14 DAY TRIAL // Boomerangs were the world's first heavier than air flying machines. Though when you say boomerang you think of Australian Aborigines, who have used both boomerangs and hunting sticks for many thousands of years, research has shown that ancient tribes in Europe used special throwing axes. Also, in ancient Egypt, a special type of stick was exclusively used by the pharaohs for hunting birds.
In fact, the oldest boomerang found so far was discovered in a cave in the Carpathian Mountains in Poland, on the European continent and is believed to be about 20,000 years old.
The word "boomerang" was recorded in 1882 as "bou-mar-rang:, from the language of the Turuwal people of the George's River near Port Jackson, Australia. But no one knows how they were invented.
Even though they look simple, they use a very complex combination of physics and aerodynamics to perform their amazing returning flights.
A boomerang is an airfoil (the shape of a wing or of a propeller, rotor or turbine blade), basically made of two wings joined at an angle of between 80 and 120 degrees, although it can have more than two wings. The wings are arranged so they work best when the boomerang is rotating rather than flying straight like an aeroplane.
The combination of spin with forward motion causes uneven lift on the wings because at any given time, one wing is rotating forward in the same direction as the flight, while the other is rotating backwards, against the direction of flight.
This means the air flow over the wing on one side of the disk of rotation has a higher airspeed than the other wing and so generates more lift. The uneven lift tries to tip the boomerang over, but just like leaning a moving bike over makes it turn, the boomerang's spin twists the tipping force at right angles and gives the boomerang a curving flight.
Another tipping force, caused by the center of lift being forward of the center of gravity, is also twisted to make the boomerang "lie down" in flight.
The name for both this twisting motions is gyroscopic precession.
Although they were originally designed as a weapon and used to cripple or even kill animals, and sometimes even human enemies, now, most of them are used for sports, with even a world cup being held every second year, with teams from Germany and the US as dominant winners.
Most sport boomerangs are in range of 2.5 to about 4 ounces (70 to 114 grams) and can fly between 25 and 40 yards (22 to 36 meters), and the mastering of this throwing art is quite some effort and time consuming.
What do you call a boomerang that doesn't come back to you? A stick.