He added these to the latest video and included two model demonstrations. By ’s own admittance, his original video could have contained more details and proof of performance claims of the Blackbird vehicle. He was convinced and that the vehicle would not be able to maintain a speed higher than the wind, directly downwind. He claimed the observations were due to a combination of gusty winds, a vertical wind gradient. made a very thorough and convincing argument, backed by calculations, against the claims in the video. From the start, it was agreed that the entire debate would be made public. After a bit of debate proposed a wager on the matter, which accepted, and it was made official with a written agreement witnessed by, , and. won the wager with the help of a scale model built by, and you need to watch the videos after the break for some excellent lessons in physics, engineering, and civilized debate.Īfter seeing ’s video on Blackbird, contacted him and said the performance claims and explanation were incorrect. The video has led to a high-profile $10 000 wager between aka and, a professor of physics from UCLA.
By now, many of you have seen the video of ’s Blackbird, the controversial wind-powered land vehicle that can outrun the wind.
