>> ^zomgg:
The point of science is ... having a guy who is already up there doing all kinds of experiments throw a boomerang a couple of times proves expected theory elegantly and with a small cost ($2 boomerang).


(Devils advocate ) Yo Mon! just $2, and what about the cost for the time the scientist spent thinking about the question? What about the time he took to travel to the place offering boomarangs? He gets paid. And what about his educational expenses? What about the money he forfeited by not having a regular job and instead paying the university to provide him with knowledge and credential sufficient to hook a ride in the space station, where he tosses a boomarang? These all add up to an enormous sum - possibly even more. $2 ? I don't think so.

I hate boomerangs. They're handist against lefties.

>> ^swampgirl:
Yeah yeah fusion reactor, ion thruster, 6 disc cd player whatever, as long as it has a nice bathroom.


Or maybe just piss in the corn fields

You'll be accelerating all the time, which will feel like weak gravity.

>> ^twiddles:
Anyone that thought that a boomarang couldn't work in a pressurized atmosphere and the absence of gravity does not deserve to be an astronaut.


Oh get over yourself. It's not at all obvious that a traditional boomerang should work in zero gravity as they have flight movements with respect to the gravity vector. See the diagram at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boomerang

As typically thrown, the traditional boomerang relies on the presence of gravity to convert kinetic energy into potential energy (as it reaches the top of its arc), then back to kinetic energy in the opposite direction.

So maybe you can throw it differently and still have it return, but maybe not. It's NOT obvious, though. Your attitude stinks.

>> ^zomgg:
The point of science is to question everything, no matter how obvious. The interesting wrinkle here is that without gravity a boomerang would actually stop eventually due to energy losses from viscous dissipation (you can see it slowing down by the end of the turn). While this is easy to show analytically, having a guy who is already up there doing all kinds of experiments throw a boomerang a couple of times proves expected theory elegantly and with a small cost ($2 boomerang).


Good point. I think the comments reflect a disappointment in how the story was reported or that it was reported at all. Yes it is good to question everything and confirm with experiment. But this confirmation seems hardly news worthy unless you are a huge boomerang aficionado.

So now that we have that out of the way, maybe someday this will lead to boomerang tournaments in the space station.

>> ^Zeph:
Air resistance FTW. I'm betting if you threw a boomerang in a vacuum, it would go in a straight line.

I bet you it'd keel over and die due to lack of oxygen. Boomerangs are people too...

The point of science is to question everything, no matter how obvious. The interesting wrinkle here is that without gravity a boomerang would actually stop eventually due to energy losses from viscous dissipation (you can see it slowing down by the end of the turn). While this is easy to show analytically, having a guy who is already up there doing all kinds of experiments throw a boomerang a couple of times proves expected theory elegantly and with a small cost ($2 boomerang).

Its not so much air resistance that causes it, as it is bernoulli's principle in play. The boomerang is essentially a 3 winged air-foil (2 in the traditional sense), with the angle of attack set to create an equal thrust force in opposite directions, resulting in a torque (which also causes it to elipse as it does).

And I dont think youd find a sane man alive to take that bet. No fluid, means no pressure differential, means no net force in any one direction....which means no elipse.

Air resistance FTW. I'm betting if you threw a boomerang in a vacuum, it would go in a straight line.

*Austrailian Boomerang to Dag... What do you think?

BTW, I loved the *poop or *get off the toliet LOL!

Hmmmm... What other goodies do I have in my magical VS bag? AHHHH HAAA!!! I'm Casting

*MAGIC MISSLE!!!

:-p ~ Take that!