Direct Downwind Faster Than the Wind #1 (DDWFTTW)

DDWFTTW is impossible. The only way for it to be possible would be to use a sail that travels perpendicular to the wind direction and can therefore experience constant acceleration. Which is impossible. Unless.......the sail is made rigid and accelerates around a pivot! How about two or three rigid sails that rotate around a pivot and power the wheels of the craft! By Jove! I have it, I shall call it the Propelorator! (I doubt someone else has thought of this, so I call dibs!)

Well, you're close, but the wheels turn the prop - not the other way around.

Really this is as simple and as counter-intuitive (at first) as the yo-yo along a table & cotton reel examples.

Basically the cart is being _pushed_ by the wind, and uses the rotation of the wheels to turn a propeller which pushes against the wind even more and allows it to move a little faster than the wind which is pushing it.

Most people seem to assume that they see a windmill (turbine) which powers the wheels.

great video! Don't forget to post your progress.
- A former sceptic

This is awesome. I suggest you make an instruction video on how to build this device. People are gooing to try and debunk this because its gooing to make them feel insecure. If they claim it cant be true because it seems to defy the "laws of nature" Well then screw the laws, cause then they obviously need an overhaul. Nature dosent use matematics or any other languge. Humans do. And humans allthough clever, makes misstakes. This is super cool. Make people buid this now!

We couldn't do science without math.

This is not against any laws of nature.

If people claim it is against the laws of nature then the laws do not need an overhaul - those people do.

Yes, people certainly make mistakes, even very smart people does when it comes to DDWFTTW.

One of the most basic principles of physics is the equivalence of inertial frames. This tells us that a road moving at 10mph in no wind is identical to a 10 mph wind over a road that isn't moving. In other words, this video accurately demonstrates a wind powered cart that goes downwind faster than the wind.

One important point is that the "still" air in the room has potential relative to the moving treadmill surface. The reason the device works is that the "still" air is pushed backward, and therefore reduces in potential relative to the moving treadmill surface.

Another important point is that the device couples the air to the road surface, and does so more efficiently - because it resolves the impedance-mismatch - than would a cart with a static sail.

I'll buy all that if you change "potential" to "kinetic energy".