What is a kite?
A: A kite is a tethered heavier-than-air or lighter-than-air craft with wing
surfaces that react against the air to create lift and drag forces.
A kite consists of what?
A: Wings, tethers, and anchors.
Kites often have a bridle and tail to do what?
A: To guide the face of the kite so the wind can lift it.
Some kite designs don’t need a bridle; box kites can
have what?
A: A single attachment point.
A kite may have fixed or moving anchors that can do
what?
A: Balance the kite.
The name is derived from kite, the hovering what?
A: Bird of prey.
The lift that sustains the kite in flight is generated
when air moves where?
A: Around the kite's surface, producing low pressure above and high pressure
below the wings.
The interaction with the wind also generates what?
A: Horizontal drag along the direction of the wind.
The resultant force vector from the lift and drag force
components is opposed by what?
A: The tension of one or more of the lines or tethers to which the kite is
attached.
The anchor point of the kite line may be static or
what?
A: Moving (e.g., the towing of a kite by a running person, boat,
free-falling anchors as in paragliders and fugitive parakites or vehicle).
The same principles of fluid flow apply in what?
A: Liquids, so kites can be used in underwater currents.
Man-lifting kites were made for what?
A: Reconnaissance, entertainment and during development of the first
practical aircraft, the biplane.
Sport kites can be flown how?
A: In aerial ballet, sometimes as part of a competition.
Power kites are multi-line steerable kites designed to
do what?
A: To generate large forces which can be used to power activities such as
kite surfing, kite landboarding, kite buggying and snow kiting.
Where were kites invented?
A: In Asia, though their exact origin can only be speculated.
The oldest depiction of a kite is from a mesolithic
period cave painting in Muna island, southeast Sulawesi,
Indonesia, which
has been dated from when?
A: 9500–9000 years B.C.
It depicts a type of kite called kaghati , which are
still used by whom?
A: Modern Muna people.
By 549 AD paper kites were certainly being flown, as it
was recorded that in that year a paper kite was used as what?
A: A message for a rescue mission.
Ancient and medieval Chinese sources describe kites
being used for what?
A: Measuring distances, testing the wind, lifting men, signaling, and
communication for military operations.
The earliest known Chinese kites were what?
A: Flat (not bowed) and often rectangular.
After its introduction into India, the kite further
evolved into what?
A: The fighter kite, known as the patang in India, where thousands are flown
every year on festivals such as Makar Sankranti.
Kites were known throughout Polynesia, as far as New
Zealand, with the assumption being what?
A: That the knowledge diffused from China along with the people.
Anthropomorphic kites made from cloth and wood were
used in religious ceremonies for what?
A: To send prayers to the gods.
Kites were late to arrive in Europe, although
windsock-like banners were known and used by whom?
A: The Romans.
Stories of kites were first brought to Europe by whom?
A: Marco Polo towards the end of the 13th century.
