A science YouTuber has won a $10,000 bet against a physics professor for proving that a wind-powered car can travel faster than the wind itself while driving downwind.
The YouTuber, Derek Muller, whose channel on the platform is called 'Veritasium', made the bet with physics professor Alexander Kusenko who works at the University of California. The bet was made after Kusenko messaged Muller to tell him that it is impossible for a wind-powered car to travel faster than the wind propelling it, Vice reports.
It was then that Muller suggested they agree on a $10,000 bet if he manages to prove the professor wrong. The two parties then signed an agreement to the bet with Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson as witnesses.
The bet came after Muller shared a video in which he drives 'Blackbird' - a wind-powered car conceived by Rick Cavallaro, an aerodynamicist and inventor.
Muller claims in the video that the car is able to travel faster than the wind despite being powered by it. But Kusenko said that it is the random wind bursts that cause the speed change and thus appearing as if the car is moving faster.
However, after Muller collaborated with science YouTuber, Xyla Foxlin to build a model wind-powered car, he proved Kusenko wrong. In addition, he was able to verify his theory mathematically.
Muller says in the video:
"When the speed of the car is exactly equal to the speed of the wind, it seems like the propeller can provide infinite force."
Kusenko has now paid up the bet in full.
Muller said of Kusenko:
"Professor Kusenko has now conceded the bet and he transferred $10,000 to me. I want to thank him for being a man of honor and changing his mind in light of the evidence presented, which is really not easy to do especially in a public debate like this one."
[h/t: Futurism]
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