Questions and answers

Because it spins. In cross-section, each blade is shaped like a wing and creates lift. As long as the boomerang is spinning, that lift doesn't tip it over — instead it makes it turn smoothly, so it flies an arc back toward the thrower.

It's a property of anything that spins fast: if you push on a spinning object, it doesn't tilt the way you push — it turns to the side. A spinning top behaves this way, and so does a boomerang, which turns in flight instead of falling over on its side.

No. There are non-returning boomerangs and throwing sticks that fly far and almost straight. Many traditional Australian boomerangs were hunting throwing sticks and did not return.

The familiar boomerang has two blades and looks like a bent stick. There are also three- and four-blade ones, which are often considered more forgiving and easier to start with. They all come back for the same reason — spin.

Light, with rounded edges, made of a safe material such as soft plastic or foam, and labeled as a beginner's boomerang. It should also match your throwing hand: a standard one for right-handers, a mirror-shaped one for left-handers.

It's a mirror image: the blade airfoils face the other way, and it flies a mirrored arc. For a right-hander, throwing a left-handed boomerang is awkward and pointless, and the same goes the other way around.

They're optional, but they can help. Glasses protect your eyes from a stray hit or flying grass, and thin gloves protect your fingers when you catch. Neither one changes the main rule: you never catch a boomerang that's flying at your face.

Better not. A crack or chip can spread in flight, and the boomerang can break apart. Small burrs can be carefully smoothed down, but a seriously damaged boomerang should be set aside and not used.

Almost certainly it was thrown flat. A returning boomerang is thrown almost vertically, with a slight tilt; thrown flat, it usually shoots straight up and can come down unpredictably.

Right-handers are usually advised to throw about 45° to the right of the direction the wind is coming from; left-handers, to the left and with a left-handed boomerang. If it isn't coming back to you, adjust that angle slightly from throw to throw.

Behind the thrower and well back. Never throw toward people, animals, cars or roads, and if someone walks onto the field, stop and wait until they leave.

Don't catch it. Duck, turn away, cover your head with your arms and let it fall. Only a slow, hovering boomerang gets caught — with both palms, sandwich-style.