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A Physics Professor Bet Me $10,000 I'm Wrong

Veritasium3 HN recommenders · 2021–2023
26.3M views · explainer · evergreen · Uploaded 2021-06-30

Veritasium recounts a $10,000 bet with a UCLA physics professor over whether a vehicle can travel downwind faster than the wind. He presents the professor's reasoning and demonstrations, including one without aerodynamics.

Linked as clear demonstrations that make the counterintuitive faster-than-wind result click.

Fundamental physicsEveryday physics & science demos

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8 comments from Hacker News

@kinjba112021 · in “Science YouTuber Wins $10k Bet with Physicist”

Original video triggering the bet for context: [LINK] Video discussing the bet and going over criticism: [VIDEO] Veritasium is a great YouTube channel.

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@Someone12342021 · in “A wind-powered vehicle that can travel twice as fast as the wind itself”

The most surprising thing here is that someone on Twitter made a bet, lost the bet, and then actually paid said bet. Playing devil's advocate here a little: The whole machine is very counter-intuitive, and I can see how I myself may disbelieve it if not for the irrefutable demonstration(s)[0]. [0] [VIDEO]

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@Tuna-Fish2021 · in “A wind-powered vehicle that can travel twice as fast as the wind itself”

The small demonstration that made it click for me is from that video: [VIDEO] This is exactly what the blackbird does, only with a propeller pushing air in place of the big wheel, and it's a much clearer and simpler demonstration of the same idea, which you can trivially verify.

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@shagie2021 · in “A wind-powered vehicle that can travel twice as fast as the wind itself”

The original Veritasium video [LINK] The video of the bet and the further explanations - [VIDEO] -- at 13:28 is an example without aerodynamics.

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@Strilanc2021 · in “A wind-powered vehicle that can travel twice as fast as the wind itself”

The professor's reasoning is near the start of the video about the bet [1]. Basically they thought the makers of blackbird were fooling themselves (e.g. measuring slower wind at the bottom of the car vs the top of the propeller, or getting pushed above the average wind speed by gusts then selectively reporting). 1: [VIDEO]

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@HarHarVeryFunny2022 · in “The swimming of a dead fish (2018)”

Dead fish swimming upstream .. Reminds me a bit of this: a wind-powered vehicle than can accelerate directly into the wind... [VIDEO]

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@TimSchumann2022 · in “DDWFTTW Vehicle Analysis (2013)”

Derek from the YouTube channel Veritasium made two interesting videos about this vehicle. [LINK] [VIDEO] They go into some nice detail about why the physics works out the way it does.

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@gcanyon2023 · in “World's fastest sailboat: Two wild designs hit the water for testing”

I doubt this is how sailboats are doing it (if they're doing it) but one way is (I think) to make the airfoil itself cut across the wind while the "boat" goes straight downwind. See these videos: [LINK] [VIDEO]

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