Boomerang
Have you visited Planet Scicast yet? It’s got film clips of science experiments and what’s more – it gives you instructions in case you want to have a go too! Here’s one called Boomerang.
You will need:
- Biggish blob of BluTack or similar.
- Three lolly sticks, or craft lolly sticks
- Three pieces of thin card about 8cm x 4.5cm
What to do:
- Place a small blob of BluTack at the end of each stick, Stick A, Stick B and Stick C.
- With the blob of BluTack on Stick A facing down, attach the tip of stick B (also facing down) to the Stick A, just over a quarter of the way down the stick. These sticks start to form two sides of a triangle. If you find it hard to picture what we mean then look at Boomerang because it has photos to show you.
- Add Stick C to Stick B in exactly the same way. Then finally take the tip of A and attach it a quarter of the way down on top of C so the three sticks are woven together and make a small triangle between them.
- Attach the oblongs of card to the ends of the sticks, with the sticks in the middle of each card and the long sides along the sticks.
- Hold the boomerang nearly vertically and throw with a flick of the wrist to get the boomerang spinning!
What’s going on?
Each card has a certain amount of lift as it slices through the air, rather like a paper aeroplane. The amount of lift each card receives depends on the speed of air flowing over it. Because the boomerang is spinning, the top card is going forward through the air while the lower cards are going backwards, giving the cards an uneven lift. This difference in lift, combined with the different angle of the cards changes the direction of the boomerang.
With the right amount of twist and a semi-professional throw the boomerang will return.
<< Back to top
