Seeing the duck tape sail boat gave me an idea that is in the same vein as the birds in the truck or the plane on a conveyor belt. Can you put a fan on a sail boat and have it move under it's own power?

No. Any force on the sail is balanced by the opposite force on the fan.

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No. Any force on the sail is balanced by the opposite force on the fan.

Not entirely true. If you stuck a fan onto a typical boat, then that would be correct, but people (at least one of whom is a member on this site) HAVE designed scale-models with custom sails that act the same way a thrust-reverser on a jet does, and it does indeed propel the "boat".

Check youtube.

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Check youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CrXvOKPymk



Mr. Helpful. AKA Tyrone. AKA RG

Bet you do your kids homework for them, too.