Will a Boomerang Work in Zero Gravity?
January 23rd, 2008
This March an astronaut will test a boomerang inside the international space station, to see if it will work in zero gravity. What an interesting experiment—it’s almost as good as the hammer and feather drop on the moon.
Link: http://www.abc.net.au/…
[link]David Bradley Says:
January 24th, 2008 at 2:29 am
It’s a nice public relations exercise rather than being a serious mechanics experiment, of course. A boomerang needs at least some downward force to act against the variable uplift from the aerofoil effect as it spins through the air.
I will eat my hat (and it’s a very heavy duty Thinsulate one at this time of year) if they get it to do a full circuit…how big is the ISS by the way, I didn’t think there was enough room to swing a cat let alone a boomerang.
db
[link]Chad Cloman Says:
January 24th, 2008 at 7:45 am
Yeah, I was wondering about the space limitations as well. It’d be like throwing a boomerang in my living room.