Mythbusters

[slyc_willie]

Okay, we admit it: Secret and I are Mythbusters freaks. We have our DVR set to record any episode at any time, which often results in multiple recordings of the same show. We don't care. We'll watch them all anyway.

Some of the myths they tackle are really interesting. I loved the Bond-inspired episodes and the recent "Car Cling" one where they showed that, for most people, it would be practically impossible to keep a grip on a car roof when the vehicle is swerving back and forth. But I imagine they'll get lots of challenges to that one from their website.

A recent one really caught my attention. It goes like this:

Fill a galvanized steel bucket with gunpowder. Insert fuse.

Place bucket atop, say, a hundred pounds of ice.

Light fuse.

Enjoy the fireworks.

[size=+2]KABOOM![/size]

It's an amazing sight. The ignited gunpowder flares out brilliantly, coating the ice around and beneath it with a flaming shower. The flames fan out, then the whole mess erupts like a volcano. It's amazing.

I figure it has something to do with temperature extremes and expansion. The myth -- based on an Internet viral -- was very specific about using a galvanized steel bucket. Steel expands under heat, but contracts against heat. Galvanized steel is also a great conductor. The same basic application of physics would mean that excessive heat (from a slow-burning compound like gunpowder) applied to extreme cold (frozen water) would result in the same crossroads of extremes.

For whatever reasons, it works. I'm tempted to try it myself . . . in a big field way outside county lines, of course.

What Mythbusters episodes have impressed you? Made you laugh your ass off? Made you roll your eyes at the basic ridiculousness?

 

[Guest]

Umm... hate to contradict a fellow Mythbusters fanatic, but that episode was thermite and ice (they speculated early on that the people who made the viral video might have put gunpowder underneath the thermite). Still, it rocked!

There are so MANY cool myths that they've tested ( I think we've seen them all at least once) that it's hard to pick.

Under the "Jamie wants a big boom" theory, the show that tried to clean hardened concrete from the inside of a concrete truck with dynamite stands out... because when they were done testing the myth, they took said truck to the bomb range and made it "go away" with C-4!

Awesome explosion.

 

[jomar]

That is a cool show. I also like the one where they build big stuff and fix big stuff. Putting a new antennae on top of a 2000 foot TV transmission tower was kind of ahhhhh!.

 

[slyc_willie]

Umm... hate to contradict a fellow Mythbusters fanatic, but that episode was thermite and ice (they speculated early on that the people who made the viral video might have put gunpowder underneath the thermite). Still, it rocked!

There are so MANY cool myths that they've tested ( I think we've seen them all at least once) that it's hard to pick.

Under the "Jamie wants a big boom" theory, the show that tried to clean hardened concrete from the inside of a concrete truck with dynamite stands out... because when they were done testing the myth, they took said truck to the bomb range and made it "go away" with C-4!

Awesome explosion.

Thermite/cordite, I believe is an addition to most modern gunpowder recipes. Anyway, it was an interesting result.

The concrete mixer boom was good one, but I still like the "blow up my mom's car" episode, personally.

On the less explosive side, we watched a recently-recorded show in which the Mythbusters attempted to foil various security devices. If I wanted to be a career criminal, I'd be watching these episodes over and over again.

 

[Weird Harold]

Thermite/cordite, I believe is an addition to most modern gunpowder recipes. Anyway, it was an interesting result.

Thermite and Cordite are totally unrelated compounds.

Cordite is a Nitroglycerin based propellant for NAval Guns and modern rifled cannons.

Thermite is a compound of Iron Oxide and Aluminum Oxide and it is NOT an explosive, it just burns very hot.

One of my favorite episodes was the Hindenberg recreation.

Sending Maddie (the youngest mythbuster yet) aloft with party ballons was a fun episode, too.

 

[slyc_willie]

Thermite and Cordite are totally unrelated compounds.

Cordite is a Nitroglycerin based propellant for NAval Guns and modern rifled cannons.

Thermite is a compound of Iron Oxide and Aluminum Oxide and it is NOT an explosive, it just burns very hot.

One of my favorite episodes was the Hindenberg recreation.

Sending Maddie (the youngest mythbuster yet) aloft with party ballons was a fun episode, too.

Okay, fine, I'm corrected.

I must have missed the Hindenburg episode. Might have to search online for that one.

 

[Guest]

We love Mythbusters around here, too, especially our kids.

On Cartoon Network there is a mini-show called "Stuffbusters" where two kids dress up like the Mythbusters pair (the fake mustaches are a nice touch) and proceed to blow stuff up.

Last week it was a pile of stuffed animals.

It's fun.

 

[Salvor-Hardon]

While my obsession with Kari Byron is infamous, my favorite episode the christmas mentos / diet coke rube goldberg contraption. the sheer ingenuity and precision needed to make it seem effortless is amazing.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I can't believe nobody else has mentioned the sawdust cannon. I loved the original video, I loved their version and then there was the one made up with dried milk. Wheeee . . . Hawken! The look on Kari's face when she describes how she felt when she realized the explosion was going to be bigger than they expected is priceless. They even scare themselves, sometimes.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

I love the show, but it seems like it is always on when I am out or watching something else, and I don't have a DVR, so I'm usually out of luck

 

[Guest]

"Confederate Rocket" where the propellant was salami! Damned thing flew, too!

 

[Weird Harold]

I can't believe nobody else has mentioned the sawdust cannon. I loved the original video, I loved their version and then there was the one made up with dried milk. Wheeee . . . Hawken! The look on Kari's face when she describes how she felt when she realized the explosion was going to be bigger than they expected is priceless. They even scare themselves, sometimes.

The Million Matchheads fireball was pretty impressive, too.

The Welding with Explosives part of revisting the two semi's and a compact myth was pretty spectacular as well and is the current record for explosive power for the show -- 5,000 pounds of TNT equivalent, IIRC (or about five times as big as the cement truck.)

I love it when they lose their "cannonballs" and have to go trekking down the abandoned runway looking for it -- I don't think they ever found the stone cannon ball Jamie made for the Tree Cannon.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

The Million Matchheads fireball was pretty impressive, too.

The Welding with Explosives part of revisting the two semi's and a compact myth was pretty spectacular as well and is the current record for explosive power for the show -- 5,000 pounds of TNT equivalent, IIRC (or about five times as big as the cement truck.)

I love it when they lose their "cannonballs" and have to go trekking down the abandoned runway looking for it -- I don't think they ever found the stone cannon ball Jamie made for the Tree Cannon.

That was an impressive piece of work that cannon ball was too.

 

[glynndah]

I taught a Saturday science class for sixth graders. The Diet Coke-Mentos fountain experiment was the highlight. Mythbusters was my reference guide for that one.

 

[Katyusha]

That is just not fair. I miss Mythbusters so much.

 

[JagFarlane]

That is just not fair. I miss Mythbusters so much.

Hulu rocks

 

[Katyusha]

Hulu rocks

*high-pitched helium voice* Occasionally, a myth comes along which does not thrill us.

 

[JagFarlane]

*high-pitched helium voice* Occasionally, a myth comes along which does not thrill us.

hehehe glad I could help

 

[bb_peaks]

While my obsession with Kari Byron is infamous, my favorite episode the christmas mentos / diet coke rube goldberg contraption. the sheer ingenuity and precision needed to make it seem effortless is amazing.

That was one of my favorites too. Two others were where they blew up the huge jawbreaker in the microwave and the one where they tried using the mirrors to light the ship on fire. (I don't remember the names of the episodes)

 

[BardsLady]

I have a few favorites myself. Including the Ninja Warrior episode. I think a couple other ones were the body smashed between two cars and the Car windows breaking from the speakers being too loud. Now THOSE were fun to watch.

 

[slyc_willie]

I have a few favorites myself. Including the Ninja Warrior episode. I think a couple other ones were the body smashed between two cars and the Car windows breaking from the speakers being too loud. Now THOSE were fun to watch.

The ninja episodes were cool. Especially Adam trying to walk on water on various contraptions.

 

[OneLustyWench]

Psst: Try watching Time Warp

Just as cool as Myth Busters. Slows the action down so you see it all.
Especially the mento's and diet coke rocket and the dry ice underwater bombs.

 

[OneLustyWench]

That is just not fair. I miss Mythbusters so much.

Dare you to say that 10 times fast....

 

[slyc_willie]

Just as cool as Myth Busters. Slows the action down so you see it all.
Especially the mento's and diet coke rocket and the dry ice underwater bombs.

We gave it a shot. The novelty factor wore off with the second episode. Besides, the boys on Mythbusters use a lot of high-speed cameras, too.

 

[Weird Harold]

We gave it a shot. The novelty factor wore off with the second episode. Besides, the boys on Mythbusters use a lot of high-speed cameras, too.

I gave up on Time Warp fairly quickly, too, but there's not much competition for my interest either, so I tend to leave it on waiting for Mythbusters -- tonight's episode was pretty cool with Adam going supersonic in "Blue Angel 7" to try and break glass witha sonic boom.

Time Warp keeps copying Mythbusters, like bringing the arrow catching Australian Ninja in for some staged shots a couple of weeks ago and doing a firewalking segment this week. IIRC, Mythbusters got better pictures of the actual mechanics of Firewalking than the Time Warp team.