Veritasium
5 HN recommenders · recommended in 7 months, 2021–2023
21:38 · 12M views · May 29, 2021
Veritasium investigates whether a wind-powered vehicle can travel directly downwind faster than the wind, driving the Blackbird craft himself. The video explains the physics behind a claim some physics professors dispute.
Frequently linked whenever wind-powered vehicles come up, as the clearest visual explanation of how the craft works.
11 comments from Hacker News
The visual that made it click for me was at 18:54 in the original video[0]. It shows the air hitting the propeller losing kinetic energy which becomes the energy ultimately making the vehicle go. I also don't know how you can watch the treadmill video and doubt it after seeing it go up the treadmill unless you believed it was a complete hoax. [0] this video
If you believe that sailboats can beat a drifting balloon downwind by zigzagging, then there is a very good explanation in the original Veritasium video that shows that this is essentially the same thing. Here's a link to the section of the video with that explanation [1]. Watch about 2 or 3 minutes starting there and it becomes clear. [1] this video
I thought the video below provided a good explanation for why this works. The physics are similar to those of a single sailboat going faster than the wind. Imagine two sailboats on a cylindrical ocean on diagonal tacks, on opposite poles, and rotating around the core with rods connecting them to the core. Now you have a propeller. :) this video
Derek from the YouTube channel Veritasium made two interesting videos about this vehicle. this video [LINK] They go into some nice detail about why the physics works out the way it does.
Original video triggering the bet for context: this video Video discussing the bet and going over criticism: [LINK] Veritasium is a great YouTube channel.