I Built a Transparent Boomerang (it's lethal)

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[MikeShake]

As some of you guys pointed out, the boomerang is spinning, so the energy on the edges is quite higher than 69J. Pretty cool!

[ThumpertTheFascistCottontail]

11:16 "If I put a little bit less power into it, it's pretty accurate"

That's it my man. I've been making & throwing boomerangs for almost twenty years. When you're learning, it's usually better to focus on throwing technique rather than power, hitting a target or getting it to return perfectly. Throwing technique, particularly the release, is super important! Great work 👌

[vistagamerr]

Mike is making the best equipment for a zombie apocalypse

[rowbearly]

Boomerangs that return are for hunting birds. When a flock is feeding on the ground, you throw the boomerang high and to the right of them making sure the sun is on the right of the boomerang. When it passes between the sun and the feeding flock, they see the shadow and think it is a raptor, so they fly, the boomerang then turns and passes theough the flock taking off, and usually takes out a couple. I am an older Aussie and I learned this as a child.

[stephaniehorne]

8:54 yes the classic yellow watermelon

[IIIAnchani]

8:09 Mike didn't aim for the watermelon. He aimed for the fly sitting on the watermelon. But he wanted to stun, not to kill or cut in half. What an absolute sniper with a boomerang!

[jakubpluhar]

"Hey man, I lost my boomerang, can you help me find it?"
"Sure, what does it look like?"
"Invisible...."

[wejnmhg]

As a watermelon eater, the most surprising part of this video was the yellow watermelon. 😶🤨 (But fr ur rlly talented)

[Slingshotchannel]

Pretty cool! Maybe I need to make a powerful launcher for boomerangs, see what superhuman strength can achieve.

[npc]

12:23 Moment of silence for that wasp that got caught in the crossfire

[Miralage]

As a strayan (and of aboriginal heritage, no less!), we were taught in school that the boomerang returns due to the difference in the shaping. On one side, the boomerang is sanded down on the LEADING edge, while on the other side, the boomerang is sanded down on the TRAILING edge. This causes the profile of the wings and the way the wind interacts with them to be a mirror image. A normal boomerang shape will return, over a long-enough flight path, but once you alter it with a leading edge and trailing edge sanded down opposite from one another (at 3:26 you can literally see that the leading edge of the bottom arm is shaped and the trailing edge of the upper arm is shaped) you can make the boomerange spin harder and tilt harder. One of the ones we made in class, as bloody 12 year olds (!) when thrown right, could return to you in about 10 metres of space.

Also trufacts; what do you call a boomerang that doesn't return?

A stick.

P.S. I'd love to see you take the same boomerange, and shape down the leading edge on one side and the trailing edge on the other and show us what happens to the flight path! While wearing body armor or something though.

[supernovaproxima]

I find the choice to use polycarbonate really interesting. You can see in the slow motion videos how flexible it is. Polycarbonate is literally designed to absorb kinetic energy, which means that it's not a great code for pure destructive potential. And yet, despite all of that, this thing deals a lot of damage. I'd be very curious to see a heavier, more streamlined version of this.

[holobotovskyy]

12:34 The poor wasp was just minding his own business and then an invisble boomerang kills the person next to it. Stay strong little one!

[nsvo]

@10:30 that hit is exceptional! The way the edge barely kisses the can is perfect

[lobi]

The weight is much closer to a sport boomerang (100g) than a traditional hunting one (around 2kg). The amount of extra energy can turn a semi-dangerous toy to a deadly weapon.

[daynevickers]

When I was 9 yrs old, my Dad, an aeronautical engineer (so he knew ALL about wings), made 2 boomerangs in his woodshop for us kids to play with. At the end of the day, all the kids went home. My best friend took one home with him (2 blocks away). Upon seeing it, his Dad made him throw it away, telling him, 'You'll hurt somebody with that damn thing!". So he threw it as hard as he could, the wind caught it, and, as fate would have it, I happened to be standing in my yard in exactly the right spot for it to hit me right between my eyes, causing a 2 inch cut all the way to my skull. Yeah, great day, but at least I have a cool story to tell!

[GOLDENX..]

I am sure someday this man will become the final boss, he has mastered all types of skills and weapons.

This man is getting more dangerous,

I have to meet this man someday, I want to be his apprentice.

[gaunterodimm]

U did an amazing job mate but I have a few notes:
1) It’s too light for a hunting boomerang, they should be in a range between 1.5-2 kg so the kinetic energy is way higher
2) I would suggest material with less give/bounce. Polycarb is a great material for being strong and durable but it’s way too flexible so a lot of potential energy is wasted. Make it out of wood or other material that has less flex.

[ozboomer_au]

In general, hunting sticks were most often used from a distance to immobilize a kangaroo or emu... and then the 'deed' would be finished with the stick. It's also worth noting that not every group of indigenous folks actually used boomerangs; it was mainly those in the eastern regions of Australia who used them - spears were the far more frequently used weapon around the country.

As you no doubt found out(!), you can do yourself some serious damage if you just try and throw a hunting stick 'full power' without warming up first, in terms of the throw (with your arm, shoulder and body) and the wrist (to get the 'snap' happening for the spin). It's going to be bad enough with a 313g 'plastic' version... but using a 'real' 500g+ stick made from redgum or similar would really destroy your shoulder, in particular.

Another thought: What we used to do in the '70s with the early versions of clear boomerangs was to use a single wrap of insulating tape around the tip of one or both ends. This made the boomerang easier to track in the sky (producing a flying circle) as well as making it easier to find in the grass or scrub when they went wayward...

Returning boomerangs were more often used as a 'training' tool, to help the younger folks work out the snap action required.. as that's what makes a boomerang and hunting stick fly, not the strength of the throw, which is really about range (hunting stick) and speed of travel (boomerang).

A returning boomerang could be used in a pinch for hunting... by throwing it the 'wrong way' (parallel to the ground) towards, say, a pond where a mob of ducks were resting.. while making the sound of a hawk. The boomerang would come flying in, fast and flat... which would cause the ducks to take flight... and when the 'physics' of the boomerang started to work 'properly', it would immediately turn upwards and would strike at least a couple of birds... and so you'd have your lunch.

To expand your understanding of the returning boomerang, think about 'conservation of angular momentum' as well as the 'lift differential' and the 'lagging' action of the torque...

If you want to go 'full bottle' on the subject, chase down 'Boomerangs, aerodynamics and motion', by Felix Hess. from ~1975, I think. This was a thesis he wrote for his doctorate in mathematics... and explains about his 'winglet model', and includes computer simulations (written in ALGOL, of all languages(!)), with 3-D plots and even a set of stereo-viewing glasses so you can see the 3-D flights he recorded and simulated. ...but realize the mathematics is pretty heavy going, with partial differential equations and lots of physics involved...

[MrThrifty]

7:33 Anyone else paused the video to look for the boomerang? It took awhile but it’s at the red pipes, you’ll see it when you realize it (I’d recommend zooming in)