64 
THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
*' Yes, and the larger the kite, the more 
it would bag in proportion." 
' * The edges of the kite yon have drawn 
don't look square; what makes that?" 
" Because you cannot take a flat surface 
and bend it in any direction without mak- 
ing its length or width smaller, so where the 
paper bags, the size across of the kite be- 
comes smaller, and as this gives less surface 
for the wind to blow upon, the kite won't 
fly so well." 
"Square shaped kites seem to have a 
great many faults." 
I havent told you all yet, for the belly- 
" Because they can be made, easily and 
cheaply. Now, here (Fig. 6) you see is an- 
other shape of kite, each stick forming the 
frame being represented by a dotted line. 
See what a number of them there are — three 
in all; so such a kite must be heavy." 
"Don't heavy kites fly well?" 
"No, Harry; just think for yourself a mo- 
ment. There is just so much pressure of wind 
trying to lift the kite, so the less the kite 
weighs for its size, the easier the wind can 
lift it." 
" Why do they put tails on them; they^ 
weigh something?" 
Fig. 8. 
band must be fastened in the middle of the 
width of the kite, and as the frame don't 
come there, a piece of twine must be fastened 
across the frame, as you see by the dotted 
lines in Fig. 5, to fasten the belly-band to; 
then all the pull on the belly-band tries to 
pull the frame together, and this helps to 
make the kite face bag, and often causes the 
belly-band to tear the face of the kite by 
pulling the string, marked in dotted lines, 
through it." 
"Why, then, do they make square shaped 
kites?" 
Fig. 7. 
"We shall come to that part presently; 
first let me call your attention to the fact- 
that this kite still has the bag in the divis- 
ion 1, and lesser bags in the other places;, 
and you remember that all the bag above 
the point where the string is fastened to the 
belly-band, acts to keep the kite down." 
"What is the reason that the division 
marked 2 don't curve at the edge so much 
as that marked 1?" 
"Because that marked 2 iskeptstraighter 
by the weight of the tail. Now, Master 
Harry, I have shown you some of the worst 
