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I felt this in a sail boat: when the boat is moving below wind speed, the wind pushes the sail and the boat. At some point, wind and boat equal speeds, so it fe
by otherme123 5y ago
I felt this in a sail boat: when the boat is moving below wind speed, the wind pushes the sail and the boat. At some point, wind and boat equal speeds, so it feels like theres no wind at all except the sail is full.
Some well built boats can generate pull (instead of push) in the sail, as if it was a plane wing. The air passing on the convex (forward) side travels faster than the air on the concave, making the pressure lower on the forward side and pulling the boat, and you feel again the wind but against your face (as if you were running forward). It's a bit counterintuitive, because what your eyes see is the sail pushing the boat. So it's not perpetual motion, because the wind needs to keep blowing or the boat slows again. What slows the boat is the friction boat-vs-water.
In the case of the car above, the wind needs to reach the point of wind speed == car speed, and beyond that the wheels keeps rotating the "sails", and thus keeping the pull. If the wind stops, the car can keep going for some time, but as the speed of the wind through the sails is lower, the pull is also lower and at some point it stops. But in this case, the friction is wheels-vs-ground, much lower than the boat-vs-water above, so the car can keep going (same what happens with a bike when you stop pedaling in a flat surface, the bike can keep going for long, and even a faint pedaling or tail winds keep the thing going). This car is a clever construction to keep the wind at high speeds through the blades.
- ska 5y ago> as if it was a plane wing. This is how nearly all sailing works. Excepting the case of sailing directly downwind, the curve of the sail works like a wing, and the keel provides something to "push" against - the effective "lift" (if it were a wing) drives you forward. This is why you can sail into the wind at all...
- abakker 5y agoObligatory mentioned of the AC72 using rigid wing sails. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbPTnF6liF8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbPTnF6liF8