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YouTuber Wins Crazy $10k Bet with Professor by 'Breaking' the Laws of Physics

businessinsider.com.au

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Re: YouTuber Wins Crazy $10k Bet with Professor by 'Breaking' the Laws of Physics

#21

Post by gus_massa »

tyingq wrote: post #9

I don't understand why there's confusion. It's not a sail on the thing, it's a turbine. Isn't this just gear ratios? The car goes as fast as whatever power the turbine makes can be delivered through a set a gears (or chains/sprockets...same thing).

He has two videos. My opinion while looking at the videos [spoiler alert]:

1) Nah. Nah. [Two boats in a cylinder] Well, that looks right, but I'm not 100% convinced.

2) Unconvinced. Looks possible. What about a similar experiment with wheels? [1] [Similar experiment with wheels] Totally convinced! Also, nice toy model for the treadmill.

[1] I actually didn't imagine all the details about the experiment with wheels. But that exactly what I wish I had imagined if I had more time to think about it.

Re: YouTuber Wins Crazy $10k Bet with Professor by 'Breaking' the Laws of Physics

#22

Post by gcuth »

boublepop wrote: post #19
gcuth wrote: post #18

Kusenko should get a lot of credit here: he bet on his beliefs, agreed to terms, and then acknowledged the truth and paid up when he was wrong.

I don’t think his behavior can be described as “acknowledged the truth” more like “he stopped arguing, conceded the money and still refused to accept the truth”. He gets credit for paying up yes, but without clearly acknowledging the truth of the matter it seems very hollow and frankly childish and doesn’t reflect positively on him.

You're right; that's a better description, and I was wrong to suggest that he 'acknowledged the truth' in any strong way.

I think my feeling here is in the general vein of Alex Tabarrok's "a bet is a tax on bullshit" or Brian Caplan's "bettor's oath". I'm just happy that he's paying up and not trying to weasel out of the bet. Losing can be painful --- I'm sure losing $10,000 like this stings a lot --- and I want to be sympathetic to that reality: if he can't be magnanimous in this moment, he should at least get some kudos for the fact that he seems to have shut his mouth.

Re: YouTuber Wins Crazy $10k Bet with Professor by 'Breaking' the Laws of Physics

#23

Post by tyingq »

alecst wrote: post #17
tyingq wrote: post #9

I don't understand why there's confusion. It's not a sail on the thing, it's a turbine. Isn't this just gear ratios? The car goes as fast as whatever power the turbine makes can be delivered through a set a gears (or chains/sprockets...same thing).

It's not trivial to me. You can put one of these things on a treadmill, and it'll outrun the treadmill!

I just don't get why it's confusing. The wind creates basically a fixed RPM motor (assuming constant wind speed) with some amount of power.

If that power is great enough, you drive the wheels through some amount of gearing to get the speed you want. Like that a bicycle wheel travels farther in one revolution than the circumference of the circle of where the pedals are.

Re: YouTuber Wins Crazy $10k Bet with Professor by 'Breaking' the Laws of Physics

#24

Post by fallingfrog »

tyingq wrote: post #23
alecst wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not trivial to me. You can put one of these things on a treadmill, and it'll outrun the treadmill!

I just don't get why it's confusing. The wind creates basically a fixed RPM motor (assuming constant wind speed) with some amount of power. If that power is great enough, you drive the wheels through some amount of gearing to get the speed you want. Like that a bicycle wheel travels farther in one revolution than the circumference of the circle of where the pedals are.

No, it’s the other way around: the wheels are driving the propeller at the front of the vehicle. And it can outrun the wind.

If the turbine at the front of the craft was driving the wheels, it would stop working when it got up to the speed of the wind (since the wind speed relative to the craft is zero at that speed)

Re: YouTuber Wins Crazy $10k Bet with Professor by 'Breaking' the Laws of Physics

#27

Post by xaedes »

gcuth wrote: post #18

Kusenko should get a lot of credit here: he bet on his beliefs, agreed to terms, and then acknowledged the truth and paid up when he was wrong.

I suspect it was an organized publicity stunt. In the interview the Prof. said "now here is the real danger, because if Derek drives very close to the wind that difference in speed goes to zero. if it's one millionth of one percent, that's like a nuclear bomb exploding behind him.", refering to a formula where the force is calculated with speed difference in denominator.

Obviously he can't be serious about it, because it is inconsistent with the belief that the car can't go faster than wind.

Anyway, the whole thing was very interesting and educational.

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