A physics professor at the University of California named Alexander Kusenko made a bet with a YouTuber Derek Muller that a car can’t travel faster than the wind propelling it.
The Science Youtuber runs a channel named Veritasium and won $10,000 after he demonstrated that a wind-powered car could move faster than the wind while driving towards the direction crosswind. Bill Nye and Neil Degrasse Tyson witnessed the agreement.
So, Muller proposed a $10,000 wager with the professor saying that he could prove it. The pair signed an agreement to the bet, which Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson witnessed.
The YouTuber Muller suggested an amount of $10,000 to be paid by the professor if he successfully proves his claim. Both the parties signed a deal attached to the bet.
The bet initially started when Muller posted a video of him driving a wind-powered car known as “Blackbird.” The car is invented by Rick Cavallaro, an aerodynamicist.
This is how Muller demonstrated in the video below:
As you can see in the video, Muller has evidently proved his claim that the wind-powered car moves faster than the wind itself; however, Kusenko does not seem to agree with him. According to the physicist, it is inertia that is helping the car move forward, and the shift in the speed of the car was due to flurry winds that caused it to go even quicker.
Muller, with the help of his fellow Youtuber Xyle Foxlin, made a wind-powered car prototype. To validate his theory, he used some tricky math as well.
“When the speed of the car is exactly equal to the speed of the wind, it seems like the propeller can provide infinite force,” Muller said in the video.
As far as Kuseno is concerned, he kept his word and paid the stated amount after losing the bet.
“Professor Kusenko has now conceded the bet, and he transferred $10,000 to me,” Muller said. “I want to thank him for being a man of honour 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.”