April 6, 2001

     Kite Flying

Many people buy and fly kites early in the spring in Minnesota.  Some of us fly kites at any time of year.  Kites did not originate in Minnesota nor in America.  China is the birthplace of kites, and from there kite flying spread in the past 2,500 years to Korea, Japan, Thailand, India, Europe and finally America.

The kite is really an anchored airplane, and although the comparison is not exact, the two have much in common.  Both the airplane and the kite stay aloft because of the movement of air against or across a nearly plane surface.

The airplane has a motor to pull it through and against the air by means of a propeller, thus making its own breeze, and the kite has a string to hold it in position while the wind pushes against its surface.  Both actions hold the heavier-than-air objects off the earth, overcoming the force of gravity.

In the case of the airplane, the action of the air passing over the curved surface of the wings gives a lift.  Kite surfaces are subject to the action of air moving steadily against the kite, opposed by the pulling of the line in a nearly opposite direction; the result is support for the kite.