Or consider what might be a more familiar example of spinning object physics: the bicycle. 

3. The uneven lift of the spinning boomerang makes it turn (like leaning on a bicycle)—and keep turning until it makes a circle.

It’s like riding a bicycle no-handed. Even though you don’t have your hands on the handlebars, you can make the bike turn just by leaning. It’s the same principle. 

Think of the spinning bicycle wheels as if they are gyroscopes, spinning on one rotational axis, and when you lean, you are applying a torque (or force, or twisting pressure) on those spinning wheels. The result is that the whole bicycle turns. 

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On a bicycle, you pedal to make the wheels spin, and you lean to make the bike turn. With a boomerang, you throw it to make it spin and the uneven lift (or torque) created by the combination of the spinning and forward speed of the wings makes the boomerang “lean”—which makes the 
boomerang turn.

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Secrets of the Boomerang

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