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My boomerang I built will only turn just a bit back towards me, but that's it, but why? Is it my design, I incorporated the recommended dimensions from the website I used, such as an 107 degree concave, an 80 mm chord length near the center, and a 60mm chord length near the tips.Or is it what I incorporated into my design? Each wing is approximately 12.25 inches, and each wing has a curve, which I included to be more aerodynamic. I'm pretty sure the dihedrals are both neutral, except during the building phase when one wing had a higher dihedral than the other. My dad said that the wings should have an equal amount of wood, and during the sanding phase I shaved more wood off some sides than the others. Try to explain to me keeping in mind that I'm 16. Please help me, thanks.

Heres a video of me throwing it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoOPpOl-oAE&feature=youtu.be

DanielSank
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Ben
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1 Answers1

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Looking at your video, it appears that the boomerang is not turning fast enough to return. This typically means that it is too heavy.

I wrote a couple of answers earlier [here](https://physics.stackexchange.com/a/156122/26969_ and here to explain some of the physics of boomerangs; perhaps you will find the physics there hard to understand, but then these are quite subtle machines. Basically, the combination of rotation and forward velocity of the boomerang means that one side feels more lift than the other, and this produces torque. If you have ever played with a gyroscope you know that torque on a spinning object causes precession - instead of turning in the direction you apply torque, it seems to turn in another direction. That's exactly what happens in a well built boomerang.

Now the rate of turning depends on both the torque (the difference in lift between the two sides of the boomerang) and the angular momentum (how heavy it is). If it's too heavy, the torque is not enough to make it turn. That's most likely your problem.

Community
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Floris
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