Department of Energy Argonne National Laboratory Office of Science NEWTON's Homepage NEWTON's Homepage
NEWTON, Ask A Scientist!
NEWTON Home Page NEWTON Teachers Visit Our Archives Ask A Question How To Ask A Question Question of the Week Our Expert Scientists Volunteer at NEWTON! Frequently Asked Questions Referencing NEWTON About NEWTON About Ask A Scientist Education At Argonne Building a Person-carrying Kite 
Name: ted theis
Status: N/A
Age: N/A
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: Around 1993
Question:
I want to build a kite large enough to lift freshmen off the ground to about 50 feet in the air. How big should I build this kite? The weight limit will be about 100 pounds, with student and gear.


Replies:
I cannot give you any exact answers, but I hope to be able to steer you to where you might find the answers yourself. First, let me say that I hope this is a theoretical application as I am sure you can understand how potentially dangerous it would be to actually try this. What I would suggest is to visit your local sports store and inquire about hang-gliders. These are in effect "human kites." You can get a manufac- turer's address from the supplier and contact them by writing or perhaps long distance phone. No doubt they can supply information on the engineer- ing of their products.

Finally, once again, this type of kite flying would be very dangerous I and I would not recommend it. You can see the safety features one uses when hang-gliding and could inquire at hospitals regarding injury statistics for hang-gliders. You would certainly be responsible for any injuries.

rickru

Click here to return to the Engineering Archives

NEWTON is an electronic community for Science, Math, and Computer Science K-12 Educators, sponsored and operated by Argonne National Laboratory's Educational Programs, Andrew Skipor, Ph.D., Head of Educational Programs.

For assistance with NEWTON contact a System Operator (help@newton.dep.anl.gov), or at Argonne's Educational Programs

NEWTON AND ASK A SCIENTIST
Educational Programs
Building 360
9700 S. Cass Ave.
Argonne, Illinois
60439-4845, USA
Update: June 2012
Weclome To Newton

Argonne National Laboratory