Ugly car, crazy idea, but it's patent pending
I thought the perpetual motion idea was forever out of the minds of auto engineers. Guess not. But who says Mr. Yoon (or is it Mr Yun?) is an engineer. Whomever, someone has built one ugly car with 10 wind-driven generators to supply power to an electric drive. There are also a pair of generators driven by belts off the rear wheels. I'd really like to see this one in a wind tunnel. I couldn't find any more info about this vehicle or the company listed on the body. There was nothing in the video except an ear-wrenching song, so watch this with the sound down and keep your chuckles to yourself.
[Source: YouTube]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Sam Abuelsamid 9:11AM (12/24/2006)
Well Duh! Why didn't I think of that? It's too bad they used that awful song instead of letting us hear how quiet a wind powered car would be. Obviously, using the cars motion to drive the wind generators should be a perfect way to keep it in motion forever. You just have to watch out for the birds.
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CM 10:00PM (12/27/2006)
Not just ugly, but a major pedestrian hazard as well!
Of course, those silly little fans won't produce nearly enough power, and will increase drag, but that's not the point. This is designed to efficiently separate the gullible from their money!
That type of music is typical. Why is it that most scam artists have to loudly trumpet their born-again bible thumpin' pseudo-christian status?
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Howard Lee Harkness 7:51PM (12/24/2006)
"Well Duh! Why didn't I think of that?" -- Sam Abuelsamid
I hope you are kidding, for your sake.
Assuming Mr. Yun is serious (I don't think so, but he might be) this sets a new record -- even less intelligent than using hydrogen to power cars. Perpetual motion machines are understood well enough that even a US patent examiner can reliably detect and reject an application containing one.
OTOH, if people are really so mind-boggingly stupid that they will go for this, maybe Mr. Yun is on to something. He might even be able to get out of the country before the epsilon-minuses find out how they were suckered.
I expect (hope) that this is just a joke.
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ali 1:01AM (12/26/2006)
i want one!!!!!!! how is it onlys tupid people would want this??? if it works then i'd definatley get one.. free renewable energy and it doesn't pollute jack ass how can u be opposed to that?
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Anon 1:01PM (12/25/2006)
This is less efficient than electric alone, because the fans can't make up for the electricity used to overcome the drag of the fans. I think they discussed it more in depth over at www.teslamotors.com
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Dave 4:01PM (12/26/2006)
Well is it any less perpetual than an internal combustion engine powered vehicle?
Maybe he'll learn something useful.
And a wind turbine on a car? Great idea - I'd use it as an electricity producing brake (extendable of course - wasn't there a military attack jet that used a similar setup to restart its engines with a pop out turbine? The A-6? Am I dreaming?) and as a parked and stopped recharging device. A turbine is potentially useful at least 12 hours of the day that a solar panel isn't.
Maybe he's crazy like a fox.
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Nathan 3:08PM (12/28/2006)
#3: You'll discover this for yourself in a science or engineering course, but one of the governing principles of the universe is that you cannot get more energy out of a system than you put in. This is due to something called entropy. The reason people laugh at concepts like this car is that he is supposedly getting an equal or higher amount of energy through the wind turbines than he is using in driving the car, which is impossible. There's no such thing as free energy.
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NSFW 11:47PM (12/25/2006)
Sure, it would be a great idea if it worked, but it won't work. The energy required to push the fans forward though the air is greater than the energy generated by the fans. It's not rocket science, and no amount of creativity or cleverness will overcome that... there are basic physical principles at work here, which still apply even if you don't understand them.
Scams like this can be very efficient at separating suckers from their money - but that's all.
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online auctions 9:13AM (12/28/2006)
this is more like a collectible car, something unusual that can be sold at auctions!
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JV 2:41PM (12/26/2006)
#5...
The quality of your post (learn how to type) clearly shows the quality of your reasoning.
Sure...get one. We'll be grinning ear to ear.
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