Although
the contest is over, you could still learn about kite design and
activities.
See below for links and other relevant information.
See
the archived Kite Broadcast of the
event.
NASA
Glenn Learning Technologies Project sponsored two Centennial
of Flight Kite Design Contests,
one for grades K-4 and one for grades 5-8.
Contests
- August 20 and September 7, 2001.
Winners
were invited to participate in our September 27th Kite
Broadcast (archived video)
from the Glenn Hangar and have their kites hung at the Glenn Visitor
Center.
These
contests are for our six state region:
Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, & Indiana.
After
receiving your kite, follow the instructions below. Pay particular
attention to step two: coloring your kite. You will want to put
some effort into this step as the kites are being judged on their
design merit. In case you need to obtain the bags used in this
design from another source they are 14" x 211/2" in
size and are standard white department store bags. Also included
here are Pre-Activity Questions
that can be posed to your class. Click
here for Answers.
In
1896 the death of German Glider pilot Otto Lillienthal sparked
an interest in flying for Wilbur Wright. By 1899, he had read
just about everything on aeronautics that was available at the
time. By observing
birds in flight Wilbur realized that a flying machine would have
to have wings to provide lift and a mechanism to control it as
well. With his brother Orville, Wilbur built a kite
to experiment with theories of lift and drag. To control the motion
of the kite, they used wing
warping or twisting of the wings using cables. To read
more about the Wright Brothers' Process of Invention and their
path to flight, you can visit the Wright
Brothers Centennial of Flight Site.
Below
are listed some links that may give you some ideas for designing
your kite, as well as help troubleshoot any problems you may encounter
while building and/or flying your kite.
For any
further assistance or questions you can email Tom
Benson.
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1)
Tape an "X" as shown to reinforce the holes. |
2)
Color or decorate outside of bag with crayons,
markers, or paints. |
3)
Cut off top corners and entire bottom of bag along solid dashed
lines. Hold bag open and remove grey areas by cutting along
open dashed lines (on this side of bag only). Fold "wings"
outward. |
4)Turn
kite over (stiffeners on back). Punch out bridle holes at
wingtips with sharp pencil, ballpoint pen, or hole-punch.
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To launch:
Stand with the wind at your back. Hold kite out at arm's length
and toss it into the air. Let out line as the wind takes the
kite, pull the line to make the kite climb. Fly
safely: avoid overhead wires, trees, streets, and airports. |
5)Cut
a 6-foot length of string for a "bridle." Tie each
end of the bridle string to a bridle hole. Hold the wing tips
together, stretch out line, find the exact center of the bridle,
and tie an overhand knot at the center to form a loop. Tie
flying line to loop. |
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The photos
are from OSEK's
KiteFestival
2001 held at Edgewater Park Sept. 15 & 16. We would like
to thank them for supplying the source of the kite design
used in this contest. |