Wind-Powered Car Travels Downwind Faster Than The Wind

Jalopnik.com:

Directly Downwind Faster Than The Wind (DDWFTTW) is a favorite topic of debate across the nerdverse for the combination non-existent answer and apparently conflicting nature of the question. "Wind only goes X-speed, how can you go faster? If you go faster don't you violate the law of conservation of energy?" That's usually the way the discussion goes.

When aerodynamicist Rick Cavallaro at Thin Air Designs heard about the debate causing nerd-rage all over the internet he decided to see if he could prove the naysayers wrong.

Read the whole story: Jalopnik.com

Comments

[netzwerg]

03:18 AM on 07/07/2010

Going faster than the actual windspeed is nothing new, every windsurfer, kitesurfer and most sailboats can do that.

[ThinAirDesigns]

09:24 AM on 07/07/2010

@netzwerg: None of the sailing craft that you mention can exceed the speed of the wind while they are traveling *directly downwind* -- they ALL must travel at an angle to the wind, otherwise their speed drops to below wind speed.

The Blackbird exceeds the speed of the wind by more than three multiples while traveling in the same direction as the wind. Very big difference.

[davidglover]

07:49 PM on 07/06/2010

I was at El Mirage when the broke the record, over 3x the windspeed, www.fasterthanthewind.org