THE VIDEO SHELF · downwind faster than the wind
A Physics Professor Bet Me $10,000 I'm Wrong
Veritasium recounts a $10,000 bet with a UCLA physics professor over whether a vehicle can travel downwind faster than the wind. He presents the professor's reasoning and demonstrations, including one without aerodynamics.
Why HN readers recommended it
Linked as clear demonstrations that make the counterintuitive faster-than-wind result click.
This is a summary from the source dataset, not an endorsement by Hacker News or the video creator.
Video & recommendation details
- Creator / channel
- Veritasium
- Topic
- downwind faster than the wind
- Format
- explainer
- Level
- general
- HN recommenders in dataset
- 3
- HN mentions in dataset
- 8
- Recommendation years in dataset
- 2021–2023
These counts and years describe the included Hacker News records; they are not YouTube views or the video’s publication date.
From the original HN conversations
Excerpts from the recorded comments. Follow each source for the full comment and surrounding discussion.
Original video triggering the bet for context: [LINK] Video discussing the bet and going over criticism: [VIDEO] Veritasium is a great YouTube channel.
kinjba11 on Hacker News · 2021-07
In Science YouTuber Wins $10k Bet with PhysicistThe small demonstration that made it click for me is from that video: [VIDEO] This is exactly what the blackbird does, only with a propeller pushing air in place of the big wheel, and it's a much clearer and simpler demonstration of the same idea, …
Tuna-Fish on Hacker News · 2021-08
In A wind-powered vehicle that can travel twice as fast as the wind itselfDerek from the YouTube channel Veritasium made two interesting videos about this vehicle. [LINK] [VIDEO] They go into some nice detail about why the physics works out the way it does.
TimSchumann on Hacker News · 2022-07
In DDWFTTW Vehicle Analysis (2013)
Summaries, classifications and recommendation records are from the HackerTube source dataset. Read about this library and its limitations.
