Imagine It! Build It! Fly It!
Quad-D Kite Project
Bermuda Kite and Blueprint
Why chose a Bermuda kite? Because we thought it would be easy to fly, however, it would also be challenging to build. A Bermuda kite is a 3 point bridle with tails. It also is uniquely in the shape of a hexagon with estimated angles of 125 degrees. Our blueprint is shown to the side. We recommend this exciting and fun kite.
Why Us?
Model Kite in Math
Math Fun with Kites!
*PROBLEM THREE: Under the direction of Harry Osborne, the Edmonds Community College kite team kept a parafoil in the air from August 21 to August 29, 1982. Their 180 hour, 17 minute flight created a world record for duration flying. If there we eight members of the team, and each took three hour shifts watching the kite, how many shifts would each team member be responsible for?
*PROBLEM SIX: On May 16, 1987, Troy Vickstrom decided to measure the speed of his maneuverable kite across the beach in Lincoln City, Oregon. The kites speed of 108 miles per hour was measured using a police radar gun. Afterwards, the police issued a citation for exceeding the maximum speed in an area with a posted speed of 20 mph. (The ticket was a joke.) How can you measure the speed of a moving kite?
Answers
Number 1 (Problem 3): First, you would have to convert the flight time and shifts to minutes. So 180x60=1080 and 1080+17=1097. For the shifts, 3x60=180. Next, you have the total flight time, 1097 minutes, and divide it by the number of members, 8, and you should get about 137. Now we know each member served about 137 minutes. Converted to the shift time, 180, it is about one. So each member served about one shift.
Number 2 (Problem 6): In this problem, you are trying to figure out how to measure the distance of a moving kite. Since your unit would be in mph, here is what you do. First, you would set up markers a certain distance apart from each other (ex. 100 ft.) Then, you would measure the time it takes get from one marker to the other (ex. 60 seconds). Then you would record the time over distance and then convert the ft. to miles and multiply the time by the same number.
Surface Area
Here's how to easily find the surface area of our Bermuda kites.
Basic Shapes
Here's our kite broken down into basic shapes to help find the surface area. As you can see, we've broken it down into six *equal* triangles.
Measurements
Here are the measurements of the triangles in our kite. Shown above are the lengths of the bases and heights of all the triangles since they are all equal.
Solving
With the previous information given, The picture above tells how to solve for the surface area. Since all the triangles are equal, you only need to solve for one triangle. Any given triangle has a base of 27cm and a height of 25cm. 27 x 25 is 675. 675 x 1/2=337.5 and 337.5 x 6 (the number of triangles) is 2025 cm.