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Concept
Kite types
Summary
Kites are tethered flying objects which fly by using aerodynamic lift, requiring wind (or towing) for generation of airflow over the lifting surfaces.
Various types of kites exist, depending on features such as material, shape, use, or operating skills,Wind required. Kites may fly in air, water, or other fluids such as gas and other liquid gaining lift through deflection of the supporting medium. Variations in design of tethering systems and lifting surfaces are regularly introduced, with lifting surfaces varying in stiffness from limp sheet material to fully solid material.
Kites may be built by the flier or by a dedicated kite manufacturer, which may be a member of the
Kite Trade Association International (KTAI), which also includes kite retailers.
Kites have been made from the following materials:
Plastic – for example, a Styrofoam-only kite
Organic materials – such as plant leaves and grass
Paper
Textiles such as rip-stop nylon, nylon, or Dacron
Monoplane
Flexible sail
Stiffened flexible sail
Rigid wing
Biplane
Multiplane
Low-aspect-ratio – wings that have a narrow chord (length from front edge to rear edge), compared with their span
High-aspect-ratio – wings that have a wide chord, compared with their span
Ram-air inflated
Closed bladder, gas-inflated
Rotating wing – also known as rotor kite or gyroglider (e.g. Focke Achgelis Fa 330)
Image:Chinese dragon kite (Berkeley, California - 2000).jpg|Dragon (a train of sub-kites)
Image:KiteTrainBedford2007.JPG|A train of little kites at the Bedford International Kite Festival, 2007
Image:Kite-trains-shanghai.jpg|Vendors selling kite trains in Shanghai
Multiple unit kites
A multiple unit kite may be made of a single wing, several wings, or several sub-kite units arranged as trains, chains, coterie, single-branching, multiple-branching, arch-kite, "ladder" mill dynamic kite-chain, or combinations of these patterns. World records for the number of kites in a kite train are in the literature; teams of people are used to fly kites of high-count sub-kite units.
Official source
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