Kite Applications - Science

Science

  • Lighter-than-water kite as tailing buoy

Kites have been used for scientific purposes, such as Benjamin Franklin's famous experiment proving that lightning is electricity. Kites were the precursors to 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 an historical role in lifting scientific instruments to measure atmospheric conditions for weather forecasting. The Weather Doctor Almanac.

Collecting kited spiders with kited nets: Kites are used to take samples of upper air and to collect things found in the upper air. The spiders that kite to disperse (so-called ballooning spiders) have been found in nets raised to upper air for collecting; the method is noted carefully in Spider Ballooning: Development and Evaluation of Field Trapping Methods (Araneae) Balloon kite of the so-called ballooning spiderlings; the spiders' kite is not a balloon.

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