MythBusters (2004 season)

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The cast of the television series MythBusters perform experiments to verify or debunk urban legends, old wives' tales, and the like. This is a list of the various myths tested on the show as well as the results of the experiments (the myth is Busted, Plausible, or Confirmed).

The myths the show has tested for accuracy in Season 2 include:


Contents

[edit] Episode 9 – "Chicken Gun, Octopus Egg Pregnancy, Killer Washing Machine"

  • Original airdate: January 18, 2004

[edit] Chicken Gun

The original myth involved the British borrowing the titular gun for testing train windshields, but were shocked and confused at the amount of carnage the gun did. When they asked the Americans what they were doing wrong, they were told to thaw the chickens before firing, thus sparking the controversy.

Myth statement Status Notes
A frozen chicken launched in a bird strike simulation can penetrate aircraft or train windshields better than a thawed chicken. Busted Originally, impact time or force transferred was the same for both frozen and thawed chickens, but this test was not conducted using airline-qualified glass, which has a thicker consistency than normal pane glass. This myth was later revisited in the Myths Revisited episode with the original verdict overturned.

[edit] Killer Washing Machine

Myth statement Status Notes
While overstuffing his washing machine with laundry, a man accidentally wedged himself into the machine and tripped the spin cycle, flailing him around, spilling laundry detergent and bleach as he was bludgeoned to death against the shelves. Afterwards, the man's dog urinated on the detergent and bleach, causing an explosion that set the room on fire. Busted Not one part of this myth was found to be even plausible. A normal washing machine drum can be halted in its spin cycle simply by grabbing on to it. In addition, most machines have a safety feature that prevents the machine from running if the door is open. Finally, dog urine does not react with bleach or detergent in a way that would cause an explosion.

[edit] Octopus Egg Pregnancy

Myth statement Status Notes
A woman, while swimming, accidentally swallowed a fertilized octopus egg, which gestated in her stomach and caused symptoms similar to that of pregnancy. Busted The human stomach is too inhospitable an environment to sustain an octopus egg through its full gestation.

[edit] Episode 10 – "Explosive Decompression, Frog Giggin', Rear Axle"

  • Original airdate: February 22, 2004

[edit] Explosive Decompression

This myth was revisited in MythBusters Revisited.

Myth statement Status Notes
Explosive decompression can occur when a bullet is fired through the fuselage of a pressurized airplane, causing the hole to grow dramatically and possibly cause the plane to break up as seen in movies. Busted The pressure is not high enough and the hole is too small. Explosive decompression only occurred when a hole the size of a window was made with explosives. Even then, the rush of air could not suck Buster completely out of the hole. Lastly, there are proven instances of explosive decompression where the plane was still able to maintain control and land.

[edit] Frog Giggin'

Myth statement Status Notes
A group of hillbillies use a live .22LR cartridge as a makeshift replacement for a burned-out fuse in their truck, but while the truck is driving, the bullet heats up enough to discharge, hitting driver in the groin and causing enough damage to require surgery. Busted/ Plausible The bullet did work as a replacement fuse, however when a short circuit was created, the wiring burnt up and the bullet did not fire. When the wiring was upgraded to a higher gauge, the bullet did fire out of the fusebox, but not with enough velocity to cause any serious injury. Though both Adam and Jamie admitted that the myth was plausible from their tests, they had to call it busted due to a lack of conclusive evidence, and the fact that they did not have a "plausible" verdict during the first season.

[edit] Rear Axle

Myth statement Status Notes
A steel cable, attached to both a street light post and the rear axle of a police car, will be able to yank the rear axle clear out from under the car when it tries to drive off, as seen in American Graffiti. Busted The rear axle was able to be pulled loose, but only after several bolts securing it were removed. Additionally the axle was caught along the underside of the police car and could not clear the trunk. Adam and Jamie theorized that, in the movie, a ramp was used to give the car and axle enough of a boost to wrench the axle completely free.

[edit] Episode 11 – "Sinking Titanic, Goldfish Memory, Trombone Explosion"

  • Original airdate: January 25, 2004

[edit] Goldfish Memory

This myth is widely passed around, even making it into Time Magazine's "numbers" section at one point.

Myth statement Status Notes
A goldfish's memory lasts only three seconds. Busted Jamie trained his goldfish to recognize color patterns and complete an obstacle course under water. They remembered what Jamie had taught them over a month later and easily completed the same course without Jamie's prompting. However, Adam's fish suffered from a filter malfunction and they were not getting enough food.

[edit] The Mad Trombonist

Myth statement Status Notes
A trombonist had put a firecracker into his mute, and at the final note of the 1812 Overture, launched the mute, striking the conductor and knocking him back into the audience. In addition, the bell of the trombone was blown wide open and the slide was launched. Busted Using a firecracker, the mute hit the conductor (Buster), but did not knock him over. When the equivalent of six model rocket engines were used, he fell forward after being hit. When even more were used, the trombone was practically destroyed, but the bell still did not peel back, nor did the slide launch. Since not even the first part of the myth could be duplicated, the rest could not have followed.

This myth was later tested on "Myths Redux"

[edit] Sinking Titanic

Myth statement Status Notes
A sinking ship creates enough suction to pull a person under if that person is too close (as was rumored to occur when the RMS Titanic sank). Busted Though using a small ship, neither Adam nor Jamie were sucked under when it sank, not even when they were riding directly on top of it. The use of a vessel with a large displacement was not practical.

Later, while preparing for the Ping Pong Salvage myth, the Sinking Titanic myth was re-tested and re-busted as Adam pointed out.

[edit] Episode 12 – "Break Step Bridge, Toothbrush Surprise, Rowing Water Skier"

  • Original airdate: January 25, 2004

[edit] Breakstep Bridge

The myth was retested for Myths Revisited, but was ultimately cut out of the episode. [1]

Myth statement Status Notes
Soldiers marching in unison can cause harmonic oscillation in a bridge and cause it to collapse. Busted/Plausible There were some difficulties in testing this myth conclusively. During the first test, Jamie made 12 air-powered marching soldiers, but they moved too slowly. During the second and third tests, the soldiers stomped too hard on the bridge, causing the bridge to collapse without any harmonic vibration. When this myth was revisited, it was proven plausible.

[edit] Rowing Water Skier

Myth statement Status Notes
A rowing eight can pull a water skier at sufficient speed for them to stay upright. Confirmed After several tries Jamie was able to stay upright for over 40 seconds, with only a few hours experience in waterskiing.

[edit] Toothbrush Surprise

Myth statement Status Notes
Fecal coliform bacteria can grow in toothbrush bristles. Confirmed Fecal coliforms were indeed found on all the test brushes, including the control ones. However, none were of a level high enough to be dangerous, and experts confirm that such coliforms were impossible to completely avoid. Moreover, there was no significant difference in the number of bacteria based on where the toothbrushes were placed in respect to the toilet bowl.

[edit] Episode 13 – "Buried in Concrete, Daddy Long-legs, Jet Taxi"

  • Original airdate: February 15, 2004

[edit] Buried in Concrete

The myth revolved around Jimmy Hoffa, a union leader who unexpectedly disappeared, and the rumors that surrounded his disappearance. Among one of the myths was that he was buried under the infamous ten-yard bump in Giants Stadium, a rumor that persisted in various forms of media.

Myth statement Status Notes
Jimmy Hoffa was buried in Giants Stadium. Busted Adam and Jamie tested several areas on the field held by rumor to be Hoffa's final resting place. No readings were found consistent with a cavity left by a body which had rotted away.

[edit] Daddy Long-Legs

Myth statement Status Notes
A Daddy long-legs spider has the most potent venom of all spiders, but is unable to pierce human skin. Busted A Daddy long-legs was able to bite through the skin of Adam's arm. He reported nothing more than a very mild, short-lived burning sensation. Analysis of the venom proves it does not approach the potency of the Black widow spider.

[edit] Jet Taxi

This was the first myth in which the MythBusters were neither able to confirm nor bust the results due to logistics reasons. According to the episode, upon arrival at Mojave Spaceport, the insurance company responsible for the aircraft backed out at the last minute, citing possible foreign object damage to the plane. However, BBC's Top Gear was able to independently test and verify this myth. [1]

Myth statement Status Notes
Jet wash from an airliner can overturn a taxi if the vehicle passes behind the jet as it goes to full throttle. Partly Plausible Adam and Jamie tried overturning a used taxi they had purchased, but were unable to get the car to flip. They could not Bust the myth for two reasons. For one, they were unable to acquire proper jet engines for insurance reasons, and had to settle for a huffer, which is used to start the turbines of jumbo jets. For another, a news article confirmed that a taxi in Brazil was blown off the road by a Boeing 737 which was taking off. While it is unlikely a car will pass so closely behind a jet taking off, it may flip over in the jet wash if it does pass that close.

This myth was re-tested and Confirmed in the Supersized Special.

[edit] Episode 14 – "Myths Revisited"

  • Original airdate: June 8, 2004

This was the first episode where the MythBusters retested earlier myths that had been commented or criticized by fans or had not performed as per their original expectations and test spinoff myths related to earlier myths.

[edit] Breakstep Bridge

This myth was retested for the episode but ultimately did not air in the US version—although the Robin Banks narrated Discovery Europe version did include it. This myth is also included in the DVD version of MythBusters Outtakes.

Myth statement Status Notes
Soldiers marching in unison can cause harmonic oscillation in a bridge and cause it to collapse. (From Breakstep Bridge) Plausible The first time the myth was tested, the miniature bridge was flawed enough in its design to get an inconclusive answer, but with this test, just testing the natural resonance frequency of a simple wooden bridge, resulted in a plausible conclusion, but it is very improbable.

View video clips of the test on the Discovery Channel website.

[edit] Chicken Gun

Myth statement Status Notes
A frozen chicken will penetrate aircraft or train windshields better than a thawed chicken. (From Chicken Gun) Plausible When revisited, frozen chickens could penetrate sets of layered glass panes better. It was listed as Plausible because it is uncertain if the original myth actually occurred.

[edit] Ice Bullet

Myth statement Status Notes
An ice bullet can kill someone without leaving a trace. (From Magic Bullet) Re-Busted They retested using slow-frozen bullets that were stronger than the ones they used previously. The bullets simply vaporized when the trigger was pulled.

[edit] Cell Phone Destruction

Myth statement Status Notes
Using one's cell phone while pumping gas/petrol can cause an explosion. (From Cell Phone Destruction) Re-Busted The battery of retests the MythBusters performed reaffirmed their original Busted verdict.

[edit] Aerosol Bazooka

Myth statement Status Notes
Leaving a can of aerosol spray or cola inside a hot car can cause it to explode. (Spinoff of Biscuit Bazooka) Busted The aerosol cans did not explode inside a car after sitting in the sun for hours. Both aerosol and cola took temperatures of over 300 °F (150 °C) to blow. This myth was later revisited in season 5, where it was revealed that Adam had ended the test too early and that soda will explode at 140 °F (60 °C).

[edit] Exploding Implants

Myth statement Status Notes
An inflatable brassiere can explode inside an airplane as it climbs in altitude. (Spinoff of Silicone Breasts) Re-Busted The different types of inflatable brassieres tested proved capable of maintaining their integrity even at altitudes fatal to humans.

[edit] Peeing on the Third Rail

Myth statement Status Notes
Urinating on an electric fence can cause electrocution. (Spinoff of Peeing on the Third Rail) Busted/Plausible Upon retesting the myth on an electric fence it was found to be Plausible, but the rail was still Busted. Distance was the factor, as the urine stream breaks up less at the close range needed for urinating on the fence than urinating on the third rail, thus ensuring a direct line of current between one's body and the electrical source.

[edit] Goldfinger

Myth statement Status Notes
Covering one's body in gold paint can kill a person by skin asphyxiation like in the James Bond movie Goldfinger. (From Goldfinger) Re-Busted When Adam re-tested the myth, his vital signs did not change except for body temperature, which actually dropped (the myth stated that body temperature would go up due to the paint). The original anomalies with Jamie's test were likely due more to Jamie's own physiology than the application of the paint.

[edit] Episode 15 – "Scuba Diver, Car Capers"

  • Original airdate: July 27, 2004

[edit] Forest Fire Scuba Diver

Myth statement Status Notes
A SCUBA diver can be sucked up by a firefighting helicopter and dumped on a forest fire. Busted The type of pumps used in firefighting helicopters cannot continue running once in the air. As soon as the pump is shut off, any caught diver would simply drop back into the water. The pumps also do not have enough suction to suck in a person in the first place.

[edit] Car Capers

Myth statement Status Notes
If a car's tailpipe is plugged with objects, the engine will be destroyed. Busted All of the objects used were shot out immediately after the engine started up.
If a bullet is shot through the fuel tank, it will explode. Busted The gas tank did not explode.
This was revisited in MythBusters Revisited.
A car door can protect a person from bullets in a shoot-out. Busted The car door did not stop the bullets shot at it.
A car's engine will be destroyed when liquid drain clog remover is put into the tank. Busted The engine still ran.
A car's engine will be destroyed when bleach is put into the tank. Plausible The engine soon died out but was not ruined from the experience. The following morning, the inside of the gas tank was covered in rust.
A car's engine will be destroyed when sugar is put into the tank. Busted The engine ran even better than without the sugar.
Adding mothballs to the fuel tank increases the horsepower. Plausible The engine still started, but it soon started spluttering. When Jamie pressed the accelerator, the engine sounded more powerful.
Cola can be used as a substitute for radiator coolant. Plausible The engine ran with cola in the radiator, but it may cause damage.
If a radiator is leaking, cracking an egg into the radiator will plug the holes. Plausible The engine was started after the contents of an egg were poured in, and the leak stopped.
A piece of metal can destroy an engine when it falls in the carburetor. Busted A penny dropped in could be heard rattling, but the engine still ran.
Bleach in the oil can destroy the engine. Confirmed The engine started but it soon started smoking, and very quickly overheated. The engine was so hot, that the undercarriage started burning and Adam fried an egg on the tailpipe. The engine was ultimately ruined.

[edit] Episode 16 – "Ancient Death Ray, Skunk Cleaning, What Is Bulletproof?"

  • Original airdate: September 29, 2004

[edit] Ancient Death Ray

The MythBusters take on a myth from antiquity, where it is claimed that Archimedes constructed a solar-powered weapon by reflecting sunlight onto Roman ships. The result of the test sparked so much controversy, especially around engineering circles, that an entire episode (Archimedes' Death Ray) was dedicated to a retest.

Myth statement Status Notes
Archimedes constructed a death ray by reflecting sunlight onto, and thus igniting, Roman vessels. Busted In order to have any effect, the mirror would have to be impractically large, and even then, the temperature of wood only raised a few degrees. On the Discovery website, however, a challenge was thrown out to the viewers to come up with an experiment to prove it plausible, and so far, a few of the entries seem to have done so. When all the tests were completed the myth was conclusively busted.

[edit] Skunked!

The smell of skunk musk can be removed with...

Myth statement Status Notes
...tomato juice. Plausible Neither the two MythBusters, nor their builder Scottie, could detect the odor of skunk after they had been covered with the tomato juice. (It has been suggested that the strong odor/aroma of tomato juice masks the skunk smell until the human nose becomes desensitized to the smell of tomatoes, at which point the skunk musk is again noticeable.)
...commercial cleaners. Plausible The commercial cleaners tested had limited success at eliminating the odor of skunk musk.
...a custom mixture. Confirmed A mixture of soap, hydrogen peroxide, and baking soda proved to work best for actually eliminating the aroma of skunk musk. The precise formula may be found in the skunk article.
...beer. Busted Beer did not work.
...a douche. Busted A douche also had no effect at all.

[edit] What is Bulletproof?

Adam and Jamie test whether some things that are mythically held to be bulletproof are actually bulletproof - included among them was an assertion by Jamie in the first season on their lexan barriers being bulletproof.

Bullets can be stopped by...

Myth statement Status Notes
...a book. Busted A hardcover book of at least 400 pages can potentially stop a .22 rifle shot, but anything stronger would shoot completely through.
...a deck of playing cards. Busted The deck failed to stop any bullets.
...a Zippo lighter. Busted The lighter failed to stop any bullets.
...a quarter-inch polycarbonate shield like that used by MythBusters. Busted The shield failed to stop any bullets.
...an inch-thick polycarbonate panel rated bullet resistant. Plausible They tested using a four-sided box made of bullet resistant polycarbonate laminate. The panels stopped .22, .357, & .44 magnum bullets but a .30-06 Springfield shot from an M1903 penetrated both front and rear portions of the box.

[edit] Episode 17 – "Elevator of Death, Levitation Machine"

  • Original airdate: October 6, 2004

[edit] Elevator of Death

This myth is fueled by the story of an elevator attendant found alive but badly injured in an elevator car that had fallen 75 stories down a shaft in the Empire State Building after a B-25 Medium Bomber crashed into it in 1945.

Myth statement Status Notes
It is possible to survive by jumping up at the last moment before a freefalling elevator hits the ground. Busted The jumping power of a human being cannot cancel out the falling velocity of the elevator; the elevator car impacted at 53mph, while a human being can only jump at around 2 or 3mph, not enough to make a significant difference in the impact force. The best speculative advice from an elevator expert would be to lie on the elevator floor instead of jumping. Adam and Jamie speculated the attendant survived because the tight elevator shaft created an air cushion. This together with spring action from slack elevator cable could have slowed the car to survivable speeds.

After finding a bowling ball in the abandoned hotel they were testing the myth in, Kari decided to test out a "mini-myth" of her own.

Myth statement Status Notes
Dropping a bowling ball on a tiled floor will shatter the tiles. Busted The ball did not shatter, or even crack the tiles after Kari dropped it. After spotting Kari's failed test however, Jamie took the ball and bowled it at some wall tiles on the other side of the hall, and the force of that impact did shatter the tiles that were hit.

[edit] Levitation Machine

Adam and Jamie try to build a hovercraft from vacuum cleaner parts, and after finding it plausible, decide to compete against each other in a homemade hovercraft racing contest. Adam, along with Tory and Christine (dubbed Team Savage), built the heavier Lillypad Flyer, while Jamie, Scottie, and Kari (dubbed Hyneman's Heroes) worked together to make the Hyneman Hoverboard.

Myth statement Status Notes
An average person can build a home-made makeshift hovercraft on a budget of under $500.00. Partly Plausible While they did cheat and go slightly over-budget both Adam and Jamie built two separate functional hovercraft. While Adam's "Lilypad Flyer" and Jamie's "Hyneman Hoverboard" were both rather impractical they worked nonetheless. It was also disputed whether or not the hovercrafts could be properly labeled as levitation machines.

[edit] Episode 18 – "Beat the Radar Detector"

  • Original airdate: October 13, 2004

[edit] Plywood Builder

Adam and Jamie tested a construction related myth, and also put several other objects said to be able to act as a parachute to the test.

Myth statement Status Notes
Holding a large sheet of plywood will slow a fall from a building enough to make it survivable. Busted The fall was almost completely uncontrollable and the impact was still deadly. Even under the best possible conditions the fall was not survivable. Even when the myth was stretched to custom-built constructions of the five individual plies of the plywood, neither Adam's nor Jamie's designs were any improvement.
Opening an umbrella will slow a fall from a building enough to make it survivable. Busted Though different umbrellas did slow a fall, the impact was still deadly. A real parachute was also tested but found to be unable to properly arrest a fall from only 60 feet (18 m). The best an umbrella can do is hold the person somewhat upright, causing less damage to the head.

[edit] Beat the Radar Gun

This is the first myth entirely tested by the Build Team.

It is possible to legally beat the police speed radar and/or lidar by...

Myth statement Status Notes
...jingling a set of keys. Busted The keys had no effect at all.
...dangling a disco ball from the rear-view mirror. Busted The disco ball had no effect at all. It is also illegal (in California, where the show is filmed) to have anything large and obstructive hanging off the rear-view mirror.
...dangling CDs from the rear-view mirror. Busted The CDs had no effect at all, and are also illegal in California.
...covering the hubcaps in tin foil. Busted The tin foil did not have any noticeable effect.
...covering the entire car in tin foil. Busted The tin foil acted as a large reflector and actually enhanced the detection ability of the radar .
...jamming the lidar by lining the front license plate with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) Busted The LEDs were not strong enough to interfere with the lidar.
...jamming the lidar by covering the entire car with LEDs. Not tested While the idea did come up in the brainstorming phase it was too impractical to test on the full-scale car.
...jamming the radar by bouncing microwaves at it. Busted Kari's magnetron failed to jam the police radar.
...shooting scraps of tin foil behind the car as chaff. Busted There were too many rogue variables to get the system to work properly, particularly wind. The car was still detectable and the chaff did nothing to disrupt the radar. This solution would also likely result in a much stiffer penalty for littering.
...spinning a wheel of mirrors on top of the car slower than the actual speed of the car. Partly Busted Tory's device actually tricked the radar into displaying the car as going one or two miles per hour slower, but not enough to help. The device itself was highly impractical. Unlike the rear-view mirror attachments, the roof mounted device was actually not illegal in California.
...painting the car matte-black to absorb the radar and light beams. Busted The matte-black paint did nothing to reduce the detectability of the car.
...painting the car with special radar absorbing paint, like a stealth aircraft. Not tested/Not Practical The special paint is loaded with iron and goes on like frosting. It was so heavy that the toy car used in the preliminary tests could barely move. It was never properly tested on the full scale car, because it would be more expensive than just paying off any speeding tickets.

[edit] Episode 19 – "Killer Quicksand"

  • Original airdate: October 20, 2004

[edit] Killer Quicksand

Myth statement Status Notes
"Killer Quicksand" like in the movies (i.e. quicksand that slowly sucks any person or animal unlucky enough to fall into it under) really exists. Busted Quicksand is denser than water; the greater the density of the liquid, the greater the buoyancy of objects within. Adam and Jamie got into the tub of quicksand and were entirely safe, floating with the quicksand about waist-high. They concluded that any victims found in quicksand likely died for some other reason (e.g. exposure to the elements).

[edit] Appliances in the Bath

Myth statement Status Notes
One can be killed by dropping an electrical appliance into a bath full of water Confirmed The electrocution effect is increased if the appliance drops farther from the drain or if the water has more salt in it (such as due to urine or epsom salts). They also proved that devices (and probably by extension, sockets) with GFCIs are effective at preventing these electrocutions, as a GFCI-equipped hairdryer cut off on contact with the water.

[edit] Exploding Tattoo

Myth statement Status Notes
Tattoos can explode when exposed to an MRI. Busted The compounds in the pigments of most tattoos simply do not react to magnetic fields. Old pigments of the color black, which had iron in the composition, could cause some discomfort at most.
Tattoos can explode when exposed to a transmitter Not in this episode This chapter of the myth was not shown in this episode. See MythBusters Outtakes.

[edit] Episode 20 – "Exploding Jawbreaker"

  • Original airdate: October 27, 2004

[edit] Exploding Jawbreaker

Myth statement Status Notes
A jawbreaker can explode when bitten after being heated in a microwave oven or standing out in the sunlight while still in the wrapper. Confirmed Microwave heating of a jawbreaker can cause the different layers inside to heat at different rates, yielding an explosive spray of very hot candy when compressed. During one test, a jawbreaker did indeed explode, catching Christine on part of her face and neck, and Adam on part of an arm, as the "jaw rig" they had set up was not enclosed by safety screens. Both suffered light burns. When heated in a toaster oven to replicate the conditions of being left out in the sun, the jawbreaker did not explode, but the insides were molten enough to be potentially harmful. Various explanations for why this could occur, including chemical tainting, all further strengthened the Confirmed assessment.

[edit] Static Cannon

Myth statement Status Notes
A construction worker accidentally killed himself with static charge after sandblasting an 8" PVC pipe. Busted No static charge built up on the pipe in initial testing. Even after they were converted into a Van de Graaff generator and a Leyden jar, the amount of static electricity produced was too small to actually kill a person—at worst, it would only create a stunning but survivable shock. The original circumstances of the myth preclude any significant static buildup—resting the pipe on metal jack stands allows the pipe to discharge to the ground while sand in the air from the sandblasting can dissipate static charge the same way humidity can.

[edit] Killer Deck

Myth statement Status Notes
An ordinary playing card can actually kill a person if thrown with enough power. Busted Adam was already fairly adept at throwing cards, his maximum speed being 25 miles per hour (40 km/h); this failed to cause any injury. After trying some designs for a card-throwing machine, Adam and Jamie settled on a design that could throw cards at 155 miles per hour (249 km/h). When this device was used on Jamie, it caused a small cut that only drew a small amount of blood.

[edit] Episode 21 – "Ping-Pong Salvage"

  • Original airdate: November 3, 2004

[edit] Ping-Pong Salvage

Adam and Jamie explore the possibility of raising a ship with ping-pong balls, originally conceived in the 1949 Donald Duck story The Sunken Yacht by Carl Barks.

Myth statement Status Notes
Ping-pong balls can be used to raise a sunken ship. Plausible Even though it took an impractically large number of ping-pong balls (27,000), when enough of them were piped into the Mythtanic II, the boat rose to the surface. It should be noted, however, that it took far fewer balls than they expected (60,000). In addition, This technique is of dubious legality -- if containment of the pingpong balls were to fail, the 'rescuer' would quite probably run afoul of environmental-protection laws.

[edit] Carried Away

The Build Team takes on a gag used in many comedic works, where a baby or small child could be lifted into the air and fly away unintentionally when given helium balloons.

Myth statement Status Notes
A 4 year old child can be lifted by a bunch of party balloons. Busted It would require such a large number of balloons (3,500) to lift an average four-year-old girl of 44 pounds (20 kg) just a few feet off the ground that there is no way the myth could have happened unintentionally.

See also Larry's Lawn Chair Balloon from Pilot 3.

[edit] Episode 22 – "Boom-Lift Catapult, AC vs. Windows down"

  • Original airdate: November 10, 2004

[edit] Boom-Lift Catapult

Myth statement Status Notes
A boom-lift can potentially catapult its operator 200 feet (60 metres), in a concept similar to a traction trebuchet. Busted When a car engine was dropped from the boom lift it barely even wobbled, much less catapulted Buster (It did not even "spill his coffee"). In an attempt to duplicate the myth result, the boom lift was converted into a counterweight trebuchet, mounted on several shipping containers to give it clearance to rotate. On its first throw, it threw Buster at a steep (downward) angle towards the ground, and then collapsed between the containers, destroying it.

[edit] AC vs. Windows Down

Adam and Jamie tackle not so much a myth as what they call an "urban puzzle". The debate arises because both methods of cooling influence a car's fuel efficiency—air conditioning requires a lot of power to run, but at the same time, open windows create drag.

  • Revisited in MythBusters Revisited, Season 3, episode 38
Myth statement Status Notes
Running a car with air conditioning on is more fuel efficient than running with the windows down. Partly Busted Tests were performed under varying conditions (55 miles per hour (89 km/h) versus 45 miles per hour (72 km/h)). Also, the 55 mph test was using a computer to estimate fuel efficiency based on air intake, not actual fuel consumption, and showed A/C was more efficient. The 45 mph test consisted of running the tank until it was empty, and showed open windows were more efficient. This experiment—or one like it—is sometimes cited by the Magliozzi Brothers on Car Talk when presented with this question.

[edit] Episode 23 – "Exploding House"

  • Original airdate: November 16, 2004

[edit] Bug Bomb

Myth statement Status Notes
Overusing bug bombs can blow up a house. Confirmed A house actually exploded in San Diego, California because a family used too many bug bombs and an accidental spark ignited the chemicals in the air, as the MythBusters were able to prove in their test, although it took dozens of bug bombs to produce only a small explosion.

[edit] Talking to Plants

Myth statement Status Notes
Talking to plants helps them grow. Plausible Seven small greenhouses were set up on the M5 Industries roof. Four were set up with stereos playing endlessly looping recordings (as having the MythBusters actually talk to the plants could contaminate the samples with their expelled carbon dioxide): Two of negative speech, two of positive speech (Kari and Scottie each made one positive and one negative inducing soundtrack), a fifth with classical music and a sixth with intense death metal music. A seventh greenhouse, used as a control sample, had no stereo. The greenhouses with the recordings of speech grew better than the control, regardless of whether such talk was kind or angry. The plants in the greenhouse with the recording of classical music grew better, while the plants in the greenhouse with the recording of intense death metal grew best of all.

[edit] Needle in a Haystack

Adam and Jamie competed against each other in a contest to bust an old adage. While Jamie teamed up with Christine and Scottie in a machine known as Earth, Wind & Fire which burned the hay to leave the needles behind, Adam, Kari, and Tory used the Needlefinder 2000, a machine that relied on water to separate needles from the hay (in the theory that needles would sink in water while hay floated). Each team had to locate four needles among ten bales of hay—three of steel of varying sizes and one of bone. Adam's team won the contest, in great part because his team's machine "processed" their haystack more quickly.

Myth statement Status Notes
Modern technology can render the phrase "like finding a needle in a haystack" obsolete. Busted While it is possible to find a needle in a haystack, even using specialized machines to do so takes a considerable amount of time, particularly since bone needles cannot be picked up by magnets. The task is difficult enough to still make the saying viable.


[edit] References

  1. ^ See Top Gear Series 4 Episode 8 (18 July 2004)

[edit] External links

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