Why do kites have tails

Anything on the ground can't get pulled down any further than that, but things in the air can get pulled down to ground level. The heavier a kite is the harder it will be to fly. Kites are generally made from lightweight materials so that they will fly easily. If gravity is a force that pulls everything towards the centre of the earth, why don't kites get pulled down to earth?

The force that stops a kite from falling down is called lift. Lift is the force pushing the kite away from the surface of the earth. It is produced by air moving over the top of the kite at a faster speed than the air that is moving over the bottom of the kite.

Daniel Bernoulli, a scientist in the eighteenth century, discovered that the pressure of air becomes lower when it is moving. The faster the air is moving the lower the pressure becomes. A kite is shaped so that air will be slowed down if it is travelling under the lower surface of a kite and will speed up if it is travelling over the upper surface of the kite.

The faster the air moves over the upper surface of the kite the lower the pressure of that air becomes. As the air pressure above the kite becomes lower, the air pressure below the kite pushes the kite up in order to equalize the pressures above and below the wing. The greater the difference between the low pressure above the wing and the higher pressure below the wing, the greater is the amount of lift produced. In order for all this to happen, air needs to be moving over the kite.

So what makes the air flow over the kite? When we fly kites we use a string to hold on to the kite, and to prevent it from being blown away by the wind. Birds move through the air by flapping their wings, while powered aircraft use an engine to push the air towards the back of the plane fast enough to make the aeroplane move forward.

The force that makes something move forward through the air is called thrust. Birds use muscle power to develop thrust, and except for gliders, aeroplanes use motors. A kite cannot produce its own thrust, and instead must rely on being held in place while the wind moves past it.

So the thrust that acts on a kite is produced because the kite is being held in one place by its string while the wind flows around the kite. If there was no wind a kite would only fly if the person holding the kite string started running, making their own wind as air started flowing around the kite.

What stops a kite from flying straight over your head and into the ground on the other side? As the air flows over the surfaces of a kite the wind gets held back a little bit by the roughness of the fabric and the sticks. This friction is called drag. Any kite will always have some drag, and some kites are not able to fly without some extra drag being exerted on them. This additional drag is usually created by the tail of the kite, and allows us to make the kite point in the correct direction.

Air flowing through the tail pulls the bottom of the kite in the direction that the wind is blowing. If more drag is caused by the tail than by the rest of the kite then the kite will always point into the wind. A single, long tail causes a certain amount of drag, but the same tail, cut into several lengths will produce much more drag, because the air is slowed down even more when it has to pass around several strips rather than just one. When the top of a kite turns to one side, the bottom of the kite pivots in the opposite direction.

The drag caused by the tail tries to pull the bottom of the kite back to the centre again. The drag caused by the tail of a kite stops the kite from turning too much to one side or the other. A tail gives a kite lateral stability.

Long tails can get twisted or tangled in turbulent winds. If you are not careful when setting up or packing away, long kite tails are also likely to tangle or twist. When packing up kite tails that are long strips, make sure to take time to flatten them while rolling them up like a bandage. Roll it up tight and compact, so that it does not twist against itself.

To prevent it from unravelling, use a rubber band around the roll. If your kite tail has been extremely twisted around itself, try and flatten it out best you can over the course of a day before attempting to roll it up. If your kite tail is tangled, resist the temptation to try and pull an end as this can tighten the loops into a huge knot.

Take some time and patiently unravel the kite tail — having someone to help you flatten and roll up the kite tail as you go can be also very helpful! Knots can tighten very quickly if you are not careful. While the kite tail is still wet, undo any knots and then let it air dry completely before rolling up and storing it. Do not use heat to dry it — for example using a hair dryer, or putting it in the dryer, as the material can shrink and you may end up with a much smaller kite tail.

We have found that clipping one end of the kite tail to a fan on low speed can speed up the drying process. This is a common problem if you have a kite tail s attached to the left and right wingtips of your kite. First, remove all tails to check if the cause of the problem is indeed the tails affecting the balance of your kite. If your kite continues to spin without the tails, your kite may be unbalanced. For tips on how to fix this, click here. If your kite no longer spins without the tails, then the problem lies with your tails.

In most cases, your kite tails may not be of the same length or symmetrical if these are not flat strips. To check for the same length, hold one end up to the other, then check all the way down the length to see if there are any discrepancies. If one is longer than the other, trim the longer one to the same length as the shorter tail. Sometimes, it may also be that the material for one tail has stretched or experienced wear-and-tear.

You should replace that tail if this is the case. In such cases, retrieve your kite and all tails and line art attached to it, then remove the biggest item.

You should then do a test flight. Repeat this until your kite is able to be launched AND is stable in the sky. If your kite does fly without the item you removed, it means that the item was putting too much drag on your kite. If you still want to display the item while flying your kite, you can swap out other line art. Alternatively, you can use a larger kite, or a kite that generates more lift, for example: box kites, sleds, or parafoils.

We have discussed why a kite needs a tail, but it is also important to understand that some kites like box kites do not need tails due to their design providing the stability needed in high-wind and high-altitude flights. One can also add tails to sides of the kite. Need to make sure both the tails are of the same length or else kite may incline towards the side having longer tail. You can also make a loop by connecting both sides of the tail. Loop tails create more drag.

After adding the tail fly your kite in moderate and strong wind to check if more or longer tail is required. Did it fly straight steady in both low and strong wind? Or when you flew the kite running? Now after adding the tail what was the result? Did it make it more stable? Before construction could begin, someone needed to get a line across the Niagara River Gorge.

Homan successfully flew a kite from one side of the gorge to the other over the treacherous rapids below and, after securing his kite string, heavier line was fed across until a steel cable could connect both shores and bridge construction could begin. How does a kite fly? As someone runs with a kite, the wind going head-on into the kite causes a lift force on it.

This force is perpendicular to the wind, pushing the kite up. At the same time, the force of drag pulls the kite back, in the direction that the wind is going. There are many different kite designs. Some are very old, like traditional Chinese and Japanese kites. Some designs are very new, like the dynamic stunt kites used in sport-kite flying competitions.

Their modern materials and designs make them ultra-maneuverable. You can decorate it using crayons, markers or other media. Tape the straws in place. Using a hole punch, carefully punch the two holes marked by the black circles. Tie a string through each hole. Tie them tight, but not so much that you tear the paper. Tie the opposite end of both strings together to one end of a paper clip. Tie one end of this string to the other end of the paper clip.

Your sled kite is ready to fly! If the bag has handles, cut with scissors straight across to remove the handles.