Four Forces Affect Things That Fly: Weight is the force of gravity. There are a lot of other kite designs. Lift, Weight, Drag, and Thrust) affect kites in the same way they affect airplanes, and anything else that flies. A data table will enable students to track each kite flight (flight number), changes to the tail, reason for change, and description of the kite’s behavior. Also, the moving of the hot air (thermals) has a great influence in flight. … Observations and results When you tried to fly the kite without a tail, did it spin and roll around a lot, and not really fly at all? How does a kite fly, you might ask. The vertical velocity of the kite … ). Birds and planes – explore the importance of wing shape and size and how this determines the flight capabilities of birds and planes. Since the dynamics that affect kite flight are complex, it’s a good idea to learn which variables (e.g. While having fun, they will discover many of the variables and forces involved in flight, which we will discuss further during the Flight show. LET’S GO FLY A KITE! In Catch the Wind, students learn that the shapes and parts of kites affect how they By Tracy L. Coskie and M. Michelle Hornof The Wonder and Science of Kite Flight: The variety of kite shapes, sizes and types often fills us with wonder as we look into the sky. A data table will enable students to track each kite flight (flight number), changes to the tail, reason for change, and description of the kite’s behavior. Kite Engineering with Calculations The complexity of kite flight is best analyzed mathematically—with the help of software—but a conceptual understanding can help us appreciate the physics behind it. The four forces of flight (i.e. You can choose from several types of kites and change the shape, size, and materials to produce your own design. Each kite performs different at different wind speeds,accordingly to many factors (construction style is the most important) but as a rule of thumb it is not recommended to fly when the wind exceeds 19mph. After you build the kite you will use it for a series of experiments, testing different variables such as speed, line length, tail length, and any other variable you want to test. Kites are another excellent source of interdisciplinary education projects.One of our coolest project was to attach a Spy Cam to a kite and take some aerial videos.Compared with airplanes or helicopters the kites are much cheaper and you can fly them in stronger winds. It acts in a downward direction—toward the center of the Earth. Simple Stunt Kite: This is a derivative work of the very simple kite by Verdantic . This is very obvious in those giant inflatable show kites that are seen at kite festivals. Altogether, these forces cause the kite to go back and up when you fly it. Use the internet or books or magazines at a library to find plans for making different kinds of kites. What other variables affect how well kite designs work? Kite making and kite flying offer a realm of possi-bilities for investigation. Will you be able to You can use the online kite flight simulator from NASA to test the variables of kite flight virtually. the tail act a down force to keep the nose of the kit pointed up into the relative wind. (Yes it flies. Flat kites like the traditional dragon kite is an example. You can change the values of different variables which affect the design and immediately see the new flight characteristics. Though kites come in many shapes and sizes, the forces which act on the kite are the same for all kites. Information about a simulated kite in the air are also displayed at the top right of the program. Sliders at the bottom right of the program allow for the wind speed, altitude, line length and payload weight to be changed. This diagram shows lift and drag on a kite. A kite has a fulcrum where the string attaches to the kite to provide tension, and create a surface for the wing to create downwash, and a area of lower pressure behind it (lift). Here is a simple summary of all the reasons your single-line kite flies at the height it does.The reasons for any other behavior, such as looping, are not covered here. Blog. You can go directly to NASA's kite simulator page with this link: http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/kiteprog.html; You can also use the flight simulator to design a kite before you build it. Then test your new kite designs as you did in this activity.