I’ve never actually understood how they can return to the thrower.
In: Physics
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It depends on how you throw it. If you throw it flat then it will not return, only when you throw it on its edge. A boomerang is shaped like a wing. You throw it with a rotation so it keeps stable in flight. The wing shape generates lift to one side. Normally this would cause it to flip over but the rotation keeps it steady. So it keeps getting lift to one side causing it to turn. With a lot of practice you will be able to make it turn just the right amount before it hits the ground that it comes back to you.
Angular momentum (spinning) keeps the boomerang spinning on its axis – i.e. level flight.
The airfoil shape of the blades (like an airplane wing) creates upward lift. So rather than flying in a straight line (on a 45 degree angle), the path of flight bends in an arc.
The combination of these two features cause the boomerang to fly level, but in a curve back to the point of release.
The sides are essentially helicopter blades, but they don’t create lift directly above, but also slightly to the side. You throw them at an angle to the ground, the resulting total lift draws them into a circular flight that ends up back at you.
A boomerang is two devices crammed into one– a wing and a gyroscope. The wing generates lift (meaning the force that holds it up). A gyroscope, however, is a spinning device that when you try to change the axis it is spinning around, instead the axis itself rotates in a different direction. In other words, the lift, applied to spinning object also forces it to change it’s heading. Learning to throw a boomerang involves adjusting the angles it’s thrown at and the rate of spin so that the forces balance, resulting in the boomerang flying around in a large circle at relatively constant height.
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