4 ms·

@Semiapies: >It is admittedly using stored energy - the propellers are spun by the wheels, which are spinning due to the vehicle's forward motion. I'm sorry,

@Semiapies: >It is admittedly using stored energy - the propellers are spun by the wheels, which are spinning due to the vehicle's forward motion. I'm sorry, but by that logic your car is also "admittedly using stored energy" to accelerate (as the wheels and other parts are turning due to the vehicles forward motion) and we know this isn't the case. Just because there exists stored energy in a system, doesn't mean that this stored energy is being used and in fact, as the vehicle accelerates, more energy is stored rather than energy being used. In the case of this vehicle, it can't be using the stored energy in the propeller without it turning progressively slower and the videos show the propeller simply continuing to spin faster as the vehicle accelerates. The gearing between the prop and the wheels is fixed ... there's no way to slow the prop down and speed the wheels up -- that would require a variable ratio between the two. Semiapies: <<Trying to put skeptics on the defensive and trying to force them to disprove the remarkable claim put forth is a classic shtick. I don't recall attempting to force you to disprove anything. I simply asked period of time would convince you. You can call it "shtick" if you like -- I call it attempting to learn your position.

Semiapies 16y ago
"it can't be using the stored energy in the propeller" Note that I didn't say it was. Sorry to get you off-script. As claimed by the builders, the propeller is powered by the wheels. Assuming no other stored energy source, the stored energy is the motion of the vehicle after it's been started off by the wind. I'm not clear how they do it, but going from the treadmill video, I suspect they manage a temporary burst of speed followed by a slowdown. "I don't recall attempting to force you to disprove anything" You rushed in to try to get a layman to give explicit parameters for disproving it. That's a common tactic, usually followed by assurances that this system can totally do that, and we'll see video of it doing exactly that Real Soon Now. At this point, I'm waiting for the normal course of events: the other shoe will drop months from now and hardly make a blip on the blogs and other venues currently hyping this story.
- ThinAirDesigns 16y ago
  Me: "it can't be using the stored energy in the propeller" You: "Note that I didn't say it was. Sorry to get you off-script." Wow -- you make a clear claim and then two posts later are denying you even said it. I'll refresh your memory: This is you claiming that the vehicle uses stored energy: "It is admittedly using stored energy - the propellers are spun by the wheels," You: "You rushed in to try to get a layman to give explicit parameters for disproving it." Nope -- I merely asked what would convince you -- big difference.
  - Semiapies 16y ago
    Two posts? You're contradicting yourself within your single post, right here. I never said the energy was stored in the propeller. You even just quoted me saying exactly the opposite, twice! Real, working projects don't have shills - sorry, evangelists - running around here and other forums trying to shout down people who are dubious about the very physical possibility of what they've made. They don't have to - they have working machines!
    - ThinAirDesigns 16y ago
      Wow -- just wow. Moving on.

Semiapies 16y ago

"it can't be using the stored energy in the propeller" Note that I didn't say it was. Sorry to get you off-script. As claimed by the builders, the propeller is powered by the wheels. Assuming no other stored energy source, the stored energy is the motion of the vehicle after it's been started off by the wind. I'm not clear how they do it, but going from the treadmill video, I suspect they manage a temporary burst of speed followed by a slowdown. "I don't recall attempting to force you to disprove anything" You rushed in to try to get a layman to give explicit parameters for disproving it. That's a common tactic, usually followed by assurances that this system can totally do that, and we'll see video of it doing exactly that Real Soon Now. At this point, I'm waiting for the normal course of events: the other shoe will drop months from now and hardly make a blip on the blogs and other venues currently hyping this story.

ThinAirDesigns 16y ago
Me: "it can't be using the stored energy in the propeller" You: "Note that I didn't say it was. Sorry to get you off-script." Wow -- you make a clear claim and then two posts later are denying you even said it. I'll refresh your memory: This is you claiming that the vehicle uses stored energy: "It is admittedly using stored energy - the propellers are spun by the wheels," You: "You rushed in to try to get a layman to give explicit parameters for disproving it." Nope -- I merely asked what would convince you -- big difference.
- Semiapies 16y ago
  Two posts? You're contradicting yourself within your single post, right here. I never said the energy was stored in the propeller. You even just quoted me saying exactly the opposite, twice! Real, working projects don't have shills - sorry, evangelists - running around here and other forums trying to shout down people who are dubious about the very physical possibility of what they've made. They don't have to - they have working machines!
  - ThinAirDesigns 16y ago
    Wow -- just wow. Moving on.