AY Honors/Kites/Answer Key

1. When were kites first made and flown? Name at least three ways kites have helped in scientific research and tell how each has affected the world we live in. Tell the story of Benjamin Franklin and his kite.

Approximately 2800 years ago the kite was first invented and popularized in China, where materials ideal for kite building were readily available: silk fabric for sail material, fine, high-tensile-strength silk for flying line, and resilient bamboo for a strong, lightweight framework. The kite was said to be the invention of the famous 5th century BC Chinese philosophers Mozi and Lu Ban. By at least 549 AD paper kites were being flown, as it was recorded in that year a paper kite was used as a message for a rescue mission.

Ben Frankin's Kite

In 1750, Benjamin Franklin published a proposal for an experiment to prove that lightning is electricity by flying a kite in a storm that appeared capable of becoming a lightning storm. On May 10, 1752, Thomas-François Dalibard of France conducted Franklin's experiment (using a 40-foot-tall iron rod instead of a kite) and extracted electrical sparks from a cloud. On June 15, Franklin may have possibly conducted his famous kite experiment in Philadelphia and also successfully extracted sparks from a cloud, although there are theories that suggest he never performed the experiment. Franklin's experiment was not written up until Joseph Priestley's 1767 History and Present Status of Electricity; the evidence shows that Franklin was insulated (not in a conducting path, since he would have been in danger of electrocution in the event of a lightning strike). (Others, such as Prof. Georg Wilhelm Richmann of Saint Petersburg, Russia, were electrocuted during the months following Franklin's experiment.) In his writings, Franklin indicates that he was aware of the dangers and offered alternative ways to demonstrate that lightning was electrical, as shown by his use of the concept of electrical ground. If Franklin did perform this experiment, he did not do it in the way that is often described, flying the kite and waiting to be struck by lightning, as it would have been fatal. Instead, he used the kite to collect some electric charge from a storm cloud, which implied that lightning was electrical.

On October 19 in a letter to England explaining directions for repeating the experiment, Franklin wrote:

"When rain has wet the kite twine so that it can conduct the electric fire freely, you will find it streams out plentifully from the key at the approach of your knuckle, and with this key a phial, or Leiden jar, maybe charged: and from electric fire thus obtained spirits may be kindled, and all other electric experiments [may be] performed which are usually done by the help of a rubber glass globe or tube; and therefore the sameness of the electrical matter with that of lightening completely demonstrated."

2. Name some of the ways that kites might be used today.

Kites are use today for the following:

1. Predicts weather
2. Carries loads of water
3. Spaceflight

3. Explain briefly how kites fly.

The kites get a lift from the wind in the sky. The same current of air keeps them in flight up on the sky. The higher the kite gets the stronger the current and the longer your kite will stay up in the air.

4. Define the following terms:

a. Spine

The spine is the base of the kite, the support.

b. Spar

c. Vent

The vent helps lift the kite.

d. Bowstring

The bowstring is tied from each end of the spar, making the spar bow-shaped, and giving the kite its wing-shape.

e. Cover

f. Frame

makes the shape of the kite

g. Tail

The tail helps with stability.

h. Keel

helps with stability

i. Flying line

a person holds on to it to control the kite

j. Bridle

k. Reel

Lets out the line

5. What is a common cause of kite failure?

Lack of wind, trees, power lines, and essential parts of the kite breaking (e.g. to much wind can break the kite string.)

6. What should be done when a kite loops during flight?

You should pull the kite down diagnally from you and closer to you. The closer you have it, the more control of it you will have too. Most importantly keep the kite close and under your control so this effect on the kite won't occur.

7. Why is a tail sometimes needed on a kite?

So it can catch more of the current in the sky and will keep your kite high up in the air. Some just place on the kite so that when in the air it will wave along the wind; for decoration.

8. Know at least three safety rules for kite flying.

1. Never fly a kite when it's raining and lightning.
2. Do not fly a kite by roads.
3. Do not fly by power lines.

9. Do the following:

b. Tie broken ends with the fisherman's knot.

Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Knot/Fisherman's bend