On Fri, Nov 5, 2010 at 6:21 PM, YES NOPE9 wrote: >> >> On Nov 5, 2010, at 10:05 AM, Alex Harford wrote: >> >> http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/08/ddwfttw >> >> I am still trying to wrap my head around how it works, especially how >> it can actually start moving. >> > My thought is that there may be a misunderstanding about what 'traveling = downwind' means. > I do not think a vehicle can travel on a vector in alignment with an unva= rying wind unless it stores energy before it reaches the speed of the wind = and then uses that energy to exceed the speed of the wind. =A0I would consi= der that cheating. Fair enough, but the vehicle shown can sustain the FTTW speed indefinitely. > If you were traveling around a cylinder ( in zero gravity ) and the wind = was always tangent to the surface of the cylinder ( at all distances from t= he center of the cylinder ) you could 'travel faster than the wind'. =A0At = least it might appear that way to a casual observer. =A0In reality I would = argue that you were cheating by not really traveling in the same direction = as the wind. =A0I would bet that nothing new is being demonstrated and this= is a hoax or a misunderstanding. =A0I saw nothing in the video that sugges= ted that anything amazing had happened. =A0http://www.wired.com/autopia/201= 0/08/ddwfttw/4/ > Gus in Denver Perhaps these two videos will clarify: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Dg8bxXRQtcMY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DUfk6HVWdSzE&NR=3D1 --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .