Downwind Faster than the Wind - Successful Run by manned cart

Pierrome said:
The manned downwind cart has made a successful run at the Land Sailing event at Ivanpah lakebed.

The video posted on Youtube indicates that it did in fact travel directly downwind faster than the wind.

You can see the video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SYvg40NHtc
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It would be nice if they could film it overtaking some balloons.

Meanwhile, I look forward with interest to the reaction of those who've been using every physical law they once vaguely heard of to prove this impossible...
 
Oh no its not

Whoa....... hold on a minute. Look at the the handing of the prop. If the wind was powering this from behind it would be turning the OTHER WAY! This is a bunch of college kids having a laugh.
 
Surely if this were true, some very clever people in the field of science, physics and technology would have found all this out long before some yank school kids, using a windmill on a go kart and a treadmill, was used to prove it all to us?

I'm not saying I don't believe, I'm saying i'm a grat skeptic.... :D



And very poor at spelling evidently! :)
 
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shaunksb said:
Whoa....... hold on a minute. Look at the the handing of the prop. If the wind was powering this from behind it would be turning the OTHER WAY! This is a bunch of college kids having a laugh.
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That's how it works. The prop rotates not as a freewheeling prop in a wind would but in the direction required to propel the car forwards. Remember the point several of us have been trying to get across for ages - it's not the wheels in isolation, it's not the prop in isolation but the two geared together that makes it work. It doesn't work on the apparent wind to the vehicle but on the difference in speed between wind and ground. That's why it has to be geared to both to work.

I have no doubt more and better quality film will be produced and independent witnesses produced to show that this is genuine, there isn't a lawn mower engine hidden in the cart and it hasn't been done by CG.

Look at the telltales mounted well outside the arc of the prop. They show how the apparent wind to the vehicle starts from behind and ends up ahead as it accelerates. That alone should be enough to demonstrate that the cart is moving faster than the wind.
 
shaunksb said:
Whoa....... hold on a minute. Look at the the handing of the prop. If the wind was powering this from behind it would be turning the OTHER WAY! This is a bunch of college kids having a laugh.
Click to expand...

Far from it. This is a serious academic project. I suggest that you have a look through this blog.

And I should add congratulations to the San Jose State University team. Though I don't for a moment expect that this will put an end to the online arguments.
 
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DJE said:
Though I don't for a moment expect that this will put an end to the online arguments.
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Don't forget that long after the original hoaxers owned up there are still plenty of people around who believe crop circles were created by aliens. No amount of evidence is going to convince those who dismiss anything that doesn't fit in with their own beliefs.
 
DJE said:
And I should add congratulations to the San Jose State University team. Though I don't for a moment expect that this will put an end to the online arguments.
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Indeed. I expect the responses will fall into the usual three categories:
  1. The video has been faked
  2. The demonstration was rigged
  3. I always said it would work
 
Ubergeekian said:
Indeed. I expect the responses will fall into the usual three categories:
  1. The video has been faked
  2. The demonstration was rigged
  3. I always said it would work
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Add a fourth - Still not proven.

I want to see it reach a steady sustained speed before I'm truly convinced. That machine was still accellerating up to the point he braked as far as I could see.

If you will allow the "ping pong ball in airstream effect" hypothesis then eventually he will slow down to a constant speed - if DWFTTW works, that speed will be above windspeed - if not - a bit below.

Edit -Just saw Keen_Eds video and it does look more convincing... hmmm
 
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Aw come on! That 2nd run video shows it clearly. How do you think it gets going in the first place? Really - this is Muppertry of the highest order.
 
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