[skyyler]

Yes, you can make mayonnaise with a whisk.

It's so much easier to do it with a hand blender though. It takes longer to clean up afterwards than it takes to make. And no maintaining a steady thin stream of oil, you just put it all into a container and blitz it.

You can make meringues and cakes with a whisk, too, but most people I know have electric mixers for that.

Mechanical eggbeaters with little flywheels were popular before the electric ones, too!