78 
THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
is to place a loop of string around the 
standard at about the place where the line 
B B is tied, and hold the face of the kite hor- 
izontal ; then we may move the loop 
along the standard to balance its length, 
and see if one side always droops when the 
kite frame is put slightly in motion by the 
finger. If it does, that side is heaviest, and 
0 
Fig. 14. 
we must turn over the edge of the paper 
more on that side when we put it on, so as 
to balance the weight." 
" It is a pretty looking frame. " 
"Yes, and what is better, it is a firm one, 
for the tension of the bender keeps it stifi, 
while it also causes the bender to keep all 
the strings tight." 
" How is the paper put on?" 
" Smooth it out flat upon the table, and 
cut it out, leaving a nice edge to turn over; 
cut notches out of the paper, to let each end 
of the bender, and the point at the top of 
the standard, come through. Then paste 
the edges of the paper and turn them over 
all round, taking care not to double the 
paper over too far, which would set the side 
strings out of straight. The kite being dry, 
we may put the wings on the end of the 
bender, as you see them in Fig. 7." 
" What are those wings for; to make the 
kite look pretty?" 
They do add to the beauty, but they are 
not put there for that purpose altogether. 
You must know, Harry, that wind doesn't 
blow evenly quite, but comes in gusts, and 
when the wind strikes on one side of the 
kite stronger ths^,n it does on the other, it 
makes the kite sway to one side. The 
wings, you observe, are made of a piece of 
paper formed like a tassel. Suppose, then, 
that the wind is strongest for a moment on 
the right hand side of the kite, the ends of 
the wings are blown more behind the kite 
than those on the left hand side, so that the 
side of the kite that has the least pressure 
of wind on it, has most of the wing exposed 
to the wind, and this makes up for the less 
pressure, and so keeps the kite steady." 
What kind of tail shall we have?" 
" Let me tell you the use of a kite taiL 
Many boys seem to think that the weight 
of the tail is what is required, but that i& 
quite wrong, for the weight is only one con- 
sideration. Do the best we can, we cannot 
keep the kite quite steady, unless the wind 
blows very evenly on each side of it, which 
is not very often the case, and the kite 
always moves towards the side where the 
wind blows the least. To partly prevent 
this, we want the tail to present a good deal 
of surface to the air, and this will make it 
harder to move through the air. If you 
fold up a fan, you can move it very quickly^ 
but if you open it full out, it is more diffi- 
cult to move it, although its weight is the 
same in both cases; just so it is with a kite 
tail — whatever its weight may be, it will 
take more time to move it through the air if 
it presents a large surface than if it presents 
a less one. An easy way to get a large sur- 
face is to cut some pieces of newspaper 
about three inches long and an inch and a 
half wide, and fold them up lengthways 
until they are only about half an inch wide. 
Then make loops in a piece of twine, and 
fasten these pieces of paper, which are^ 
called spills, in the middle, placing them 
along the twine about three inches apart,, 
and making the tail about four times the 
length of the kite, and putting a paper 
tassel on the end." 
This is how Harry got the championt 
kite, and how it flew is told at the begin- 
ning of this story. 
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