How does a boomerang work?

[ByronBanquo]

Boomerang... boomerang.... sounds like a sex position.

[MrFattyfatfatboy]

Im Australian and you took away the magic, nah i didnt mean that,hope yuo enjoyed Aus,though looking at the weather probaly not.

[ECK0CRAFT]

*Ehem* camerawoman.

[KeroGaidanEmpireTV]

Camerawoman

[MrTetris88]

Super awesome! Thanks that was really cool!

[TheFieryBird]

Great information regarding Boomerang!

Your dual ability as a physics and humorist act together like a boomerang! :D

[oneworldfamily]

Ooo, nice boomerang you got there Dr Tim!

[lemonslemons2010]

oooooooooooooohhhhhh, you is soooooooooooooo hawt!

[claudiamontanez]

i'll just stick to using mine through a 3ds and the hands of young link :)

[nihilumgehenna]

Lovin` this channel :)

[thepixieful]

best painted one ever, we used to throw them a lot.....never hit myself in the head yet. lol.

[TAPICTURES]

Hahaha die Kamera Frau getroffen ? ? ?

[stayAU]

Maybe a woman is standing near camera man? :)

[yellowcougar18]

I am gonna watch this again. Because this was awesome.

[Mr4YOUR]

He explaining to us how to use a boomerand at 2012... Now i get it. A lot of people will try that and they all fail, making all the boomerangs get to Simpson's nuclear central and be alive to kill everyone who throwed them once.

[FutureFrontLA]

Great video, try to use some better audio equipment in the future

[AzzJ12]

You sir deserve a like!



[JoGurlzStuff]

You so smart!

[thoughtchallenge]

I had one once, I managed to get it to return on me one time and decided that was enough....it can be very scary seeing one of these things flying back at you at 50+ MPH.

[SailorBarsoom]

Thanks. I knew the airfoil stuff, but the gyroscope stuff brings it all together. Now boomerangs make sense to me.

I've got one, a plastic yellow cheapie, but now when my nephew asks, "so why does it come back?" I'll have a good answer.

[MrMsrtube]

that was a great video,i'm gonna get me a boomerang and give it a whirl,thanks Tim

[EpiTone900]

nice. more educational videos please :)

[carmonaragorn]

...camerawoman in this case dude

[SugarBaby1013]

Tim......you are awesome at explaining how it all works. I'm enjoying your vids.....they are informative as well as funny :)

[sclaybou]

I needed this last year when one of my first graders brought a boomerang to school...it was very hard to get it to come back...



[Hyyra]

omg

[d3viou5]

Omg your in Sydney!!!!!????? Where will you be I will be there. !

[jeneb52]

Very good explanation Tim, almost forgot that you are scientist too.

[tarose71]

awesome video tim, especially your aim... we had a massive authentic boomerang when we were kids, which was quite large, apparently made to take down a kangaroo... not sure if you could actually get the thing to return that way unless you are very tall & strong, but it definitely didnt need to come back if you hit the roo, because i think the roo would fall over with a piece of wood that size hitting it at speed... it's a shame we broke it as kids (sure my dad wasnt happy about that)

[gsand07]

Thanks for the lesson, Tim! :)

[Cyntillation01]

Apparently 2 viewers are cameramen.



[ckreuzb]

Awesome Tim, more like this please!

[naesmans]

judging by how he explained in detail how it works, hitting the camera-man was definitely his main objective...... :P

great video, something to try when i go to Australia

[maximusblade]

Nice :)

[crankatorium]

This has to be the most intellectual youtube comments video. there is a distinct lack of profanity and racism. Bravo gentlemen.

By the way, the video is ok. start the jokes earlier so it's more interesting.

[crookedtool]

Your explanation of the function of an airfoil is wrong. Planes like the Extra have a symmetrical foil, with an equal amount of surface on the top and bottom. They can be flown upside down as well, which would not be possible with your explanation.

The right answer is Boyle's law of fluid dynamics, adhesion / cohesion. The air hits the curve causing it to adhere to the top of the wing as it flows across and is deflected downward. This volume of air moving down is what gives the wing lift.

[javajunkie101]

I'd love for you to explain this to my students.  They would have ablast!

[Maxdwolf]

Aeronautics is all fun until someone loses an eye.

[tgoyer]

I knew about the airfoil, but not the gyroscope.  Thanks!

[databaseexpert]

About 50% of the people who watched, LIKED this video... of course! It is awesome! LIKE!

[ZarakiZamusha]

Nicely done Mr. Lee. Your audio quality needs a lot of work though. I can barely hear you mate!

[ZarakiZamusha]

@ZarakiZamusha I mean: Hear you, mate. I'm pretty sure you weren't mating during this video.

[carefulcarpenter]

"Physics is fine for explaining simple actions such as how boomerangs work; but to explain women, and how to get one to return, requires an advanced poetic intuition, magnetism, and a dose of cosmic magic"

~~cc

[Maxdwolf]

@carefulcarpenter You're not supposed to throw them away in the first place. ;)

[carefulcarpenter]

@Maxdwolf How they come at all is the greatest mystery. Some refer to it as the Law of Attraction; but the scientific method does not even chance to theorize such things. I think of it as a dance; and I am a careful dancer.

"Life is a dance of opposites: this is the unifying principle of the universe; likes attract and create water properties; accordingly, through differences and the intensity of contrasting energy is created a fire dance of dynamic Quality; a cycle is perpetuated"

~~cc

[gsand07]

@carefulcarpenter BULLSEYE! XO

[thepixieful]

@carefulcarpenter very true.....card tricks are good and candy.

[Ramsez]

cameraman?

[nix207]

now i wanna own a gyroscope for my desk. oh, and maybe a boomerang too.

[drukenhard]

WTF....you're in Sydney?

When and where are your shows mate?

[rongrite]

Lift: as the wing cuts through the strata of air, it curves that air, and "falls" into the greatest curvature, it makes in that air. This is why the "top" of the wing is curved, and the underside is flat. The top curve, bends the air more, and the wing is drawn into the greatest curvature. Gravity works the same way, in the strata of space, as the curvature of the Earth increases towards its center of gravity, things fall in the direction of that greater curvature, of space around a mass. Cheers

[naptic]

@rongrite what, are you sure? mass has a attractive force no matter the shape that is what I believe is gravity. the bigger the mass stronger the force moon -> earth -> sun -> that other bit (galaxy)

I would like to hear your working

not sure I would get in your plane :)

[rongrite]

@naptic There isn't an actual explanation for lift. The wing was designed through trial and error. Formulas have been worked out for adjustments for specific wing designs, but they are calculated from data in wind tunnels. A complete reason for lift has never been formulated. Theories for gravity are also full of holes. But if one is talking about space-time, and we know that time slows closer to a gravitational source. Then gravity is caused by the curvature of space-time, around mass.

[naptic]

@rongrite yeah there is he, just did, Take a4 paper,hold two corners, put to chin, blow and paper lifts, paper is flat, air speed on top is faster than under, air p/psi is more on under side than the faster top side, yeah time slows but its the mass making the force on a e- e+ level. Two boats would come together due to this force ( if there no others) This is school lev stuff .

Why would space time curve round mass

[crookedtool]

@naptic That explanation doesn't fit symmetrical airfoils which have the same curvature on both the top and bottom, or why asymmetrical foils are able to produce lift upside down.

[naptic]

@crookedtool symmetrical airfoils need attack angle that changes air speed of top and bottom like the paper that is the same on both sides. same asymmetrical foils upside down wont be as efficient and a lower stall angle/working window but still can make lift. I liking this :) and your way of thinking

[rongrite]

@naptic Absolutely, but forcing air under a piece of paper, is a different sort of lift, than the flight of wing through the air. By looking for the greatest curvature in the air, is where the greatest lift will be. Sure, it's something that you can't see and only can imagine, but like standing upright in gravity; one is following the vertical field line of gravity, to balance. Like balancing the end of the handle of broom on your fingertip, there is a preferred position, vertical.

[naptic]

@rongrite no blow on top side of the paper

[NightAire]

Bad sound; GREAT content!  :) Thanks for explaining something it turns out I only though I understood. (I can now say I learned something today!)

[HerrKolosimo]

If you really trust the coming back of the boomerang, you throw it from the ferry over the sea...

[TheTslat]

Was the boomerang ok?

[lan600000]

well, i know what im getting for my birthday. heck, ill get it tomorrow

[LucasKussowski]

That is awesome Tim. I look forward to seeing you in Melbourne in April mate. You're the man! :)

[uttoushii]

Awesome video sir! I actually have a pretty big interest in the history of the boomerang, and yet had no idea how they work haha

[anmoose]

Ooooops... Well you weren't standing there when I calculated the trajectory...

[nightkraawler]

hey ..this is more educational,and less funny, oh wait.. she got hit by it..that was funny.

[terminatorgir]

i'm so freaking jealous, my dream is going to aussieland

[normgold]

One of the clearest explanations I've ever seen. Congratulations.

Dr. Norman R. Goldblatt, Ph.D. Physics

[txlee1]

@normgold Thanks Norm!

[kxmode]

@normgold "Hello, Norman." (Seinfeld moment) :)

[BarbaricGoose]

So, Lee...

MAGNETS--HOW DO THEY WORK?!

[naptic]

@BarbaricGoose -+-+-+-+-+-+

[johnnyboy28]

or camera wo-man



[mrbadx19]

now if you could get it to auto-rotate, it could hover like a helicopter!

[SystemFreez]

"and this is what happens when you don't account for the position of the cameraman" XD

[millertas]

Australia has the Best Native Population.

[stayAU]

@millertas yes thanks to what my Cherokee grandfather help build you'd be speaking Japanese about now.

[millertas]

@stayAU How do you know I don't?

[stayAU]

@millertas because you said Australia has the best Native Population =D. We're pretty good natured here in the US...a few cranky ones but everyone has those.

[millertas]

@stayAU Sumi-masen, Arigato anata obilsan.

[Eowyn47]

Love it! Always wondered how boomerangs worked.  Gyroscopes rock!

[bahamiangreek101]

Great video Tim!

[shanghaibenny2]

Boy! Those Australian aborigines were really clever to understand lift, thrust and gyroscopic procession. Too bad they couldn't find a pilot to fly the thing. I would have liked to attend one of their lectures.

[puellanivis]

The current understanding I heard what that the Bernoulli effect is not the primary form of lift from an airfoil, but rather it's due to the angle of attack building pressure under the wing.

[naptic]

@puellanivis And the Gyro effect stops it flipping making the arc?

[kriegmeister3000]

Liked

[UlrichRuler13]

The cameraman was either a woman or the boomerang decked him in the balls.

[PhysicsMasterMind]

The voice of the cameraman is female. Was that your wife?

[UlrichRuler13]

But will it blend?

[catfishmudflap]

Fascinating video.

[desu38]

Boomerangs are gyroscopes? That makes them 10 times cooler!

[tshalik]

the camera-person was hit on purpose...lol...

[blva888]

I go to youtube to be counterproductive and not learn stuff. Dang it now I have to spend more wasted time on youtube to counter act what I just learned.

[tallercaller]

Wow, I've had an 'educational moment' while wasting my time looking at YouTube videos....

[Snapscape]

...and Olivia Newton-John.

[SkinnyBabe38]

Great video....Thanks for the information. Happy 2012.

Sasha

[ranchy888]

Have you gone back to being a scientist, Tim? Where is the comedy? :P

[damarh]

@ranchy888 i think the comedy was when he called the camerawoman a man ;p

[neppy503]

Would also work great if an adversary tried to sneak up behind you?

Another great video!!!

[SyncopatedProgress]

More science like this in the future please!

[stayAU]

Love scientists your minds are as vast and fascinating as the night sky :)

[wizztay]

Everybody who throws it should play an Elvis song during it.

[uke52]

its*

great video! :)

[defect530]

Oh no is the lady alright?

[adamitshelanu]

That last you threw must of been one of those old Polish boomerangs!  :^)

[RespectMyHate]

that gyroscope demonstration was cool.

[ZHX1138]

That's a really cool video. On how and why that works. Gyroscopes for the win!

[ClayThrower]

Can't we just agree that it works by magic and be satisfied?

[JRM2882]

@ClayThrower um it's not magic, it's quite obviously flying ninjas

[gresch0]

@ClayThrower don't watch a video called "how does a boomerang work?", then...

[sonic503789]

@ClayThrower i call hax

[imshippyupup]

@ClayThrower Agreed. This is obviously a spirit Tim has conjured which he can get to do his biding by flashing his amazing smile at it.

[TomValedro]

"gyroscope" wow, that's a cool word.

[dddaaaannnnn]

Brilliant and hilarious . . . you've got it all.

[ItsBiwiPwice]

Yay for stuff

[ryan50ryan]

Now you can say you've hit someone with a boomerang... FOR SCIENCE!

[Jimmy171194]

Wait wait wait. If an aeroplane wings works like that, how can a plane fly upside down???

[zalom1modur]

@Jimmy171194 Enough engine power will help

[PureZOOKS]

@Jimmy171194 It essentially nose-dives in order to stay level.

[sandboxtestbed]

@Jimmy171194 That's a good question. They have to change the angle of attack.

[andrespereyda]

nice job. it would be cool if you gave a scientific and funny explanation of how sex works

[FHomeBrew]

Great! So, is the classic boomerang an optimized model? I can imagine a boomerang shaped like a + would be more effective. I suppose there's a lot of shapes that can work on this principle.

[DidntKnowWhatToPut1]

Camerawoman* 

[04ray25number2]

You make learning fun.

[gravityvertigo13579]

@jedimaster303 Shouldn't the faster moving air (now on the underside of the upside down wing) pull it downward?

[DefensorsPacis]

This was absolutely wonderful. I've always loved boomarangs quite a lot though my childhood and even today, but I never really knew why it was.

Nice!