What we are looking at here is a wind-powered vehicle called the Blackbird. We recently watched this vehicle break a lot of what people much smarter than us would say is impossible. Travelling downwind faster than the wind in a wind-powered vehicle.
The video by Veritasium had Derek Muller travel out to meet the scientists behind blackbird in the El Mirage dry lake bed to see it for themselves. Now, travelling faster than the wind in a sailboat is very possible when not moving directly downwind. In fact, you can get up to seven times faster. But this Blackbird, a land vehicle of all things, is very cool.
How does this wind-powered vehicle break minds and move faster than the wind?
The three-wheeler looks very scary to drive, judging from Derek Muller’s reaction. It has him sitting on a mesh suspended underneath the vehicle that looks as though it could topple over or break at any moment, sending a massive propellor down in your direction. But how does this all work?
Well, if sails can go faster than the wind at an angle, then what if that angle was applied to the “sails” if a propellor? That is exactly what happens here, but only for a while. You see, even if the propellor thing makes theoretical sense, practically, once you reach wind speed and faster, there won’t be any wind to blow you forward. This is where the physics get weird and the genius behind the wind-powered vehicle comes out.
After you reach wind speed, the wheels turn a sprocket that in turn pulls a chain. That then moves a turbine to push air behind the Blackbird, providing forward thrust. So the wind just starts this wind-powered vehicle and then the wheel speed, that the wind provided, takes over once wind speed has been reached.
If it still doesn’t make perfect sense, know there are many scientists that had that same feeling. It’s mind-breaking but you have to admit that it’s also very cool. As of now, the creator of the Blackbird, Rick Cavallar, has managed to get it to travel 2.86 times faster than the wind.
For more, watch Veritasium’s video about the whole experience.
Source: BBC | Jalopnik | Veritasium