Every swimmer knows this struggle. Right after an intense dryland or right in the middle of a hard main set or even as soon as you put goggles on… they fog. No matter the age, the brand, the side remedies that are used on the lenses goggles always eventually fog. Not only is it slightly annoying, but fogging goggles are also dangerous and distracting in the swimming world. With the lenses fogged over, the person wearing them has a limited awareness to their fellow swimmers and even at times the wall (not to mention the struggle open water swimmers face considering they are in the middle of a body of water with limited visibility as is!) On the smaller scale, the only way to remove fog once present on a goggle lens is to wipe it off (which can damage the lens), use either water or saliva or another liquid to clear the humidity in the lens (which is not permanent), or the most chosen option: push through.
If not obvious to you already, swimming goggle fogged lenses are a problem. Although it is recognized by swimmers and swim companies alike, there is no 100% full-proof/permanent solution. This is where we have decided to step in. After four years of engineering courses at Bentonville High School, Dylan and I are very excited to have it all pay off to work on a problem in our community for the entirety of our senior year; the end goal being that through research, survey, and further processes to design our own solution to the problem. Our team decided to research into goggles and how their design, manufacturing, and even usage effects how goggle lenses fog. The project has been nothing but an exciting rollercoaster of ups and downs, but all in all one of the most real world classes we have taken.
Currently we are in the process of surveying our demographic (swimmers) and seeing if they believe that goggles fogging is a problem to them, to you, as well! We would absolutely love your help in furthering the process of our project by taking this survey we have made:
“I have been swimming since birth and competitively for about five years now. By having a project hit home in the class and in the pool, it brings forth even more determination to complete this project to its fullest! I cannot wait to see where it goes!”
-Hayden Dixon
“I have really enjoyed the work we have done so far and hope to see the project pushed farther.”
-Dylan Tegethoff
Awesome challenge to tackle Hayden. Where were you 20 years ago when I was swimming!
nice work dylan woo