have hair-like barbules. These are hooked strands that readily grasp each other. Birds also have fluffy down feathers that lack the hooks. These small feathers trap air and provide insulation for birds. The cockleburs noticed by Georges de Mestral grow on burdock, a weed that can grow to six feet tall. It successfully scatters its seeds by attaching itself to passing animals.

Some scientists believe that feathers somehow evolved from animal scales over a great span of time. In this view, lizard-like animals such as dinosaurs gradually were transformed into birds. However, the fossil evidence is not convincing. Scales and bird feathers are not at all similar. Each functions uniquely as God intended from the beginning of time.