Annotated Mythbusters

MythBusters! Shark Week!

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 20:01:47 -0800

Dirty Jobs chase of the Greenland shark already has me excited about this year's Shark Week. MythBusters is breaking out a 2-hour bonanza featuring robotic sharks, medieval armor, and dog urine. Checkout the slideshow for more photos of the Shark Week episode

How to make ballistics gel

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 10:56:18 -0800

Make Mythbusters Style Ballistic Gel from Materials at Wal-Mart! - video powered by Metacafe

For those of you who find Ordnance Gel Powder a tad difficult (as covered in Adam's tutorial in the Shopping Episode), this video from styropyro and hackaday guide cover the basics of making pseudo ballistics gel out of grocery store gelatin.

XKCD: Unscientific

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 12:52:31 -0800

Click to view full size

Episode 97: Plane on a Conveyor Belt, Cockroach Survival, Shaving Foam Shenanigans

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:36:42 -0800

Plane on a Conveyor Belt: A plane on a conveyor belt, matching its takeoff speed in reverse, can't take off busted
Cockroach Survival: cockroaches will be the only survivors of a nuclear blast busted
Shaving Foam Shenanigans: a frozen cyclinder of shaving cream will expand to fill a car when it thaws busted

The plane took off! To quote Adam: "I've read literally thousands of pages, of vitriolic commentary and arguments about airplanes on a conveyor belt, but nowhere did I find anyone who'd put an airplane on a conveyor belt." The MythBusters did and was one of the most straightforward mythbustings they've done: plane + conveyor belt = flight. To those who still have trouble wrapping your head around the problem: the wheels on a plane don't matter; they spin freely. The conveyor belt can't keep the plane stationary.

Episode 96: Lead Balloon, Surfing with Dynamite

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 00:31:39 -0800

Lead Balloon: A lead balloon cannot fly busted
Surfing with Dynamite: You can use dynamite to make surfable waves busted

Lead Balloon featured the MythBusters at their best: clever design, difficult construction, good results. It was an engineering challenge and Adam and Jamie succeeded with a delicate 10 ft lead cube balloon.

The Surfing with Dynamite continued the trend towards busting Internet videos that has been appearing in MythBusters. In this case, they busted an absurd video that features people throwing dynamite into a canal and catching waves from the resulting churn. It was mostly an excuse to explode 200lbs of TNT beneath the water.

Episode 84: Viewer Special

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 23:23:00 -0800

Eye-popping sneeze: if you sneeze with your eyes open, your eyes will pop out busted
Car Explosion: Adam and Jamie can blow up a kid's parents' car confirmed
Stopping a Car in Reverse: you can stop a car by throwing it into reverse busted
Killer Butts: Three cigarettes shot from a rifle at ~~7 feet~~ point-blank can be lethal confirmed
Car Remote Capers: You can open a car lock with a tennis ball busted
Stopping a Blade: A book in your pocket can stop a sword confirmed, coins in your pocket busted

For this episode, the MythBusters blitzed through several myths submitted by their fans

LOL Jamie

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 15:03:38 -0800

moar funny pictures

thanks cshell for the link

Episode 94: Airplane Hour (Talked Into Landing, Parachute Pandemonium)

Sun, 20 Jan 2008 21:31:03 -0800

Talked Into Landing: a passenger can be talked into a safe landing of an airplane plausible
Parachute Pandemonium (aka Point Break parachute myths):
- You can fall 4000 ft in 90 seconds: busted
- You can have a shouting match in mid-air: busted
- You can catch another skydiver with a 15-second lead: confirmed
MacGuyver mini-myth: You can stop a sulfuric acid leak using chocolate and hot water confirmed

This episode gave me ideas on places I want to visit in the Bay Area: NASA Ames' Advanced Concepts Plane Simulator and iFly SFBay's indoor skydive facility.

Episode 95: James Bond Special (Electro-magnetic Watch, Speedboat Survival, Propane Tank Peril)

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:53:10 -0800

The MythBusters tested out three different James Bond movie myths:

Electro-magnetic watch (Live and Let Die): you can deflect a bullet using an electro-magnetic watch busted
Propane tank peril (Casino Royale): you can explode a propane tank with a 9mm handgun busted
Speedboat Survival (Live and Let Die): you can jump a car with a speedboat and continue driving busted

Plane on a Treadmill rescheduled: Jan 30th

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 13:10:52 -0800

"...for those concerned that this story has been cancelled, don't worry, planes on a conveyer belt has been filmed, is spectacular, and will be part of what us Mythbusters refer to as 'episode 97'. Currently that is due to air on January 30th."

Link

Episode 92: Pirates 2 (Row Boat Sub, Sand Neck Tie, Cannon Ball Chaos)

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 21:41:27 -0800

Row Boat Sub: Jamie and Adam busted the scene from Pirates of the Caribbean where Jack Sparrow and Will Turner walk underwater with a row boat over their heads.
Buried in the Sand: You can die from being buried up to the neck in sand confirmed
MacGuyver mini-myth: A bottle of drain cleaner can blow-out a light bulb confirmed
Cannon ball chaos: Make-shift cannon ammo:
- Ye old Pirate Rum (glass): busted
- Forks and spoons: busted
- Steak knives: plausible
- Peg leg: busted
- Nails: plausible
- Chain link: confirmed

What's a Pirate's favorite element? Arrrrgon

Episode 91: Shooting Fish in a Barrel, Hot Chili Cures, Elephants are Afraid of Mice

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 19:45:12 -0800

Shooting fish in a barrel: confirmed. You may miss them with the bullet, but the shockwave will kill them.
Hot chili cures: they tested water, beer, tequila, petroleum jelly, and wasabi to see if any were better than milk, all were busted
Elephants afraid of mice: plausible. they don't freak out, but they appear to be cautious

Episode 90: Supersized Myths

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 20:40:06 -0800

Supersized Shark
- Sharks attracted to low frequency noise: busted
- Sharks afraid of dolphins: plausible
Supersized Jet Taxi: This time, with an actual 747, the Jet Taxi Myth was confirmed
Supersized Cruise Water Ski: You can wakeboard behind a cruise ship confirmed
Supersized Rocket Car (Jet Car JATO Revisit): appropriately supersized (aka, the car blew up)

This episode was a sort of return-to-the-early-days sort of affair, but adding better budget and addressing past failures. The got to return to their pilot episode (Jet Car JATO), Scottie Chapman made a brief return as builder, Adam was given another opportunity to get seasick, and Jamie found himself in the water with sharks once more.

Jamie @ DARPA Urban Challenge

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 13:20:12 -0800

Jamie was a commentator for the DARPA Urban Challenge. You can read more of my coverage here.

Episode 89: Exploding Water Heater, Jeans Myths

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 14:55:08 -0800

Exploding Water Heater: a water heater can rocket through the roof of your house: confirmed
Jeans Myths
- Pants on Fire: Your jeans can catch on fire while being dragged by a horse: busted
- Jean Death Shrinkage: Wearing jeans in a bathtub can cause death: busted