Going Faster Than the Wind In a Wind-Powered Cart

Shawnconna writes "Can a wind cart travel faster than the wind? A group of makers say, 'Yes!' Make: Online has published a story about the Blackbird wind cart that just set a record. This is a follow-up to an earlier story in which Charles Platt built a cart based on a viral video where a guy claimed he'd built a wind-powered vehicle that could travel downwind faster than the windspeed. Charles built one and said it didn't work. Heated debates broke out in forums, on BB, and elsewhere on the Net. In the ensuing time, a number of people have built carts and claimed success, most principally, Rick Cavallaro. He got funding from Google and JOBY to build and test a human-piloted cart. They claim success, with multiple sensor systems on board, impartial judges and experts in attendance."

Comments

I don't think you understand science

[SmallFurryCreature]

It is not the job of engineers or gods to figure out the science. That is for the scientists. Apples fell from trees long before Newton thought about it.

The scientists can be skeptical, they can demand reproducible tests, but once the tests have been done it is THEIR job to find an explanation, NOT that of the engineers.

These guys build something, they opened themselves up to a lot of tests, so either you make some real accusations and not just "idiot slashdotter doesn't understand so it must be fake" or start to work out the math or just accept that you are an idiot along with everyone else and leave this to smarter people.

But they do NOT have to explain to you how it works, they got far smarter people to convince, not some random kiddie on the net.