Mythbusters Episodes Summary
Premier Date: May 20, 2009
- May 05, 2014 Can a '67 Chevy turn into a 350mph road warrior? Are Pop Rocks candy and soda a recipe for disaster? Join Jamie and Adam as they put urban legends to.
- MythBusters is a science entertainment TV program created and produced by Australia's Beyond Television Productions for the Discovery Channel. There is no consistent system for organizing MythBusters episodes into seasons. The show does not follow a typical calendar of on and off air periods.
- Jan 23, 2003 MythBusters will explode back on to Science Channel this fall with all-new episodes and an all new-team. Brian Louden and Jon Lung, who earned the right to MythBusters.
- Summary: On this episode of MythBusters, it's spy vs. Spy as Adam and Jamie investigate the best way to lose a tail in a car chase. These intrepid investigators test three of the all-time movie classics - tacks, smoke, and oil all launched from the trunk of a moving car.
The Ultimate MythBusters Summary. The MythBusters tested over 1,000 distinct myths in 271 hour-long episodes spanning 14 years, resulting in a vast amount of information about common myths and interesting phenomena. The following overview attempts to summarize and categorize the results of the entire MythBusters series as succinctly as possible.
A skydiver whose parachute fails to open can hit the high end of a playground seesaw, landing on his feet, and launch a child on the low end safely up to the roof of a 7-story building.
busted
In their first test, Adam and Jamie constructed a steel seesaw and placed a dummy on one end whose weight matched that of an average 6-year-old girl. To approximate the effect of a skydiver hitting the high end at terminal velocity, they calculated the proper combination of weight and height and dropped several water-filled barrels. The impact crushed the seesaw, ruptured the barrels, and launched the dummy to a height of 20 feet (6 m). Adam and Jamie went on to design and built a seesaw that could effectively deliver the energy of the falling skydiver to the girl without buckling.
The Build Team was brought in to further analyze the terminal velocity based on a specific type of skydiving suit and the diver’s body position; the determined it was 122 miles per hour (196 km/h). They also built a rig with bungee cords and guide wires that could accurately propel a dummy diver onto the target at the right speed. The child dummy was outfitted with “shock watch” stickers to measure the forces exerted on it. Three drops were carried out.
- 1st drop: diver hit slightly off-center and burst on impact; girl flew 55 feet (17 m) up and 70 feet (21 m) laterally, but suffered enough force to kill her
- 2nd drop: sand-filled inner tube used for diver; girl hit the guide wires
- 3rd drop: girl flew 130 feet (40 m) up at an angle (equivalent of 200 feet/60 meters straight up), but experienced a g-force of 42 g which would cause serious injury even before she hit the ground
Based on the need for a super-strong seesaw and the injuries inflicted on the girl, the team declared the myth busted.
Previous: Episode 119: Exploding Bumper
Next: Episode 121: Thermite vs. Ice
Premier Date: November 1, 2006
A lighter can explode when placed under a welding tool.
confirmed
The heat generated from the welding tool was hot enough to cause the plastic lighter to melt and release its fuel which ignited, causing a small explosion.
A lighter can explode when put in a laundry dryer.
busted
A lighter was left in a running laundry dryer but suffered no significant damage and did not explode.
A lighter can explode when hit with a golf club.
plausible
Hitting a lighter with a golf club did not make the lighter explode, but when the MythBusters decided to hit the lighter while it was lit, it exploded rather violently.
A lighter can explode on a car dashboard.
busted
The lighter was put in a toaster oven to simulate the maximum temperature that the interior of a car can reach, around 180 degrees Fahrenheit. There was no reaction for several hours, and the lighter finally exploded when the MythBusters ramped the temperature up to over 350 degrees Fahrenheit, well above any temperature that can be expected in the interior of a car.
A single lighter in a person’s pocket could explode lethally.
busted
The MythBusters placed a lighter in a pair of jeans and put it under a welding tool. The sparks and heat from the tool managed to set the pants on fire, but failed to ignite the lighter. This myth was labeled busted because of the improbability of a lighter exploding in someone’s pocket.
Five hundred lighters packed inside a car can explode with lethal force.
plausible
The MythBusters placed five hundred lighters in a car and slowly heated it up. One by one, lighters began to rupture and release gas fumes. When the MythBusters finally triggered an igniter, the gas fumes exploded, blowing out all of the windows and setting the car on fire. The myth was deemed possible as long as there is a suitable ignition source.
An Old West gunslinger could drop a coin and fire his pistol five times before it hits the ground.
busted
Using replicas of actual Wild West pistols, Grant, Kari, and Tory attempted the stunt themselves. However, Grant and Kari were unable to clear the pistols from their holsters in time and Tory was only able to get off one shot. Grant then built a device which showed that the pistols were mechanically unable to fire that fast. The MythBusters finally turned to a professional gunslinger, but he could only fire three shots and he stated that firing five in that space of time would be “extremely difficult”. With no results, the myth was busted.
An Old West gunslinger could shoot a hole through a silver dollar.
busted
The MythBusters used actual period silver dollars for the test. A professional gunslinger proved that hitting the coin was possible (with many tries) by piercing a lead coin. Both the Peacemaker and Navy revolver were only able to dent the silver dollar. While a .357 Magnum could easily pierce the coin, the myth was busted because the .357 was not introduced until the 1930’s – gunslingers didn’t have access to it.
An Old West gunslinger could save a man from being hanged by shooting the rope.
busted
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Firing at a rope with the pistols, even at point blank range, failed to break the rope. The bullets were merely deflected off of the rope. A professional gunslinger armed with a more powerful Winchester repeating rifle managed to shoot and break the rope, but it required multiple tries in order to pull off. With the difficulty involved in shooting and breaking the rope, the myth was considered busted.
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Mythbusters Episode Summary
Next: Episode 66: Concrete Glider