Rubber duck

A small duck-shaped toy, commonly made of rubber or plastic and used in baths. Its buoyancy and familiar shape have made it a lasting bath-time object and cultural icon.

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Rubber: An elastic material obtained naturally from latex or manufactured as a synthetic polymer. Early rubber ducks drew on rubber’s ability to flex and float.
Buoyancy: The upward force a fluid exerts on an object immersed in it. A duck floats when displaced water provides enough upward force to balance its weight.
Rubber duck debugging: A problem-solving practice in which a programmer explains code aloud to an inanimate object. A rubber duck serves as the imagined listener that prompts step-by-step reasoning.
Sesame Street: An American educational television series for children that premiered in 1969. Ernie’s attachment to a rubber duck helped make the toy a pop-culture emblem.
Charles Goodyear: An American inventor who developed practical vulcanization of rubber in the nineteenth century. Vulcanized rubber enabled durable molded toys, including early duck forms.
Archimedes' principle: A principle stating that an immersed object experiences an upward force equal to the weight of displaced fluid. It explains why a hollow duck can float despite being made of plastic.
Rubber Duck Race: A fundraising or community event in which numbered toy ducks race along a watercourse. The toy’s ability to float makes it a simple participant in mass races.
Ernie (Sesame Street): A cheerful Sesame Street character known for his friendship with Bert and his rubber duck. His song “Rubber Duckie” gave the toy an enduring television association.
Peter Ganine: A Russian-born American sculptor and toy designer known for a floating plastic duck patented in 1949. His design helped establish the modern floating rubber duck’s familiar form.
Polyvinyl chloride: A synthetic thermoplastic polymer used in products ranging from pipes to flexible toys. Flexible PVC can be molded into a light, squeezable bath toy.