How To: Build a steam powered toy boat (FAKE?)

F for FAKE. This video has been labeled a "Faux-To". Commonly contested as bogus science, we believe this video to be a hoax. What's your opinion? Comment below.

Using a dowel, candle, plastic toy boat and copper wire you can create a steam powered boat that runs off of water.

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15 Comments

great stuff...im going to try this out with a cord of wood, 2" copper pipe, and my 12' aluminum fishing boat.

dont bother
i already perfected it

also works with my hovercraft

The copper tupe kinks when I try to bend it. How can I keep this from happening? What kind of copper tube are you using?

I agree with this being a "Faux-to"

This works... for about ten seconds. Because fluid pressure applies equally to all directions it would be impossible to suck in water using that boiling coil placed above the fluid level. Sucking implies negative pressure which can't happen in that setup. The initial propulsion results from boiling the water already in the coil. Once it boils out, the device is useless. It will not give continuous motion without some extensive modifications. I would classify this as fakery. The information presented strongly implies continous propulsion, which cannot occur. Therefore it's at the very least misleading.

It may work if the boiling coil were placed below the fluid level. But that type of setup requires a great deal more explanation then what is presented in the video.

Perhaps if it was presented as being a transient propulsion method that only worked for several seconds i would grade it higher. Instead, it makes false claims..

Kids have been making these since the 1800s so guess you're wrong.

Sorry pal. You have no idea how well this actually works. I have played with these as a kid way back in the 70's. It's hard to find one today but I was lucky to have come accross a shop that did have some. Such a simple mechanism and yet so much fun. I still can not forget the sound it made. If I do come across one I will surely post a demo of it for you to see. Believe me you will love it. Its quite possible the one you tried or came across wasn't quite the best.

We used to play with these boats when I was a kid in the 40's. We used to get them at the " five and dime" store. I don't recall having any problems with them, in fact I still think about them today and what a simple setup it was. I've thought about how my grandsons would enjoy them. But in todays world you wouldn't give a kid something to play with that required matches and flames. We didn't have plastic back then, but a little tin boat and it putted around the local pond quite well..

works fine, i had one when i was younger, thx

Heres my theory but i'm just a youngn'. Looking at the coil it spirals up. heat rises. so when its heated wouldnt that push it out the higher tube and suck more water through the lower? just a guess at how it works but i know nothing. cool tho haha :)

Here's how it works:
The coil is heated and forces out water. this makes a vacuum that sucks in more water thatb is heated, forced out, vacuum, suck in water etc...

This isn't fake! I have a steam boat like that!

Yo tambien jugue con uno, funciona muy bie. Se le ponia alcohol.

this is great,but its not steam power....

Works well with tubes under 1/4 "

Of course it works, unless you ignore the laws of thermodynamics and hydrodynamics, then weather doesn't happen either. If that is the case, then you have bigger problems than your toy not working. (I have one that was made in China, and the metal boat makes a cool sound when it runs.)

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