A Physics Prof Bet Me $10,000 I'm Wrong

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A massive thanks to Bill Nye, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, and Sean Carroll for witnessing the signing of the wager.

A huge thanks to Prof. Alexander Kusenko for being a man of honour -- it's a difficult thing to change your mind, especially in a public forum.

A huge thanks to Prof. Mark Drela for the interview and help making sure we got the physics right.

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References
M. Drela. Dead-Downwind Faster Than The Wind (DDWFTTW)

Gaunaa, M., Øye, S., & Mikkelsen, R. F. (2009). Theory and design of flow driven vehicles using rotors for energy conversion. In EWEC 2009 Proceedings online EWEC

Md. Sadak Ali Khan, Syed Ali Sufiyan, Jibu Thomas George, Md. Nizamuddin Ahmed. Analysis of Down-Wind Propeller Vehicle. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 3, 4. (April 2013) ISSN 2250-3153.

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Special thanks to Patreon supporters: Mike Tung, Evgeny Skvortsov, Meekay, Ismail Öncü Usta, Bill Linder, Paul Peijzel, Crated Comments, Anna, Mac Malkawi, Michael Schneider, Oleksii Leonov, Jim Osmun, Tyson McDowell, Ludovic Robillard, Jim Buckmaster, fanime96, Juan Benet, Ruslan Khroma, Robert Blum, Richard Sundvall, Lee Redden, Vincent, Marinus Kuivenhoven, Alfred Wallace, Arjun Chakroborty, Joar Wandborg, Clayton Greenwell, Pindex, Michael Krugman, Cy 'kkm' K'Nelson, Sam Lutfi, Ron Neal

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Written and Edited by Derek Muller
Animation by Mike Radjabov
Manim equations by Jonny Hyman
Filmed by Emily Zhang and Raquel Nuno
Additional video supplied by Getty Images
Produced by Emily Zhang, Petr Lebedev and Derek Muller

[neurotransmissions]

Derek, can you just turn Veritasium into a gambling channel where scientists with opposing views put money on the table and face off to try to convince one another of the true answer? I'd watch that.

[martijnm]

the world needs more scientists, disagreeing about something and the only thing that happens is a very civil discussion.

[Nightstick]

Wow, I forgot that rational and intelligent people who can have a disagreement, openly listen to arguments against their point of view, and then admit they were wrong and change their minds still exist. It's such a rare thing nowadays.

[VicJang]

Professor Kusenko gets my respect. Being able to accept being wrong and pay out the bet shows a lot about his personality. His students are lucky to have him as a mentor.

[BaalFridge]

"You have a much lower error rate than most youtubers" is probably the highest mark of approval you can get from a uni professor !!!

[shnng]

Being wrong is painful, accepting that you’re wrong takes courage. Bet or no bet, I admire the professor and veritasium

[TheCuriousNoob]

The professor is a true man of science. He was wrong, admitted failure, and learned something new! If only all scientists were so pure.

[alexanderwiles]

i love that the professor only was challenging this point because he thaught "you made a mistake here which you dont often do and i dont want you to accidently spread misinformation since you usually are a very trustworthy source"

[SK]

"Disagreement in science are not problems, but they are opportunities for everyone to learn something" - Derek one👌👌

[marvp]

He disagreed, he still disagreed and then he realised that he was wrong and conceded his position. If only matters of politics and other public debate would be handled in such professional manner…

[linkymcfinkelstein]

That Professor was so bad a$$. He really argued his points well. And was skeptic enough to question the topic. In the end we all learned something because of him. So cheers to you!

Being wrong is the best thing to happen, providing the opportunity to learn what one didn’t know before.
Being respectful and humble about being wrong is championship caliber!

[iammrbeat]

Now this is how all science should be settled.

[zoriox]

Honestly that professor is a very respectable person. He made good arguments, and actually payed the money in the end,

[TheNukebooster]

I would like to shake that mans hand. To admit to being wrong is hard. Learning from it is harder. My sincerest respect to this man, a true follower of the scientific method.

[TallinuTV]

Those "wheels over ground speed VS propeller through air speed" explanation, the lever analogy, and the demo of the moving board with the big and small wheels contraption are all excellent. Thanks!!

[papusman]

This is one of the greatest science videos ever made, because it's showing actual SCIENCE. Disagreement is at the HEART of science, and this video shows how we go about resolving those disagreements. I love this so much.

[chadpatrick]

Respect to the professor. Willing to challenge a belief then concede the point when the evidence was compelling. This is pure science at its heart.

[vaisakh_km]

I salute the professor, without his courage and a open mind, everyone will be still in

[JSCRocketScientist]

Wonderful point at the end! Last year I wrote software for NASA that did my job for them. I then retired happy. In my last two weeks, coworkers realized that they didn’t know enough about the physics behind my software. I was thrilled and commented, “I’m happy to be challenged!” I wanted them to USE my software confidently. I laid out the ENTIRE set of equations leading from start to finish. Everyone including me was satisfied. If there was a mistake (there wasn’t) I WANTED to know. Peer review is highly important.