Can you sail dead downwind faster than the wind itself ?
Or sail dead upwind?
Another conundrum.
Jun 29, 2018
34 Replies
Someone bored and have too much time on their hands ?
Andrew
Didn't we do that one a few years ago?
Yes, I recall, and some couldn't fathom out there was even a land competition in how much faster you could travel than the wind speed!
Today yes. fasting for a blood test...
I don't know the answer but I suspect that a modern sail can be configured to a shape much the same as a aircraft wing and positioned such that instead of providing lift it provides forward motion to a boat.
I don't think you can 'sail' faster directly downwind or directly against, but you probably could by using the wind to operate an impeller connected to a propeller in the water. Certainly upwind, and downwind faster is doable on land.
Cheers
Someone doesn't understand aerodymics and struggles with windbags.
Does that require posting questions on usenet? Well, I never ... :)
But do you think they'll find any blood in a Turnip? ;-)
Yes,you can sail f aster than the wind. (Called reaching)
A conventional sail can sail no closer than 45deg towards the wind
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What is the wavelength of a bullet (mass 7.0 g) moving with a velocity of
1.1 x 103m s-1?
I'm guessing the Turnip has never sailed. I wonder how long the list of things he's never done is (and so has no RW idea about)?
Cheers, T i m
who would that be then?
Nope, but due to a cockup (I thought it was an 8 hour fast but they sent me away for 4 hours as they wanted a 12 hour fast)I had time off other things booked that suddenly became available
Does that question have any meaning?
The Planck-Einstein relation applies to EM radiation, not random objects.
And if you persist in trying you should probably base it on E=mc2 in which case your tiny bit of kinetic energy pales into insignificance.
Search for "de Broglie wavelength".
Or the experiment where cats fired at 2 slits give an interference pattern. I've only ever seen it discussed as a "gedanken experiment" but if John Rumm turns his mind to it I expect it'll be in the Wiki i.d.c.
That would be Schrödinger's cat, presumably. I didn't know he had more than one.
He means electrons. :-)
Sailing is normally done on water which itself may be moving and helping or in my case often hindering.
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