Duration 2:44

Why Do Boomerangs Come Back | Earth Lab

by BBC Earth Lab

273 971 watched

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Published 23 Aug 2013

How do boomerangs come back to their thrower? James May explains the unique aerodynamics. Subscribe to Earth Lab for more fascinating science videos - http://bit.ly/SubscribeToEarthLab All the best Earth Lab videos http://bit.ly/EarthLabOriginals Best of BBC Earth videos http://bit.ly/TheBestOfBBCEarthVideos James May's Q&A: With his own unique spin, James May asks and answers the oddball questions we've all wondered about from 'What Exactly Is One Second?' to 'Is Invisibility Possible?' Here at BBC Earth Lab we answer all your curious questions about science in the world around you. If there’s a question you have that we haven’t yet answered or an experiment you’d like us to try let us know in the comments on any of our videos and it could be answered by one of our Earth Lab experts.

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Comments - 305

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@iuliuteodorradu9 years ago Please note that the Carpathian mountains stretch from the Czech Republic to Romania. They are not in Iraq (or Syria) 91
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@GeorgeSPAMTindle6 years ago I once bought a good boomerang, reach the instructions and followed them. On about the third or fourth throw I stood in amazement as the boomerang soared upward and arced around as it did what a boomerang should do. I didn't really believe that it was happening, I kept my gaze fixed on the flying boomerang right until a sharp pain to my left-hand side roused me out of my trance like state. ... 8
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@BBCEarthScience11 years ago Yep I think our boomerang took the lazy option and didn't venture far enough for the actual Carpathian Mountains... Back to Geography class for us! 27
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@billysgeo10 years ago Nice video there!
(if you don't count the Carpathians been a bit out on the map...) 40
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@BBCEarthScience11 years ago Well spotted! Small error in the Gfx. Each wing of the boomerang is bent at 60-80 degrees from a dead-straight stick, so one tip is actually 100-120 degrees away from the other tip. Eagle eyed Head Squeeze subscribers don't miss a thing! ... 25
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@RohitKumar-hz9bj8 years ago I don't understand how an obtuse angle can be less than 90 degrees? The angle between the wings of the boomerang is shown to lie between 60-80 degrees. How can this be possible, the angle is obtuse. 36
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@Darknes2DWC11 years ago So you mean... it's not because it loves me?!? *sob* 8
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@amyyyyy2411 years ago I love how he's wearing a shirt with his face on it 3
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@Seldomheardabout3 years ago So glad it's an Aussie narrator. Must be authentic.
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@TheAndrew19879 years ago the carpathian mountains are in eastern europe not in iraq/iran 54
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@joao4321neto3 years ago I like this video. It’s short and straight to the point
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@DoNotPushHere7 years ago At last someone explains boomerangs as a propeller!! 1
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@JohnnyFalstaff6 years ago These videos are great fun, very informative and have good humour. It's also very, very, very, very good that these are not made by an American network. We'd see the same information with the humour replaced by ominous promises of how these things could kill you, span a whole half hour with everything repeated at least twenty times. ...
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@philipberthiaume23147 years ago Almost a half kilometer is pretty cool. I assume that if it hits anything, its return trajectory is changed with a loss in velocity. 1
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@0YouCanCallMeAl09 years ago I'd like to see that 6 minute flight, seems impossible without some external lift - thermal, or ridge or similar. Even still it'd have to keep that rotation energy going for so long. Mind boggling. 5
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@EvocativeKitsune11 years ago I was nearly assaulted by a returning boomerang.
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@RFC351411 years ago Probably "throwing stick" (in Egyptian), which is what most australian aborigines called theirs (in their respective languages). There were boxes full of boomerangs in Tutankhamun's tomb, for example, and there are a few pictures showing them being used to hunt birds. ... 1
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@Lerpzoid11 years ago They were found as far as Egypt!? That was a hell of a throw!
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@ethanthomas24698 years ago Once me, my brother, and fiew of my friends were playing around with boomerangs, one of my friends Keven (not the real name) threw the boomerang and it went soaring. The boomering the turned around, came back, and hit him in the forhead. He was crying while i was dieing (id bet my bottom dollar that i spelled that wrong) of laughter. After appologiseing, and makeing shure Kevin didnt need medical treatment, we contenued playing with the boomerangs after getting bike healmets. ... 3
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@MrRobloMan11 years ago James May = Most underrated host on Top Gear
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@evildude10911 years ago You didn't have a boomerang. You had a stick.
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@roachdoggjr19407 months ago James May is the last guy on earth that I would expect to wear a picture of himself on a t-shirt.
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@B0XMATTER11 years ago Thumbs up for Mr May and all the people at Head Squeeze for pushing me to subscribe! BECAUSE I ALREADY DID WHEN I SAW YOUR FANTASTIC VIDEOS. YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME-ER THAN ANYTHINGZ IN DA W0RDL. Keep at it.
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@DoctorFragnito11 years ago As an Australian, I can tenn you right now that kind of boomerang was never intended to return and will never return.
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@OMGLOL3818 years ago I watched this whole episode in 0.5 speed, needless to say, I shan't be doing it again. 4
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@miroshimaAM11 years ago I love how they don't beg for subscribers all the time anymore
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@nates95368 years ago 6 minute flight eh? Pretty sure dropping it out of an airplane doesn't count 12
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@Chasn55511 years ago The first James May video where he actually doesn't tell you to subscribe
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@thelasthallow11 years ago I was hoping for a demonstration of someone throwing a boomerang and it coming back.
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@ianc490111 years ago I believe they used kangaroo tendon for spears because it's easily shaped and can be over 2 meters long, not much use as a bow though. To my mind, the boomerang is the most unlikely weapon to be developed because it's very difficult to make using stone tools, difficult to use if it's not made really well and has limited uses unless you are very highly skilled at every aspect of their design and construction. It's not something that comes about by a string of accidents and then catches on. ... 1
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@jetsethi11 years ago It's never a waste. The impossible becomes possible becomes probable becomes likely becomes reality. 1
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@NightEye8711 years ago The figure had both arms on top of each other. If you then rotate it (CW/CCW does not matter at all), it's over 90 degrees. If in the picture the arms were - as you say - in an angle of 180 degrees; then you would be correct. ...
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@jaymz_rg10033 years ago I got a boomerang to come back to me, but there was no applause 😢
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@Zagardal11 years ago Over six minutes? that's some warlock stuff right there
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@RFC351411 years ago You might as well say that it's illogical anyone would develop bows and arrows since slings work fine. Anyway, they did make some spears and bows, but both of those need long pieces of elastic hardwood, which weren't exactly common in Australia or Egypt (the earliest known boomerangs were made of ivory, BTW). Short bows aren't very accurate, and boomerangs are quite efficient for hunting emus (aim at the neck and you can miss by almost half the boomerang's width and still get a hit). ...
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@GoldDemonDragon11 years ago I randomly googled James May, everyone else do it, it's hilarious
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@vladutcornel8 years ago English are just European Americans. They have no idea where the Carpathian Mountains are... 22
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@darezzi9711 years ago Wait, there was no 'Like a boomerang returns to you when you throw it, you can return to Head Squeeze after every new video by simply clicking on the subscribe button'?
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@Peepsydinks11 years ago It is not over 90 degrees, degrees is measured clockwise, meaning that while it is flat, that is considered a 180 degree angle, if you were to raise the left side up a bit that is 5, 10, 15 etc degrees. For it to be over 90 degrees it would have to bend more to the right, not left. ...
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@Hannah_Em11 years ago No, as in the angle that the second arm makes from the straight line through the direction of the first. The opposite angle in a semicircle, not a full circle, essentially
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@templarthade11 years ago This one was awesome but left me craving more details. I can Google them, of course, but this vid could've done to be a bit longer. :) Maybe you under-estimated boomerang love?
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@allanknight8438 years ago Hello James. What was that pen in your video? My friend says it's a Mont Blanc. Thanx
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@mcforge11 years ago I stand corrected. I really should have checked a map beforehand, but you only have so much of a lunch break at work :P
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@BERNDWERK3 years ago 60°-80°? Impossible! An angle like this must have more than 90°! I suppose, you mean 100°-120°, didn't you? 1
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@MontyBGud11 years ago No, he would say "on that bomb shell it is time to end thank you for watching" and then end the video. lol :)
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@intheshitter11 years ago I remember in school we use to make boomerangs buy getting 2 wooden rulers and use lacky bands to join them in the middle. These things flew for ages. Then someone had the bright idea to put nails in them...
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@McTrollinftw11 years ago and i still have no idea why a boomerang comes back. 1
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@425Lewis11 years ago Next part add an actual throw. Allowing us to view the proper hand position with launch angle :)
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@BannedEvECharacter11 years ago You got the Carpathian mountains location wrong on the map.
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@kasuha11 years ago Many inaccuracies in this one. 0:42 - carpathian mountains are about 1600 km northwest from the place where they are drawn. 1:03 - that's not 60-80 degrees. 120-160 is more like it. 1:40 - this image is all wrong. What's turning is not the boomerang (it's turning all the time) but ist rotational axis which is perpendicular to the boomerang as it's drawn there. So the boomerang turns from "/" to "-" and then to "\" ... roughly, seen through eyes of the one who threw it. ...
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@ElNeroDiablo11 years ago It's 60-80 degrees from a dead-straight stick (so one tip is 100-120 degrees away from the other tip), not 60-80 degrees bend BETWEEN the tips. So if you got 3 boomerangs with a 60 degree angle (120 from tip to tip) then attached them so one wing of each overlapped with a wing of another, you'd get effectively a 3-blade propeller (which is 120 degrees gap between each blade). ...
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@eyymile11 years ago James I have a question. Why do some wounds leave scars while others heal perfectly fine?
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@mrnickbig13 years ago Wow, May was GROSSLY incorrect, especially with regards to the gyroscopic effect. Gyroscopic effect only provides a bit of STABILITY to help keep the wings aligned. The trajectory of the boomerang (why it comes back) is due to the DIFFERENCE IN LIFT generated by the advancing blade and receding blade. The blade rotating forward has more wind flowing over it, generating more lift, than the blade rotating backward. As the forward speed is reduced by drag, the boomerang will tend to flatten out with repect to the gropund, and make close to a vertical landing. Hunting boomerangs (kylies) have symetrical airfoils that don't generate significant lift, therefore they fly straight, no matter how fast they spin. DUH! ... 1
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@davidzyzz193 years ago My father bought me one for Christmas a long time ago. Black eye 3 hours later.
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@TheZoeii11 years ago hello james may. I have a question for you. why do people sleepwalk? I've tried to watch other videos on it but I just don't understand. and I like the was that you explain topics on head squeeze. thank u :)
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@reNINTENDO11 years ago Speaking of wings, I'd love it if you guys did a video on how planes actually fly. It's surprising how many people don't know how (or at least the main reason) a plane flies, and more discouragingly how every text book I've ever read with the subject is basically completely wrong (even modern ones). ...
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@MrCrackersman11 years ago Video question: How long would the runway in the Fast and the Furious 6, theoretically have been?
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@ianc490111 years ago Never heard of Ivory boomerangs in Egypt, I'll have to look that up, I wonder what the Egyptians called them ?
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@RFC351411 years ago They didn't. They developed something curved to hit enemies around shields (combat boomerangs). But they also hunted with them, and that meant sometimes they needed to be thrown (ex., to knock down a bird). Eventually you start to figure out that some designs are more accurate than others (which led to hunting boomerangs, that fly very straight), and some curve in predictable ways (which led to returning boomerangs, that are mainly a toy, and sometimes used to scare animals towards the hunter). ...
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@3v4n5211 years ago James never said the Carpathian mountains were in Turkey, The graphics in the background did.
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@Pressplay_Media_EUlast year The moral of this story is that Link uses Jedi Force to make it come back every time.
Everything can be explained with logic and reasoning.. Now how about the triple-winged boomerang??
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@DiZh011 years ago either he meant 1 is +60 80 degrees and the other is -60 80 degrees making the total 120-160 degrees compared to eachother. Or he meant 60-80 degrees off compared to straight so its between 100-120 degrees
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@RFC351411 years ago Are you trying to tell me that basketball players worked out the theories of gravity, aerodynamics and semielastic collision necessary to score? Not all boomerangs are meant to come back. Some aren't even meant to be thrown. It's not hard to imagine that they started out as combat boomerangs (basically curved clubs), evolved into hunting boomerangs (which are just thrown and don't return), and then someone noticed that a certain type of curve made them return. Unless, of course, it was aliens. ...
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@jasonrongpi69174 years ago Where did boomerang use first and what for it's been used?
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@soundslave11 years ago Possibly misrepresenting which angle? They mean the outside angle, lay a stick flat and then bend one end up by 60-80 degrees?
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@DarkFruitTT11 years ago End music sound like the music in tenpenny's hotel in fallout 3
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@Tupster11 years ago It falls out when it gets a certain length.
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@xFlow7777 years ago the point the boomerang is not that it kills whatever u are throwing it at and coming back to u, but comming back when you miss. And you can aim it pretty reliably with enough practice. 2
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@motanelustelistu10 years ago Carpathian Mountains in Iran (or there abouts) ? Its just a bit nord-east of egypt ... And you put it in Arabian Peninsula :) Where its kinda weird to make that mistake when they drove on them in 2009 when they came to Romania :) ... 6
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@JustSumChillAlien11 years ago Is there a video of this world record throwing boomerang?
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@MrRobotman11 years ago One more fact, and a hello to Head Squeeze!
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@ScifiTunnel4 years ago How did you improve you voice quality..! 1
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@Fritzisor11 years ago WHO THE FUCK MOVED THE CARPATHIAN MOUNTAINS? God damn it... Have to cancel my trip now.
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@cliquer1811 years ago Yep, and I think someone should pay attention and throw it couple thousand miles more accurate for this channel to be more reliable... just bustin' your balls;) . Great channel!!!
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@IdioticJL11 years ago Here a question:does revising really works
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@nickrich5611 years ago ... perhaps the Aussie team would have shown a boomerang used for hunting ...
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@Dustinielson6 years ago They fly in a triangular shape and changer direction twice to return.
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@Iain1234511 years ago Well, it seems that boomerangs are a lot more complicated then first thought.
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@AnimeKero11 years ago hahaah a bit of the t-shirt is gone because of the green screen xD
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@vojtoslav1411 years ago Can you please explain Schrodinger's cat ?
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@Arctic222Avenger11 years ago Music in the background reminds me of Postal
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@mcforge11 years ago The Carpathian mountains and in Central and Eastern Europe, not in Turkey.
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@alex6257011 years ago wrong location of the Carpathian mountains Mr. May :) 1
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@RyleZor11 years ago I think he means if there was an imaginary straight line underneath it then the angle would be 60-80 degrees from that axis.
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@BBCEarthScience11 years ago I don't think scientists have worked out whether we will ever live on Mars yet, but a group at Imperial College found out how to get a human to mars - Martin Archer has done a Sci Guide on it for us : )
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@TheSaiyanKing11 years ago 0:43 those are not the carpathian mountains
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@thomaswarburg565411 years ago Why does he call it the "Coming Back Boomerang"? If it doesn't come back, isn't just a stick?