MythBusters (2015 season)

Jamie built a wrecking ball by pouring concrete around two hemispherical steel frameworks, letting them cure for several days, and then gluing the two halves together. The finished ball was 5 feet (150 cm) in diameter^{[lower-alpha 1]} and weighed 5,000 pounds (2,300 kg), matching the one used on the show.

Adam and Jamie built two house end walls with structural bracing to meet local building codes. With the ball pulled back 12 feet (3.7 m) to avoid tipping the crane to which it was attached, they swung it at one wall to evaluate the damage without Homer hanging on. The impact caused severe buckling and knocked a section of the chimney loose; when they attached Homer and repeated the test on the other wall, it flexed but exhibited much less visible damage, and Homer remained intact. Adam and Jamie classified the myth as plausible.

For a full-scale test, Adam and Jamie set a platform at the bomb range and mounted three toilets on it with common piping. To see if the fuse would have kept burning after the flush, they made a bomb of their own with a long fuse, placed it in a bucket of water, and lit the fuse. The gunpowder in the fuse allowed it to keep burning underwater, and the bomb exploded and shattered the bucket.

With the pipes clogged, Adam and Jamie placed a bomb at the midpoint of the initial shared outlet pipe for the system and set it off. The explosion blew all three toilets off their mountings, which were not strong enough to withstand the force of the blast. A second test, with the toilets bolted directly to the piping and the bomb repositioned to the lowest point in the system, led to the same result and partially/completely destroyed them. Since they could not match the geysers of water seen in the episode, Adam and Jamie judged the myth busted.

Adam and Jamie then constructed a mockup of the temple chamber and adjusted the time delay between triggering the plate and firing the gun to match that seen in the film (1 second). After further troubleshooting, Adam donned protective padding and ran across the chamber, matching Indy's running posture and speed. He was able to stay well ahead of the shots with the 1-second delay; when it was reduced to almost zero, he did take one hit. He and Jamie judged the myth to be plausible due to the fictionalized nature of the scenario.

Realizing that the space between the plank and the barrel wall allowed the combustion gases to escape, Adam machined a plastic plug to fit onto the end and seal the breech. The next test barely pushed the plank free of the cannon. Jamie then pumped oxygen into the breech along with the propane in an attempt to raise the explosion pressure. The first test with this mixture launched the plank across the workshop at high speed, but also split the cannon along its length. After patching it together, they tried several other propane/oxygen ratios but were unable to get a satisfactory launch.

Declaring the myth busted at this point, they traveled to an abandoned lumber yard and gave themselves one hour to build a workable board launcher from tools and supplies on hand. They built a device similar to a baseball pitching machine, using an air-powered torque wrench to spin a trailer wheel at high speed and hurl boards fed to it from an ammunition hopper. With the rig mounted on a swiveling/tilting carriage carried by a forklift, they were able to hit a group of pop-up targets arranged as they were in the scene and achieve projectile speeds near 60 miles per hour (97 km/h).

They then dug a trench and covered it with metal plates and dirt to create a sewer with a manhole. One end was left open to the atmosphere in order to replicate an actual sewer system with areas for gases to expand. They set the dynamite just below the surface of the open manhole, put the cover in place, and placed a second car directly above it, with Buster and the bystanders positioned as before. This time, the blast briefly lifted the car into the air and inflicted much less damage than in the control test. Buster and the bystanders experienced pressures of 9 pounds per square inch (62 kPa) and 11 pounds per square inch (76 kPa), respectively, both survivable with minor injuries. Adam and Jamie decided that the myth was plausible.

Adam and Jamie each ran the level twice, stopping to pick up all items along the way and attacking the enemies. For the first run, they discarded the weapon they were carrying once they found a new one; for the second, they had to carry everything they picked up throughout the level. Jamie went first, achieving a time of 5:53 for his first run, while Adam did the same in 5:38. Their respective times on the second run were 11:59 and 10:17, with the increased weight and bulk of the items slowing them down greatly through the latter part of the level.

Adam and Jamie then brought in professional mixed martial arts fighter Brendan Schaub to run the level, as they considered him to be a better real-world analog of the character controlled by the player in the game. His run times showed little difference (4:00 when discarding weapons, 4:03 while carrying them all), prompting them to declare the myth plausible as long as the person involved is in excellent physical shape.

Adam achieved 30 hits in 60 seconds on his first try. However, Jamie observed that the jugglers failed to match the game's throw rate and also sent some of their throws outside Adam's effective range. A second trial closer to the in-game conditions yielded 55 hits. The myth was declared busted at this point, due to the real fruit being smaller and accelerating faster due to gravity than the in-game ones. In addition, only the edge of the katana could inflict a slice; when Jamie repeated the test with a chainsaw, he was able to score many more hits than Adam.

MythBusters 2CV motocycle

Adam and Jamie found a 1967 Citroën 2CV, the car at the center of the story, and drove it to a landfill in Kirby Canyon, California. Within 60 minutes, they had stripped it down to its wheels and undercarriage with little effort. They removed the wheels, mounted one directly to the engine's output shaft, and attached the other one to the center of the rear end. Since this arrangement would cause the engine wheel to rotate backwards, the rear end became the motorcycle's front end.

They added steering and suspension systems and fitted the engine with controls, including a hand-operated throttle. In preliminary tests, Jamie drove while Adam jogged alongside to shift gears and apply the brakes. They were unable to travel any significant distance, leading them to decide that their design was not suited for traveling long distances due to difficult steering and poor weight distribution.

At the shop, they studied a set of photographs that purported to show the actual design used by the man in the story and set out to replicate it. This second design incorporated a tiller for steering and turned the engine around, placing it between the front and rear wheels; however, this configuration only allowed the use of reverse gear to move forward. Using power tools to speed up the work, they completed the vehicle and took it to a runway for testing. Both Adam and Jamie found that the reverse gear ran so slowly that the vehicle could barely stay upright, and they could not drive more than 150 feet (46 m) before tipping over. They deemed the myth busted, commenting that a loss of balance or a snagged body part or article of clothing could lead to severe injury.

The Aqua Bike made by Jamie

After examining the photographs, Adam attached paddles to the rear wheel of a bicycle and built a frame to hold eight jugs as pontoons. He also added a locking mechanism to keep the jugs clear of the ground when riding on land. At a swimming pool, he was able to steer the bike on the water and achieve a satisfactory speed, even repairing a slipped chain without dismounting, but a sudden flip left him unable to right himself.

Jamie then built a bicycle of his own, with more paddles on the rear wheel, an electric crankshaft to lower it into the water, and steel pontoons designed to reduce water resistance and increase stability. An initial test failed due to a leaking pontoon; after fixing this problem, he and Adam held a race on a lake. Starting from the shore, they had to set their bicycles up for water travel, then pedal out to a buoy and back. The race showed that the original design could be converted for use in the water more quickly, but Jamie's design moved through the water far more effectively and Jamie won handily. However, he and Adam considered the myth to be confirmed since the original design still worked as depicted.

At a different location, Adam and Jamie set up a course to test their time in 90-degree and 180-degree turns. Driving at 45 miles per hour (72 km/h), they were to make each turn as quickly as possible using both drifting and non-drifting techniques. Adam hit the barricades on his first several attempts, but eventually achieved a time of 4 seconds for both drift and non-drift. Jamie recorded 4 seconds on his non-drift run, but repeatedly hit barricades on his drift runs and caused increasing amounts of damage to the car. From this point on, he performed only the non-drift trials while Adam carried out the drifting. In a 180-degree turn, their best times were 8 seconds (Jamie) and 9 seconds (Adam).

Next they set up a road driving course with assorted twists and turns, and each drove several laps to achieve the best time possible. Jamie's fastest time was 1:54.50; after several laps with mistakes, Adam posted an identical error-free time. Finally, Conrad ran the course in 2:00, leading Adam and Jamie to call the myth busted, with Adam commenting that Conrad's time was longer than his owing to Conrad's more refined technique (thus demonstrating the real effect that safe drifting would actually have).

They then replaced the cones with actual cars and shortened the space to 18 feet (5.5 m) to simulate a real-world scenario. Adam, outfitted in racing protective equipment, repeatedly hit one or both cars when he tried to drift into the space. He failed again with a limousine, hitting and eventually destroying the foam cutouts that were put in place of the cars to avoid any damage. Conrad then drifted the limousine into the space without hitting the curb or the cutouts, prompting Adam and Jamie to classify the myth as plausible.

For a full-scale test, they set a 51 ft (16 m), 48,000 lb (22,000 kg) steel-hulled boat on a quarry lake, anchored to the shore to keep it in place. An explosive charge of 1,000 pounds (450 kg) ANFO was hung underneath the boat at a depth of 30 feet (9.1 m), half the total depth of the lake, and 1,500 pounds (680 kg) sand was added to ensure that the charge would not float to the surface. The detonation system failed on the first attempt; after it was replaced, the ANFO charge blew the boat to pieces. Adam and Jamie judged the myth as busted, and Jamie commented that the explosion created a bubble of gas that expanded with enough force to tear the boat apart rather than lift it.

At the workshop, they examined the scene to determine the components of Walter’s mounting/triggering system and set out to replicate it as closely as possible. The swiveling mount had a garage door opener at its core; Jamie disabled its safety mechanisms so that the motor would run without stopping, and Adam added a gear and bicycle chain to reduce the swiveling speed. Even though this modification was not part of the scene, Adam reasoned that Walter might have been able to include it if necessary, using readily available parts.

Returning to the firing range, they mounted the M60 in a car trunk and placed it in front of a wall constructed to match the stucco front of the house in the scene. Plywood silhouette targets were placed behind the wall, one lying down to represent Walter, the others standing up as his enemies. After preliminary tests and fine-tuning with both no ammunition and blanks, they loaded 200 rounds and set the weapon to full auto, with Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan present to witness the final test. The weapon malfunctioned and did not fire on the first two attempts, but did fire on the third; all of the standing targets were hit multiple times, while “Walter” did not suffer any damage. The myth was deemed plausible, and Vince commented on two results of the test. First, the pattern of bullet holes produced was very different from the one simulated by Breaking Bad's production crew; second, the vertical vibrations of the mounting system made it very likely that Walter would have been struck by a bullet while lying on the floor, as happened in the episode.

As the plane flew a practice mission to a maximum altitude of 70,000 feet (21,000 m), Adam commented on the crew’s activities during all phases of the flight. During the landing, the pilot’s limited visibility required a second pilot to follow him in a chase car and talk him down, with Jamie riding along. Due to the difficulties associated with the specialized purpose for which the plane was designed and built, Adam and Jamie classified the myth as plausible and “Ultra-Cool.”

For a final test, Jamie had one of the camera operators pilot an eight-propeller craft he had built to hold a video camera. It fell to the floor upon striking the neck, but the blades (made of carbon-fiber instead of the plastic used in the store-bought models) cut into one of the veins. He and Adam declared the myth plausible, noting that while small store-bought models are designed with safety in mind, larger custom-built models can pose a real danger.

At the workshop, they removed the gasoline engine from a mower and replaced it with an electric motor whose speed they could control. They mounted the mower on a thick sheet of acrylic plastic, tilted it backwards, brought the motor up to speed, and lowered it onto the rocks. The blades cut the rocks to pieces and threw them in all directions, with a maximum speed of 400 feet per second (120 m/s). For comparison, Jamie returned to the firing range and fired bullets of various calibers, measuring speeds between 1,000 feet per second (300 m/s) and 1,400 feet per second (430 m/s).

Since the rocks had more mass than the bullets, Adam and Jamie decided to investigate the relative energy carried by each. They built a ballistic pendulum to measure the energy, based on how far the pendulum swung up after being struck by a projectile. A test with a .357 Magnum round gave an angle of 60 degrees; with a rock fired from an air cannon at 400 feet per second (120 m/s), the pendulum swung 66 degrees. Since this result meant that the rock was delivering more energy than the bullet, Adam and Jamie declared the myth confirmed.

Jamie then decided to build what he described as the “Lawnmower from Hell,” using a 200-horsepower (150 kW) motor and a 50-pound (23 kg) blade spinning at 5,000 rpm. After he tested it by running over a bucket of water and shredding it, Adam set up a course of other objects, including rocks, wooden pallets, and metal debris. However, as soon as Jamie hit the first obstacle—a group of watermelons—the blade broke loose and spun across the grass. He and Adam decided not to test the mower any further until they could improve its reliability.

After their first test resulted in a miss due to the pane drifting off target, Adam designed a guide system to bring it down accurately. Once the system was installed, a second test led to a direct hit but inflicted only crushing injuries on the dummy. When they switched to a pane of plate glass that they had broken to give a sharp edge, the impact cut the dummy into two pieces. Adam and Jamie noted that tempered glass is designed to fracture into small pieces when broken, while plate glass can shatter into dangerous shards; however, being hit by a pane of either type would still lead to fatal injuries. They classified the myth as busted for tempered glass (used in modern office buildings), but plausible for plate glass.

Feeling that the course lacked realism (due to the lack of traffic) and that they weren't representative of someone with average driving skills, Adam and Jamie set up additional testing in a driving simulator at Stanford University's Automotive Innovation facility, with the help of 30 volunteers (15 for each technique). Only 1 volunteer for each technique successfully completed the run, and the others failed at a near-identical ratio across techniques of getting lost-to-crashing. Additionally, an eye-tracking system used to measure the distraction of the volunteers quantitatively showed that drivers looked away from the road for an identical amount of time regardless of technique. With an overwhelming amount of evidence showing no difference between hands-full and hands-free, Adam and Jamie declared the myth confirmed.

Adam set up a full-size cutout of himself to move via remote control on a track that ran behind a wall. One man remotely controlled the target’s motion, while the other fired. For the first test, the target was moved at a consistent walking speed behind the wall, and one shot was allowed; both Adam and Jamie were able to score a hit. In a second test, the target was equipped with a speaker that broadcast the sound of footsteps, and the shooter was given three shots as it moved back and forth. Neither Adam nor Jamie was able to hit it under these conditions.

For a final test, they traveled to Mare Island Naval Shipyard and set up a labyrinth of rooms with paper walls. Armed with paintball guns, they were allowed a maximum of 8 shots each per trial; the first to hit the other was the winner. Jamie beat Adam twice, using a combination of briefly glimpsing Adam through the doorways, predicting his movements, and listening for his approach. Based on both these results and the firing range tests, they classified the myth as confirmed.

To determine whether the bullets could be aimed accurately and remain lethal, Jamie built a metal hand to hold the rounds, covered it with a leather glove, and calibrated its grip strength to match force data supplied by Adam. Returning to the bomb range, they set up the hand to hold one round and aimed a blowtorch flame at the base. After the flame blew out in the first trials, they changed torch heads to produce a more concentrated flame and were able to set off the round within 10 seconds. However, the bullet speed was only 120 feet per second (37 m/s), due to the lack of a gun barrel to focus the pressure of the expanding gases in a single direction.

When they repeated the test with a ballistic gelatin dummy placed directly in front of the hand, the bullet struck the chest, but embedded itself very shallowly. Based on the long time and high heat needed to set the cartridge off and the minimal injury inflicted, they declared the myth busted.

When they played the same four holes as in the control test, Adam scored 33 (a 10-stroke improvement), but Jamie’s score fell only two strokes to 45. Analysis of their swings before and after training revealed that Adam had learned much more than Jamie about the technical aspects of the swing. These two sets of results led them to classify the myth as busted.

Naming the shark Brewster, they placed it in a quarry pond and set a scuba tank containing 80 cubic feet (2,300 L) of air at 3,000 pounds per square inch (21,000 kPa) in its mouth. The bottom of the tank faced outward, and Adam shot it with a .30-06 rifle from 110 feet (34 m), to match the movie scene. Although the bullet punctured the tank, the air release drove it only a few feet down the gullet; it did not enter the esophagus, and Adam and Jamie reasoned that the shark might be able to expel it.

For their second test, they investigated the effect of a grazing impact, thinking that it could create a weak spot in the tank wall and lead to an explosion. Adam fired six shots at the side of the tank, all of which ricocheted away without effect; a seventh shot, with a .30-06 armor-piercing round, gave the same result. When Jamie shot the tank bottom with a .50 sniper rifle, it punctured and was propelled into Brewster’s body, bursting out near the tail. Another shot, to the side of the tank, also failed to burst it. Declaring the myth busted, they fitted a tank with a small charge of C-4 and set it off in Brewster’s mouth; the tank exploded with enough force to tear the head off and shred the body with shrapnel.

They repeated the test in a different location, with Jamie and the underwater camera crew feeding the sharks to bring them to the edge of a frenzy. When he released the repellent, they quickly fled the area and did not begin to return for nearly 5 minutes. Adam and Jamie judged the myth as confirmed, and Adam noted that the repellent had not been made from any of the shark species observed in either test.

They set up a replica of a Rebel ship passageway, 40 feet (12 m) long, with the launcher mounted in a stand and firing from one end to the other. When they test-fired on a Stormtrooper mannequin, they found the shots hitting far off target, suggesting a problem with the mass-produced shafts and feathers. Jamie replaced these with two wooden ice cream spoons, crossed to make the ball spin in flight, and was able to hit the mannequin consistently. Each man fired three shots at the other and hit him every time.

In a second trial, the shooter held the launcher in a “carry” position, with the barrel lowered, and had to raise it to firing position before each shot. Even with this change, neither Adam nor Jamie was able to dodge any of the shots. They classified the myth as busted, but watched as fencing expert Colby Boothman successfully deflected some shots with a bamboo sword, noting that a Jedi knight could possibly protect himself with his lightsaber.

They then set one platform higher than the other and fought 25 more duels, with Adam on the high platform. As the duels progressed, Jamie began to score wins by blocking Adam’s attacks and striking at his ankles. Although Adam won 14-11, he and Jamie did not consider their results to be conclusive because neither man had any experience with swordfighting.

After a training session with Colby, they built a set to re-create the conditions of the duel, including a ramp with an uneven surface to match the incline on which Obi-Wan and Anakin fought. They fought 50 duels, with each man taking the high ground for 25; overall, the high man won 24 times, the low man 26. Since the results for the two positions were so evenly matched, Adam and Jamie judged the myth as busted.