this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2023
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A boat with a fan on it can work, because that air bounces off the sail and ends up going backward
In that way it does not. You can move a boat wirh a fan if you use it to blow the air away from the boat to create thrust like a plane. If you direct the fan onto the sail the force of the forward motion will be canceled out by the backwards thrust (if the sail has 100% efficiency which it does not)
Blowing a fan into the sail does work; but it's nowhere near as efficient as normal airboats. You're not gonna move very fast, and it takes a helluva lot of force just to go like 1/16 the speed you could if you just point the fan behind you.
The magnet thing might work the same way; but you'd need a super powerful magnet. Like probably an electromagnet. And at that point, an electric engine is just a more efficient use of the energy.