A wind-powered car that appears to defy physics
Is it possible for the wind to push something faster than it itself is moving? The team who built the car, believed it was possible

[June 12, 2021: Josh Shavit]
I’m hardly a science man, but I’ve been around cars enough to learn a thing or two about objects in motion. One thing I know for a fact is that wind can’t ever push you faster than it is going. I mean, you can tack a sailboat and technically go faster than your tailwind, but that’s basically flying along a horizontal plane. Whatever, physics is weird and I barely understand regular math. Thankfully the Veritasium channel on YouTube is here to help us understand things a bit better.
In a recent video, Veritasium’s Derek Muller headed out to the famed El Mirage dry lake bed to try to do something lots of scienticians have said was impossible for ages. The Blackbird three-wheeler (they call it a 'propeller craft') was built specifically to bring practical science to a theoretical. Is it possible for the wind to push something faster than it itself is moving? The team of Rick and Neil, who built the car, believed it was possible and set out to prove it.
You can easily see the massive big twin-blade turbine at the rear but there's a lot more going on underneath the minimalist bodywork. The wind-fuelled turbine gets the car moving and then the wheels turn a sprocket, which then pulls a chain, which then feeds back mechanical energy to the turbine, providing forward thrust.
In the video below, you can see that the vehicle is using windpower twice. Once, by simply using windpower to move downwind, and then once more because the propeller works as a fan, hitting air molecules, pushing them backwards and generating extra thrust. The question remains: can this vehicle break physics? Probably. Or probably that's just called 'cheating'. But whatever, it's fun.
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Tags: #New_Innovation, #Green_Innovation, #Automotive, #The_Brighter_Side_of_News

Joseph Shavit
Science News Writer, Editor-At-Large and Publisher
Joseph Shavit, based in Los Angeles, is a seasoned science journalist, editor and co-founder of The Brighter Side of News, where he transforms complex discoveries into clear, engaging stories for general readers. With experience at major media groups like Times Mirror and Tribune, he writes with both authority and curiosity. His work spans astronomy, physics, quantum mechanics, climate change, artificial intelligence, health, and medicine. Known for linking breakthroughs to real-world markets, he highlights how research transitions into products and industries that shape daily life.