kite

1. A light framework covered with cloth, plastic, or paper, designed to be flown in the wind at the end of a long string.
2. Any of the light sails of a ship that are used only in a light wind.
3. Any of various predatory birds of the hawk family Accipitridae, having a long, often forked tail and long pointed wings.
4. 1. A piece of negotiable paper representing a fictitious financial transaction and used temporarily to sustain credit or raise money.
   2. A bank check drawn on insufficient funds to take advantage of the time interval required for collection.
   3. A bank check that has been fraudulently altered to show a larger amount.

1. To fly like a kite; soar or glide.
2. To get money or credit with a kite.

1. To use (a bad check) to sustain credit or raise money.
2. To increase the amount of (a check) fraudulently.

[Middle English, bird of prey, from Old English cȳta.]

For more information on kite, visit Britannica.com.

Background

A kite is an unpowered, heavier-than-air flying device held to the earth by a line. The kite flies because wind resistance causes the air pressure under the kite to be greater than the air pressure above the kite, making the kite rise. The word kite is derived from the name of a type of bird belonging to the hawk family which is known for its graceful, soaring flight.

A kite consists of three basic parts: the body, the line, and the bridle that attaches the line to the body. To enable the user to control the movement of the kite, the bridle must be attached to the body of the kite in at least two places.

History

Kites were first developed in ancient China. Written references to kites in China date back to 200 B.C., but they were probably invented at a much earlier time. Kites were probably derived from cloth banners, similar to modern flags, which streamed out in the wind while attached to cords or flexible wooden rods. The first use for kites was probably for signaling at a distance. The Chinese later used kites for numerous purposes, ranging from religious ceremonies to warfare. The earliest kites were built of wood and cloth. Paper was invented around the year 100 A.D. and was soon adapted for use in kites.

Kitemaking soon spread from China to Japan, Korea, Burma (now, Myanmar), and Malaysia, regions where kite flying is still an important part of the local culture. From there it spread to Indonesia, India, and the islands of the Pacific. Eventually, the kitemaking technology was adapted by the Arabs, who in turn brought it to North Africa and Europe.

Written references to kitemaking in Europe date back to 1430 A.D. Early European kites were made of cloth or parchment and sometimes had a long slit with a piece of silk sewn into it to help the kite soar. A pair of diagonal sticks were attached to the cloth to hold it in place. A cord was attached to the kite by a ring sewn into the cloth.

The first description of kitemaking in English appeared in 1654 in a book by John Bate entitled Mysteries of Nature and Art. His instructions are not unlike the methods still used to make homemade kites today. "You must take a piece of linen cloth of a yard or more in length; it must be cut after the form of a pane of glass; fasten two light sticks cross the same, to make it stand at breadth; then smear it over with linseed oil, and liquid varnish tempered together…then tie a small rope of length sufficient to raise it unto what height you shall desire."

European kites existed in a variety of shapes, ranging from lozenges to rectangles. They all required tails for stability, and many homemade kites still have such tails. Commercial kites are usually made in such a way that no tail is required.

Kites were used in meteorology as early as the eighteenth century, when two students at the University of Glasgow named Alexander Wilson and Thomas Melville attached thermometers to kites to study the temperature of the air. Kites were used extensively for studying the weather in the 1830s and 1840s, and continued to be used for this purpose until the middle of the twentieth century, when they were replaced by weather balloons and later by weather satellites.

Innovations in kite design began to appear in the late nineteenth century. In 1891, William A. Eddy, inspired by a Japanese design, invented a diamond-shaped kite, which did not need a tail. In 1893, Lawrence Hargrave invented the box kite, resembling two or more open-ended boxes connected to a wooden frame. Like the diamond kite, the box kite flew well without a tail. Both designs are still commonly used by kitemakers today. The box kite also influenced the design of early aircraft, including the airplane invented by Orville and Wilbur Wright in 1903.

In November 1948, Gertrude and Francis Rogallo applied for a patent on a revolutionary new kind of kite. The patent was issued in March 1951, for the "flexible kite," now usually known as a para-wing. This seemingly simple kite consists of a square of light material (cloth at first, now usually plastic) without any sticks or other parts to hold it in place. Proper length and placement of the cords which make up the bridle enable the para-wing to fly with great stability despite the limpness of its body. Designs similar to the para-wing have been used in parachutes and hang gliders. Military experiments have shown that large versions of this design could be used to carry weapons or vehicles over otherwise impassable terrain. A 4,000 sq ft (372 sq m) para-wing has been used to lift a load of 6,000 lb (2,724 kg).

Raw Materials

Homemade kites are usually made of wood and paper or cloth. Homemade para-wing kites are usually made of Mylar, a trade-name for thin sheets of a plastic known as polyethylene terephthalate. This material is extremely strong and very light. The raw materials used to make polyethylene terephthalate are the chemical compounds glycol and dimethyl terephthalate.

Commercial kites are generally made of a strong, light plastic such as nylon. Nylon is the common name for certain types of plastic known as polyamides. Polyamides can be made from a variety of chemical compounds. Nylon-6,6 is the most common form of nylon and is made from the chemical compounds adipic acid and hexamthylenediamine. Another common type of nylon is known as nylon-6 and is made from the chemical compound caprolactam.

The lines attached to the body of the kite are usually made of nylon or cotton. For some large kites, the line is held on a fishing reel, which is made of steel.

The Manufacturing
Process

Making nylon

• The chemicals used to manufacture the various forms of nylon are obtained from a variety of sources. The most common source for these chemicals is petroleum. Crude oil (unprocessed petroleum) is obtained from oil wells. Crude oil contains a mixture of many different substances known as hydrocarbons. The crude oil is pumped into tanks carried by trucks or trains and shipped to refineries.
• The function of a refinery is to separate crude oil into its various components. During this process known as fractional distillation, the crude oil is pumped into a tall steel furnace shaped like a cylinder. The furnace is heated at the bottom to a temperature between 600-700° F (315-370° C). The heated crude oil boils into a vapor. Any remaining unvaporized residue is removed from the bottom of the furnace as a liquid.
• As the vapor rises through the furnace, it slowly becomes cooler and cooler. The different hydrocarbons that make up the vapor cool into liquids at different temperatures. Because of this difference in boiling points, each hydrocarbon can be removed as a liquid from a different position within the furnace. Any remaining vapor that does not cool into a liquid is removed from the top of the furnace as a gas.
• Some hydrocarbons are much more useful than others. In order to maximize the efficiency of refining crude oil, less useful hydrocarbons are chemically transformed into more useful hydrocarbons. This process is known as cracking. Formerly, cracking was accomplished by heating the hydrocarbons to a very high temperature under very high pressure. Modern cracking technology makes use of catalysts. A catalyst is a substance that speeds up the rate of a chemical reaction without taking part in it. Catalysts such as natural and artificial clays enable cracking to take place at a much lower temperature and pressure. After cracking is completed, the result is a mixture of various hydrocarbons. These hydro-carbons are separated by once again applying the technique of fractional distillation.
• Hydrocarbons are shipped from the refinery to the plastics manufacturer. The hydrocarbon needed to manufacture nylon-6,6 is known as cyclohexane. Cyclohexane is converted into both adipic acid and hexamethylenediamine by subjecting it to a variety of chemical reactions.
• Adipic acid and hexamethylenediamine (or other chemical compounds needed to produce other forms of nylon) are transformed into nylon-6,6 through a process known as polymerization. This term refers to any process by which hundreds or thousands of small molecules are linked together to form a long chain. Polymerizaiton of nylon combines numerous molecules of an organic acid (such as adipic acid) with numerous molecules of an organic amine (such as hexamethylenediamine). For some kinds of nylon, numerous molecules of a single chemical, which contains both an acid group and an amine group, are polymerized. This type of chemical (such as caprolactam, which is polymerized into nylon-6) is known as an amino acid. Polymerization occurs by subjecting the acid and the amine or the amino acid to heat and pressure.
• The resulting hot liquid nylon is sprayed onto a cool rotating metal drum. This transforms the nylon into a thin, solid sheet. The sheet is cut by sharp metal knives into small chips. The chips can then be processed into many different forms.

Making nylon fabric

• For some purposes, nylon can be extruded (forced through dies under pressure) or subjected to injection molding (forced into molds as a hot liquid and allowed to cool into a solid). In order to make a kite, nylon must be transformed into fabric. Chips of solid nylon are heated until they melt into a liquid. The liquid nylon is then forced under high pressure through numerous small holes in a steel device known as a spinneret. As the jets of liquid nylon emerge from the spinneret, they are cooled by a blast of cold air. The liquid nylons cool into thin filaments. These filaments are twisted together into fiber. The fiber is woven into fabric and shipped to the kite manufacturer.

Making the kite

• Large pieces of nylon fabric arrive at the kite factory and are inspected for flaws. Sharp knives and razors are used to cut through several layers of nylon at once in order to produce many pieces of fabric which are all the same shape.
• The cut pieces of nylon fabric are sewn together using ordinary sewing machines. By efficient cutting and sewing, as little as 3% of the fabric is wasted.
• In order to hold the limp nylon body of the kite in place, the fabric is sewn around a solid rim, which outlines the shape of the kite. This rim is made of light, rigid tubes of polyethylene. These tubes are made by a plastics manufacturer by injection molding. Solid polyethylene is heated until it melts. The hot, liquid polyethylene is forced into molds in the shape of the tubes and allowed to cool into a solid. The molds are opened, the polyethylene tubes are removed, excess polyethylene is trimmed away, and the tubes are shipped to the kite manufacturer.
• The bridle lines for the kite are cut to the proper length from spools of cotton or nylon fiber. They are then sewn to the body of the kite in the proper places. For large kites, the line is wrapped around a steel fishing reel. The kite industry is the largest user of fishing reels other than the fishing industry itself. The completed kites are packaged in cardboard boxes and shipped to the retailer or consumer.

Quality Control

The first step in the quality control of kite manufacturing is inspection of the nylon fabric. It must be free from holes and tears, which would damage the ability of the kite to stay aloft. After it is cut, the fabric is inspected to ensure that all pieces have been cut to the proper size and shape. Experienced sewing machine operators inspect the kite at every step of the sewing process to ensure that every piece is sewn into place properly. The position of the bridle line attachments is particularly critical; if they are not properly placed, the kite will be unstable and will fly erratically. Each kite is given a final visual inspection before it is packaged.

Where to Learn More

Books

Eden, Maxwell. Kiteworks: Exploration in Kite Building and Flying. Sterling Publications, 1989.

Hart, Clive. Kites: An Historical Survey. Frederick A. Praeger, 1967.

Roberts, Keith. Kiteworld. Arbor House, 1986.

Wagenvoord, James. Flying Kites. Macmillan, 1968.

Yolen, Jane. World on a String: The Story of Kites. William Collins and World Publishing, 1968.

[Article by: Rose Secrest]

A tethered flying device that supports itself and the cable that connects it to the ground by means of the aerodynamic forces created by the relative motion of the wind. This relative wind may arise merely from the natural motions of the air or may be caused by towing the kite through the agency of its connecting cable.

The lifting force of all kites is produced by deflecting the air downward, the resulting change in momentum producing an upward force. To be successful, a kite must have an extremely low wing loading (weight/area) so that it can fly even on days when the wind velocity is not high. It must be completely stable, since the only controls available to the operator are the length of cable and the rate at which it is taken in or let out. Efficient design requires that its lift-to-drag ratio be as high as possible. See also Aerodynamic force; Aerodynamics.

A member of the family Accipitridae, subfamily Aegypiinae (Old World vultures), which steal prey from other raptors. They are slim, with long narrow wings and an elongated tail. There are a number of genera, e.g. Milvus and Haliastur spp.

For other uses, see Kite (disambiguation).

Yokaichi Giant Kite Festival held on the fourth Sunday every May in Higashiomi, Shiga, Japan

A man flying a kite on the beach, a good location for flying as winds travelling across the sea contain few up or down draughts which cause kites to fly erratically.

A kite is a flying tethered aircraft that depends upon the tension of a tethering system.^[1] The necessary lift that makes the kite wing fly is generated when air (or in some cases water)^[2][3][4] flows over and under the kite's wing, producing low pressure above the wing and high pressure below it. This deflection also generates horizontal drag along the direction of the wind. The resultant force vector from the lift and drag force components is opposed by the tension of the one or more lines or tethers.^[5] The anchor point of the kite line may be static or moving (e.g., the towing of a kite by a running person, boat,^[6] or vehicle).^[7][8]

Kites are usually heavier-than-air, but there is a second category of lighter-than-air kite called a helikite which will fly with or without wind. Helikites work on a different stability principle to normal kites as helikites are helium-stabilised as well as wind stabilised. They are a stable combination of a helium balloon and kite-sail to create a single aerodynamically sound kite. When flown in wind a helikite will lift far more than its helium alone, and it will fly very well if weighted down to be considerably heavier than air.

Kites may be flown for recreation, art or other practical uses. Sport kites can be flown in aerial ballet, sometimes as part of a competition. Power kites are multi-line steerable kites designed to generate large forces which can be used to power activities such as kite surfing, kite landboarding,kite buggying and a new trend snow kiting. Kites towed behind boats can lift passengers^[9] which has had useful military applications in the past.^[10]

Contents 1 History 2 Materials 3 Practical uses 3.1 Military applications 3.2 Science and meteorology 3.3 Radio aerials and light beacons 3.4 Kite traction 3.5 Power generation 4 Cultural uses 4.1 Asia 4.2 Europe 4.3 South America 5 Popular culture 6 General safety issues 7 Kite designs 8 Kite types 9 Types of kite line materials 10 See also 11 References 12 External links 12.1 Technology and history 12.2 Other

History

Woodcut print of a kite from John Bate's 1634 book, The Mysteryes of Nature and Art in which the kite is labeled a "FIER DRAKE". The caption is from the its reprint in Joseph Strutt's 1801 book, The sports and pastimes of the people of England from the earliest period.

Kites were used approximately 2,800 years ago in China^[11], 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. Alternatively, the kite authors Clive Hart and Tal Streeter hold that leaf kites existed far before that time in what is now Indonesia, based on their interpretation of cave paintings on Muna Island off Sulawesi.^[12] 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.^[13] Ancient and medieval Chinese sources list other uses of kites for measuring distances, testing the wind, lifting men, signaling, and communication for military operations.^[13] The earliest known Chinese kites were flat (not bowed) and often rectangular. Later, tailless kites incorporated a stabilizing bowline. Kites were decorated with mythological motifs and legendary figures; some were fitted with strings and whistles to make musical sounds while flying.^[14]

One ancient design, the fighter kite, became popular throughout Asia. Most variations, including the fighter kites of India, Thailand and Japan, are small, flat, rough, diamond-shaped kites made of paper, with a tapered bamboo spine and a balanced bow. Although the rules of kite fighting varied from culture to culture, the basic strategy was to maneuver the swift kite in such a way as to cut the opponent's flying line.^[14].

Rider with kite in Konrad Kyeser's technical treatise Bellifortis (ca. 1405)

In Europe unambiguous drawings of kites first appeared in print in the Netherlands and England in the 17th century, pennon-type kites that evolved from military banners dating back to Roman times and earlier were flown during the Middle Ages.^[14] Joseph Needham says that the earliest European description of a kite comes from the Magia Naturalis written in 1589 by the Italian polymath Giambattista della Porta (1535–1615).^[15]

Hang gliders are based on the Rogallo wing, originally marketed as a mylar self-inflating kite named the Flexikite.

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. Benjamin Franklin wisely never performed his experiment, but on May 10, 1752, Thomas-François Dalibard of France conducted Franklin's experiment (using a 40-foot (12 m)-tall iron rod instead of a kite) and extracted electrical sparks from a cloud.^[16][17]

The period from 1860 to about 1910 became the "golden age of kiting". Kites started to be used for scientific purposes, especially in meteorology, aeronautics, wireless communications and photography; reliable manned kites were developed as well as power kites. Invention of powered airplane diminished interest in kites. During World War II saw a limited use of kites for military purposes (see Focke Achgelis Fa 330 for example). Since then they are used mainly for recreation.

Materials

Art kites at a German kite festival

Sparless Styrofoam kites

Octopus kite at Clovis, New Mexico kite festival.

Kites typically consist of one or more spars to which a paper or fabric sail is attached, although some, such as foil kites, have no spars at all. Classic kites use bamboo, rattan or some other strong but flexible wood for the spars, paper or light fabrics such as silk for the sails, and are flown on string or twine. Modern kites use synthetic materials, such as ripstop nylon or more exotic fabrics for the sails, fiberglass or carbon fiber for the spars and dacron or dyneema for the kite lines.

Kites can be designed with many different shapes, forms, and sizes. They can take the form of flat geometric designs, boxes and other three-dimensional forms, or modern sparless inflatable designs. Kites flown by children are often simple geometric forms (for example, the diamond). In Asia, children fly dried symmetrical leaves on sewing thread and sled-style kites made from sheets of folded writing paper.^[11]

Designs often emulate flying insects, birds, and other beasts, both real and mythical. The finest Chinese kites are made from split bamboo (usually golden bamboo), covered with silk, and hand painted. On larger kites, clever hinges and latches allow the kite to be disassembled and compactly folded for storage or transport. Cheaper mass-produced kites are often made from printed polyester rather than silk.

Tails are used for some single-line kite designs to keep the kite's nose pointing into the wind. Spinners and spinsocks can be attached to the flying line for visual effect. There are rotating wind socks which spin like a turbine. On large display kites these tails, spinners and spinsocks can be 50 feet (15m) long or more.

Modern acrobatic kites use two or four lines to allow fine control of the kite's angle to the wind. Traction kites may have an additional line to de-power the kite and quick-release mechanisms to disengage flyer and kite in an emergency.

Practical uses

Main article: Kite applications

Chinese dragon kite more than one hundred feet long which flew in the annual Berkeley, California, kite festival in 2000. It is a kite-train of hundreds of linked circles with outriggers ending in feathers for balance. The dragon's head is a bamboo frame with painted silk covering.

A quad-line traction kite, commonly used as a power source for kite surfing

Military applications

Kites have been used for military uses in the past for signalling, for delivery of munitions, and for observation, by lifting an observer above the field of battle, and by using kite aerial photography.

According to Samguk Sagi, in 637, Kim Yu-sin, a Korean general of Silla rallied his troops to defeat rebels by lofting a kite with a straw man which looked like a burning ball flying to the sky.^[18] Kites were also used by Admiral Yi of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) of Korea. During the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592-1598), Admiral Yi commanded his navy with kites. His kites had specific markings directing his fleet to perform his order.^[19] The war eventually resulted in a Chinese and Korean victory; the kites played a minor role in the war's conclusion.

In more modern times the British navy also used kites to haul human lookouts high into the air to see over the horizon and possibly the enemy ships, for example with the kite developed by Samuel Franklin Cody.^[20] Barrage kites were used to protect London as well as the Pacific coast of the United States during the last century.^[21][22] Kites and kytoons were used for lofting communications antenna.^[23] Submarines lofted observers in rotary kites.^[24] The Rogallo parawing kite^[25] and the Jalbert parafoil kite were used for governable parachutes (free-flying kites) to deliver troops and supplies.^[26]

Science and meteorology

Kites have been used for scientific purposes, such as Benjamin Franklin's famous experiment proving that lightning is electricity. Kites were the precursors to the traditional aircraft, and were instrumental in the development of early flying craft. Alexander Graham Bell experimented with very large man-lifting kites, as did the Wright brothers and Lawrence Hargrave. Kites had a historical role in lifting scientific instruments to measure atmospheric conditions for weather forecasting.

Radio aerials and light beacons

Kites can be used for radio purposes, by kites carrying antennas for MF, LF or VLF-transmitters. This method was used for the reception station of the first transatlantic transmission by Marconi. Captive balloons may be more convenient for such experiments, because kite-carried antennas require a lot of wind, which may be not always possible with heavy equipment and a ground conductor. It must be taken into account during experiments, that a conductor carried by a kite can lead to a high voltage toward ground, which can endanger people and equipment, if suitable precautions (grounding through resistors or a parallel resonant-circuit tuned to transmission frequency) are not taken.

Kites can be used to carry light effects such as lightsticks or battery powered lights.

Kite traction

Kites can be used to pull people and vehicles downwind. Efficient foil-type kites such as power kites can also be used to sail upwind under the same principles as used by other sailing craft, provided that lateral forces on the ground or in the water are redirected as with the keels, center boards, wheels and ice blades of traditional sailing craft. In the last two decades several kite sailing sports have become popular, such as kite buggying, kite landboarding and kite surfing. Snow kiting has also become popular in recent years.

Kite sailing opens several possibilities not available in traditional sailing:

• Wind speeds are greater at higher altitudes
• Kites may be manoeuvered dynamically which increases the force available dramatically
• There is no need for mechanical structures to withstand bending forces; vehicles or hulls can be very light or dispensed with all together

The German company SkySails has developed ship-pulling kites as a supplemental power source for cargo ships, first tested in January 2008 on the ship MS Beluga Skysails.^[27] Trials on this 55 m ship have shown that, in favorable winds, the kite reduces fuel consumption by up to 30%. This system is planned to be in full commercial production late 2008.^[28] Kites are available as an auxiliary sail or emergency spinnaker for sailing boats. Self-launching Parafoil kites are attached to the mast.^{[citation needed]}

MS Beluga Skysails is the world's first commercial container cargo ship partially powered by a giant computer-controlled kite (160 m² or 1,722 sq ft). The kite could reduce fuel consumption by 20%. It was launched on 17 December 2007 and was set to leave the northern German port of Bremerhaven to Guanta, Venezuela on January 22, 2008. Stephan Wrage, managing director of SkySails GmbH announced: "During the next few months we will finally be able to prove that our technology works in practice and significantly reduces fuel consumption and emissions." Verena Frank, project manager at Beluga Shipping GmbH, SkySails GmbH's partner further stated that "the project's core concept was using wind energy as auxiliary propulsion power and using wind as a free of charge energy".^[29]

Power generation

A conceptual research and development project by Makani Power, based in California and funded by Google.org, is investigating the use of kites in harnessing high altitude wind currents to generate electricity.^[30]

A separate Delft University of Technology project has used a 10 m² kite to generate 10 kilowatts of power.^[31]

See also laddermill.

Cultural uses

Launch of ram-air inflated Peter Lynn single-line kite, shaped like an octopus and 90 feet (27 m) long

Kite festivals are a popular form of entertainment throughout the world. They include small local events, traditional festivals which have been held for hundreds of years and major international festivals which bring in kite flyers from overseas to display their unique art kites and demonstrate the latest technical kites.

Asia

Making a traditional Wau jala budi kite in Malaysia. The bamboo frame is covered with plain paper and then decorated with multiple layers of shaped paper and foil.

Kite flying is popular in many Asian countries, where it often takes the form of 'kite fighting', in which participants try to snag each other's kites or cut other kites down.^[32] Fighter kites are usually small, flat, flattened diamond-shaped kites made of paper and bamboo. Tails are not used on fighter kites so that agility and maneuverability are not compromised.

In Afghanistan, kite flying is the most popular game of Asia, and is known in Dari as Gudiparan Bazi. Some kite fighters pass their strings through a mixture of ground glass powder and glue. The resulting strings are very abrasive and can sever the competitor's strings more easily. The abrasive strings can also injure people. During the Taliban rule in Afghanistan, kite flying was banned, among various other recreations.

In Vietnam, kites are flown without tails. Instead small flutes are attached allowing the wind to "hum" a musical tune. There are other forms of sound-making kites. In Bali, large bows are attached to the front of the kites to make a deep throbbing vibration, and in Malaysia row of gourds with sound-slots are used to create a whistle as the kite flies.^{[citation needed]}

A kite shop in Lucknow, India

The Indian festival of Makar Sankranti is devoted to kite fighting in some states. This spring festival is celebrated every January 15, with millions of people flying kites all over northern India. The states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Gujarat, some part of West Bengal, Rajasthan, and the cities of Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Jaipur, Dhanbad and Hyderabad are particularly notable for their kite fighting festivals. Kite flying in Hyderabad starts a month before the official kite flying festival (Sankranthi). The thread used to fly kites in Hyderabad is known as 'Manjaa'. Highly maneuverable single-string paper and bamboo kites are flown from the rooftops while using line friction in an attempt to cut each other's kite lines, either by letting the line loose at high speed or by pulling the line in a fast and repeated manner. In some Indian cities kite flying/fighting is an important part of other celebrations, including Republic Day, Independence Day, Raksha Bandhan, and Janmashtami. A international kite festival is held every year before Uttarayan for 3 days in Ahmedabad.^[33] In Gujarat, kite flying is most popular. The Vadodara, Surat and Ahmedabad are the main cities where kite flying is observed on the 14 and 15 January every year. The 14th known as 'Uttarayan' and 15th known as 'Vasi Uttarayan'. People start flying kites early in the morning and continue until the evening. Playing music to accompany kite-flying is a common sight. The kite is known as 'Patang' in Gujarat and other places in India. The kite flying with Cotton Cords. Cotton cords has various brands like Chain 8, Genda 1,2,Panda etc. People start preparations before 15 days ahead to buy Kites and Cords.

In Pakistan, kite flying is a popular ritual for the spring festival known as Basant. However, kite flying is currently banned as some kite fliers engage in kite battles by coating their strings with glass or shards of metal, leading to injuries and death. Kite fighting is a very popular sport in Pakistan, mainly centered in Lahore. Kup, Patang, Guda, and Nakhlaoo are some of the kites used in fighting and they vary in balance, weight and speed through the air.

Bermuda kite

Weifang, Shandong, China promotes itself as the kite capital of the world. It is home to the largest kite museum in the world, which has a display area of 8100 m². Weifang hosts an annual international kite festival on the large salt flats south of the city. There are several kite museums in Japan and others in UK, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand and the USA.

Europe

In Greece and Cyprus, flying kites is a tradition for Clean Monday, the first day of Lent. In the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda, traditional Bermuda kites are made and flown at Easter, to symbolise Christ's ascent. Bermuda kites hold the world records for altitude and duration.^[11]

South America

In Chile, it is very popular, especially during Independence Day festivities (September 18).

Popular culture

• The Kite Runner, a 2005 novel by Khaled Hosseini dramatizes the role of kite fighting in pre-war Kabul.
• The Peanuts cartoon character Charlie Brown was often depicted having flown his kite into a tree as a metaphor for life's adversities.

General safety issues

There are safety issues involved in kite-flying, more so with power kites. Kite lines can strike and tangle on electrical power lines, causing power blackouts and running the risk of electrocuting the kite flier. Wet kite lines or wire can act as a conductor for static electricity and lightning when the weather is stormy. Kites with large surface areas or powerful lift can lift kite fliers off the ground or drag them into stationary objects. In urban areas there is usually a ceiling on how high a kite can be flown, to prevent the kite and line infringing on the airspace of helicopters and light aircraft.

In Asia, specially in the Indian subcontinent the twine is coated with powdered glass to cut opponent's lines and these deadly strings known as Manja are reported to kill number of pedestrians or motorcyclists each year all over the region.^[34][35]. The same problem has been reported in the Philippines and in Brazil^[11].

Kite designs

Delta (triangular) kite

Train of connected kites

• Bermuda kite
• Bowed kite, eg Rokkaku
• Cellular or box kite
• Chapi-chapi
• Delta kite
• Foil, parafoil or bow kite
• Malay kite see also wau bulan
• Tetrahedral kite

Kite types

Main article: Kite types

• Expanded polystyrene kite
• Fighter kite
• Indoor kite
• Inflatable single-line kite
• Kytoon
• Man-lifting kite
• Rogallo parawing kite
• Stunt kite
• Water kite

Types of kite line materials

• Cotton
• Dacron
• Dyneema
• Hemp
• Kevlar
• Linen
• Manja or Manjha, Hindi word for the glass powder coated kite flying & fighting string from Indian subcontinent and surrounding regions
• Nylon
• Polyester
• Rayon
• Silk
• Spectra

See also

• Bali Kite Festival
• Captive helicopter
• Captive plane
• Conceptual kite wind generator
• Hang gliding
• Kite aerial photography
• Kite buggying
• Kite fishing
• Kite landboarding
• Kite shape (geometry)
• Kitesurfing
• List of books about kites
• Remotely operated vehicle Some tethered ROVs are kited with remote controls on fins for underwater kiting. Ships tow the ROVs; the tether often has communication cables in it.
• Solar balloon A solar-heated hot air balloon that can be flown like a kite, but on windless days.
• Uttarayan The kite flying festival of northern India
• Wind
• Windsports

References

1. ^ Beginner's Guide to Aeronautics, NASA
2. ^ Underwater kiting
3. ^ Hydro kite angling device Jason C. Hubbart.
4. ^ Underwater kite F. G. Morrill.
5. ^ Flying High, Down Under When the kite line broke, the kites still received tension from the very long kite line.
6. ^ Science in the Field: Ben Balsley, CIRES Scientist in the Field Gathering atmospheric dynamics data using kites. Kites are anchored to boats on Amazon River employed to sample levels of certain gases in the air.
7. ^ The Bachstelze Article describes the Fa-330 Rotary Wing Kite towed by its mooring to the submarine. The kite was a man-lifter modeled after the autogyro principle.
8. ^ Kite Fashions: Above, Below, Sideways. Expert kiter sometimes ties a flying kite to a tree to have the kite fly for days on end.
9. ^ Deep In the Heart of Texas by Dave Broyles Boat kiting
10. ^ Focke-Achgelis Fa 330A-1 Bachsteltze (Water Wagtail) Kite is preserved in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
11. ^ ^{a b c d} Fadul, J. (2009). Kites in History, in Teaching, and in Therapy. Lulu Press. ISBN 978-0-557-08589-7
12. ^ Drachen Foundation Journal Fall 2002, page 18. Two lines of evidence: analysis of leaf kiting and some cave drawings
13. ^ ^{a b} Needham, Volume 4, Part 1, 127.
14. ^ ^{a b c} Encyclopedia Britannica Retrieved March 29, 2007, from Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
15. ^ Needham, Joseph. (1986). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Part 2, Mechanical Engineering. Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd. Page 580.
16. ^ http://www.mos.org/sln/toe/kite.html
17. ^ http://www.amazon.com/Bolt-Fate-Benjamin-Franklin-Electric/dp/1891620703
18. ^ "연 鳶 (Yeon)" (in Korean). Nate / Encyclopedia of Korean Culture. http://100.nate.com/dicsearch/pentry.html?s=K&i=251011&v=44. Retrieved July 30, 2009. "우리 나라에서는 ≪삼국사기≫ 열전(列傳) 김유신조(金庾信條)에, 진덕왕 즉위 1년에 대신 비담(毗曇)과 염종(廉宗)의 반란이 일어났을 때 월성(月城)에 큰 별이 떨어지므로 왕이 크게 두려워하자 김유신이 허수아비를 만들어 연에 달아 띄우니 불덩이가 하늘에 올라가는 듯하였다는 기사가 처음으로 나온다. 이로 볼 때 이 시기에는 이미 연이 일반화되어 있었으며, 또한 놀이로서의 도구뿐만 아니라 전쟁의 도구로도 사용되었음을 알 수 있다." 
19. ^ "신호연신호 개요 (Summary of sending a signal with a kite)" (in Korean). Korea Culture & Contents Agency. http://chosunpass.culturecontent.com/sub.asp?mode=3&t1=9&m1=4&c1=pc17. Retrieved July 30, 2009. "특히, 조선시대 임진왜란 때에는 충무공 이순신 장군이 충무공전술비연을 제작하여 섬과 섬, 섬과 육지 등을 서로 연락하는 통신수단 및 작전을 지시하는 전술신호와 암호 수단으로 사용한 예" 
20. ^ Cody kites
21. ^ Kites On The Winds of War By M. Robinson
22. ^ Barrage Kite
23. ^ World Kite Museum
24. ^ Focke Achgelis Fa 330
25. ^ The Parachute Manual: A Technical Treatise on Aerodynamic Decelerators By Dan Poynter
26. ^ Army Aims for More Precise Ways to Drop Troops, Cargo
27. ^ Andrew Revkin. "It's a freighter, it's a sailboat - no it's both". http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/look-its-a-freighter-its-a-sailboat-its-both/. 
28. ^ Skysail ship pulling system
29. ^ BBC NEWS, Kite to pull ship across Atlantic
30. ^ Makani Power website
31. ^ Alok Jha (2008-08-03). "Giant kites to tap power of the high wind". The Observer. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/03/renewableenergy.energy. Retrieved 2008-08-04. 
32. ^ Kite.(2007) Encyclopedia Britannica Online
33. ^ <a href="http://international-kite-festival.blogspot.com All about international kite festival in India>
34. ^ Kite deaths mar Pakistan festival
35. ^ Pakistan tackles killer kites By Shahid Malik

External links

Look up kite in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kite

The Wikibook Adventist_Youth_Honors_Answer_Book/Recreation/Kites has a page on the topic of Kites

• Kites at the Open Directory Project

Technology and history

• History of kites
• Mathematics and aeronautical principles of kites.
• Kitecraft and Kite Tournaments (1914) — A free public domain e-book

Other

• List of notable kite museums and international festivals
• USGS San Andreas Fault — Example of kite aerial photography
• American Kitefliers Association

v • d • e Application of wind energy Wind power Wind turbine · Wind mill Propulsion Sailboat · Sailing ship · Power kite · SkySails · Ice boat · Land sailing · Rotor ship Kite applications Kite · Man-lifting kite Air current Windcatcher

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - glente, drage, dækningsløs check, rytterveksel, svindler
v. intr. - udstede dækningsløse checks, stikke af, sende en prøveballon op
v. tr. - vekselrytteri

idioms:

• as high as a kite    opføre sig eksalteret (ofte p.gr.a. stoffer eller alkohol)

Nederlands (Dutch)
vlieger, wouw, kist (vliegtuig), schoorsteenwissel, frauduleuze cheque/bon, haai (roofzuchtig mens), (mv) hoogste zeilen, clandestien briefje, zweven als een vlieger, frauduleuze cheque etc. maken/doorgeven, op onwettige wijze (geld) werven, schoorsteenwissel trekken

Français (French)
n. - cerf-volant, (fig) ballon d'essai, (Zool) milan, (Fin) chèque en bois, traite en l'air
v. intr. - prendre son essor et planer (un avion, un oiseau)
v. tr. - (US, Can) faire un chèque (en prévision de rentrées suffisantes pour l'encaisser)

idioms:

• as high as a kite    ivre, soûl, drogué, camé, tout fou

Deutsch (German)
n. - Drachen, Falke, (ugs.) Flugzeug, Gefälligkeitswechsel, Kellerwechsel
v. - fliegen, erschwindeln, ungedeckte Schecks ausschreiben

idioms:

• as high as a kite    im Rausch

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - χαρταετός, (ορνιθ.) ικτίνος, ψαλιδάρης ή τσίφτης, μικρό ιστίο
v. - υψώνομαι σαν αετός, κυκλοφορώ (πλαστά), εξασφαλίζω με παράνομα μέσα

idioms:

• as high as a kite    στουπί στο μεθύσι

Italiano (Italian)
aquilone, nibbio

idioms:

• as high as a kite    altissimo

Português (Portuguese)
n. - pipa (f), papagaio (m), patife (m)
v. - aumentar custos (coloq.), emitir cheque sem fundos

idioms:

• as high as a kite    travado (m) (gír.), muito drogado

Русский (Russian)
бумажный змей, пробный камень, коршун, шулер, фиктивный чек

idioms:

• as high as a kite    пьяный в стельку

Español (Spanish)
n. - cometa, barrilete, papalote, papagayo, volantín, milano
v. intr. - moverse grácilmente como una cometa, obtener dinero a través de un cheque adulterado o sin fondos
v. tr. - cobrar o pasar un cheque adulterado o sin fondos

idioms:

• as high as a kite    excitado por influencia del alcohol o de drogas, estar totalmente colocado o volando, estar hasta atrás

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - glada, drake (av papper)
v. - flyga med drake, sväva (som en drake el glada)

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
风筝, 空头支票, 高而轻的帆, 像风筝一样飞, 使用空头支票, 轻快地移动, 使上升, 骗钱

idioms:

• as high as a kite    烂醉如泥, 如痴如狂

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 風箏, 空頭支票, 高而輕的帆
v. intr. - 像風箏一樣飛, 使用空頭支票, 輕快地移動
v. tr. - 使上升, 騙錢

idioms:

• as high as a kite    爛醉如泥, 如癡如狂

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 연, 솔개, 사기꾼
v. intr. - 잽싸게 돌아다니다, 융통 어음으로 돈을 마련하다
v. tr. - 융통어음으로서 사용하다

idioms:

• as high as a kite    연처럼 높게 , 아주 높게

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 凧, トビ, 融通手形

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) طائرة ورقيه, طائر الحدأة (فعل) يعدو بخفه, يرتفع‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮עפיפון, אווירון (מדוברת), דיה (עוף דורס)‬
v. intr. - ‮עף כעפיפון‬
v. tr. - ‮העיף עפיפון, הוציא (מאדם) כסף במירמה‬

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