Risking My Life To Settle A Physics Debate

this propeller craft was built to settle a physics debate because what its creators claim it can do is so counter-intuitive that it seems to violate the law of conservation of energy so i've come here to drive it myself and see if it really works and is it safe it feels makeshift i'm not gonna lie i need some wind give me a gust it's a little unbalanced isn't it this video was sponsored by kiwico more about them at the end of the show i've come to el mirage a dry lake bed a couple hours from los angeles to race a one-of-a-kind propeller craft it's called blackbird and i'm here with its inventor rick and the current owner neil it all started with a brain teaser can any wind powered vehicle go directly downwind faster than the wind itself if you've got a sailboat and you're sailing it straight down wind yeah as soon as that sailboat is going the same speed as the wind then there is no more wind that is correct you can't push the sailboat so sailboats can't just go downwind faster than the wind not straight downwind not straight not direct downwind imagine a boat floating in the water as the wind picks up it pushes the sail accelerating the boat the boat gets faster and faster until its speed exactly matches the wind but at this point the wind can't push the sail anymore i mean if you imagine it from the frame of reference of the boat there's no longer any apparent wind there's no air moving over the boat because the air and the boat are moving together at the same speed so a sailboat going directly downwind can only match the speed of the wind never exceed it even if there's no drag but the claim is blackbird can do it it can go straight downwind faster than the air that is pushing it well i the weather forecast is still holding okay good we can feel it's at like one now yeah but el mirage has a reputation of like when it feels yeah it happens it happens i think we started somewhere in the middle all right well let's let's move over we're moving to a spot that will give us a long straight path downwind with no obstacles all we need now is for the ...