Of metal!

>> ^nach0s:

Obviously filmed in a wind tunnel.

Obviously filmed in a wind tunnel.

If a solution is posted on the internet and everyone calls you an idiot, is it still a solution?

Rick figured that although a nut traveling DDWFTTW might be the simplest form of such a device, replacing the threaded rod with a wheeled vehicle would be more compelling – and possibly even less intuitive. He conceptualized replacing the device’s keel nut with gearing from a drive axle to a propeller shaft that would replicate the kinematic constraint perfectly. With the problem solved as far as he was concerned, he posed the new brainteaser on two internet forums, one for radio controlled helicopter pilots, the other for kitesurfers. Given the solution, Rick imagined people would find this clever.

Instead they considered him an idiot for ever imagining such a thing to be possible.

This is where the pointless brainteaser took on a life of its own. Science, physics and aerodynamics forums exploded. Sailing forums exploded. Flying-related forums exploded. It was silliness traveling at the speed of electrons. Turns out it’s serious business when someone is wrong on the internet, and boy did the internet ever believe Rick was wrong.

One interesting factoid emerged from the chaos. We learned that a Michigan University student posed this same non-problem – and a solution identical to Rick’s — in the 1940s. The student’s paper surfaced at Douglas Aircraft in the 1960s. Apollo M.O. Smith, the company’s chief aerodynamics engineer, and wind tunnel engineer Dr. Andrew Bauer went at it like Rick vs. the Internet. Bauer said it would work. Smith wasn’t convinced. Bauer bet Smith a dollar and went to work.

Read More http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/08/ddwfttw/all/1#ixzz0y2H81thY

This video has been declared a duplicate by the original submitter; transferring votes to the original video and killing this dupe - dupeof declared by blankfist.

This video has been declared a duplicate by the original submitter; transferring votes to the original video and killing this dupe - dupeof declared by blankfist.

*dupeof=http://www.videosift.com/video/Skydiving-instructor-shows-how-it-s-done-in-a-wind-tunnel

This video has been nominated as a duplicate of this video by gwiz665. If this nomination is seconded with *isdupe, the video will be killed and its votes transferred to the original.

*dupeof=http://www.videosift.com/video/Skydiving-instructor-shows-how-it-s-done-in-a-wind-tunnel

Dupe of: http://www.videosift.com/video/Skydiving-instructor-shows-how-it-s-done-in-a-wind-tunnel

Supremely fake.

Good luck creating two smooth air flows in anywhere outside of a wind tunnel.

>> ^zdonk:
i'd sure like to try that. Does any one know where these are?


http://www.iflysfbay.com/

I've actually done this before, and its absolutely crazy. in fact i've been in that exact wind tunnel i recognize it immediately. the only thing this video is missing is how high up the wind tunnel actually goes, its at least another 20 feet up past the cameras view. making the drops he does look much more impressive.

>> ^ForgedReality:
I want one in my house.


Holy shit, yes, please.

>> ^AeroMechanical:
They ought to put these in buildings instead of elevators.


You would never have to worry about the guy next to you farting again.

Your video, Skydiving instructor shows how it's done in a wind tunnel, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

*dupeof=http://www.videosift.com/video/Skydiving-instructor-shows-how-it-s-done-in-a-wind-tunnel

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