Nora Manley, age 11, of Halland Patent, New York, for her question:
What makes a boomerang come back?
When the right person throws the right kind of boomerang, it may swerve around and return to be caught in his hand. Part of this magic trick depends on the shape of the boomerang. Part depends on the wondrous ways in which air currents behave. But the trick does not work unless the boomerang thrower knows just what to do. And the skills of a boomerang thrower call for plenty of patience and practice.
Early in human history, boomerang throwing was popular throughout most of the world. No doubt it started when people learned to throw sticks and stones at passing birds and bunnies. Naturally they aimed to bring down food for dinner and through the ages they learned to become very skillful. Certain American Indians still hunt with hurled sticks. But in the modern world, the most skillful boomerang throwers are the bushmen of Australia.
They cannot explain air currents and other dynamics that make a boomerang do what it does. But they know from age old experience just how to make a throwing stick of the right size and shape to be used in hunting or in self defense. They also know exactly how to throw it so that it does what they want it to do.
A bushman makes his own boomerangs and may have several of different shapes and sizes. To make a returning boomerang, he selects a green bough of light weight wood. This is bent at a rather sharp angle to form just the right curve and heated and dried over a fire. The finished form is smoothed, polished and usually decorated with bands of color.
Heavier boomerangs with wider curves are made to hunt large game animals or as weapons of warfare. These big boomerangs spin through the air to strike large targets. But they do not return to the sender. The small returning boomerang usually is aimed at a bird and if it strikes its target, it falls to the ground. If it misses the target, it continues to spin around a curved path that brings it badk to the sender.
A skilled marksman uses a stiff armed overhand throw to hurl his returnable boomerang. And he adds exactly the right flick of the wrist to make the boomerang spin as it goes. Usually it swings along fairly close to the ground, at least below the tree tops. After a hundred yards or so, it curves around to the left and spins back to where it started. Chances are, a skillful thrower catches the returning boomerang in his hands. And he knows these secret skills because he started practicing in childhood.
Hunters of ancient India and Egypt used large, heavy boomerangs and the Hopis of Arizona still use them. But none of these weapons are of the returnable type. Only the aborigines of Australia figured out how to make and throw the light returnable boomerang. It is an 18 to 24 inch stick, weighing about eight ounces and curved at about 90 degrees. It can travel about 100 yards and return but only when hurled by an expert.