Ask The Mythbusters 1435
Who are the Mythbusters? Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman are the hosts of a unique and popular television show on the Discovery cable channel. Working from a background in the special effects industry and shooting on location at effects warehouse M5 Industries, Jamie and Adam attempt to shed light on hearsay, rumour, and myth. Along the way they usually run across a little bit of science, too. Today, you have a chance to put questions to them. We'll take the 15 best questions and pass them on to the gentlemen to be answered sometime soon after the Thanksgiving holiday. One question per comment, please, and keep things topical. We'll post their responses as soon as we get them back, so ask away.
Favorites (Score:5, Interesting)
What is your favorite Busted Myth and your favorite Confirmed one?
I have a question for the Mythbusters. (Score:5, Funny)
Never mind then...oh, and great show!
Re:Favorites (Score:5, Interesting)
Are there any myths that the network won't let you have a crack at?
Re:Favorites (Score:5, Insightful)
Safety versus Ratings (Score:5, Interesting)
Your memory is faulty (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Your memory is faulty (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Favorites (Score:4, Funny)
I remember watching that being done on UK TV as a kid in the 70s. I wasn't that impressed, because the glass didn't shatter violently and spectactularly, like it would have done if Murdoch off the A Team had shot it with an AK-47 in a bar raid on local moonshine suppliers.
I don't know what that says about me, and I don't much care to ask.
Re:Favorites (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Favorites (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2005-10-22-d
Re:Favorites (Score:5, Informative)
In this case the myth was that Arcamedies had an army of soliders with highly polished shields. On command the soliders directed the sunlight at the advancing ships. And burned to dust an entire fleet. No not one boat, but an entire advancing fleet.
This myth was quickly busted from the inital tests showing the diffcutly of having multiple people align thier mirrors in one spot.
Next they tested the 2nd myth which was similar claiming that arcamedies had a device with mirrors mounted to it which he used to direct the sunlight. As both mythbusters and MIT discovered, while possible to ignite or create smoke on an ship you have serious issues with mirror alignment and the movement of the sun. While it may be probale that a device like this was in fact constructed and even probable that it was used and may have even torched or at least set to flame one ship (ignoring factors like wet hulls, and having ideal conditions). The chances of someone even today taking out an entire fleet of advancing ships which would likely be spread across miles of shore line is so unlikely that it borders on completly impossible if not impossible.
Thus the myth was busted.
Often times people tend to forget what the myth actually was by the time they are at the end of the show. This was a problem with the eariler shows and if you notice in later shows the format is changed up a bit where they re-hash and re-explain the myth as well as why it was busted. To prevent this very problem.
Your show is great fun to watch and all, but... (Score:5, Interesting)
This happens all the time (Score:5, Interesting)
The same episode also had them surprised that a finger in the barrel of a gun, even though it couldn't stop the bullet, would actually cause enough pressure buildup to deform the gun barrel at the tip.
Neil
Re:This happens all the time (Score:4, Informative)
My understanding is that when you keep the tailgate up it creates a high pressure bubble that forces the air over the bed of your truck. When the gate is down, the air swirls behind the cab and the resulting turbulence creates drag. The drag caused by the tailgate itself is less than the drag you'd have with no tailgate at all.
Anywho, did they test the effects of having a hard/soft cover for the bed?
Example picture [trucktrend.com] with the tailgate up.
In the end, this is mostly mental a mental exercise for the
Blows Me Away (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, there was that one show where they had they FBI hook them up with several TONS of high powered explosives.
Then they used it to make a cement mixer truck dissappear.
Here's the video [nyud.net] (CoralCDN to the rescue)
That pretty much blew me away.
Re:Your show is great fun to watch and all, but... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Your show is great fun to watch and all, but... (Score:4, Insightful)
I was really surprised by the explanation given as to how the tracer rounds work. Phosphorus tips that ignite due to air friction?? Where did that come from?? When I was in school, the quartermaster in our Cadet Force took apart some tracer rounds to show us how they work. From the outside, they look like regular rounds, but once you pull the bullet from the casing you see that it's a bit longer than a normal bullet. The extra length is a hollow space that's filled with some kind of magnesium compound. When fired, the burning cordite sets fire to it.
The net effect is that the shooter sees the bright magnesium flare at the back of the bullet, rather than the target seeing a burning tip getting bigger. That's not to say that the target wouldn't see the flare anyway, but tracer is mostly used for the shooter's benefit, not to terrify the target...
Houston, we have a busted/confirmed myth (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Houston, we have a busted/confirmed myth (Score:5, Funny)
Migratory Coconuts (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Houston, we have a busted/confirmed myth (Score:5, Funny)
Myths that didn't make it. (Score:5, Interesting)
To expand on that question... (Score:5, Interesting)
What is going on behind the scenes that we don't see on camera to keep all your stunts and myth busting as safe as possible? Also, after seeing you turn a hydrolic lift into a catapult (hoisted up on empty shipping cargo crates, no less), how can a commercial 737 jet be considered unsafe?
Most Challenging Myth (Score:5, Interesting)
Brings to mind my question... (Score:5, Interesting)
Given that you often refer to getting "lots of angry emails" based on the show, why would you agree to do an interview with one of the websites that's frequented by the type of people that generate most of that angry email? Are you hoping that they'll waste time posting comments and that you can let the moderators get rid of them as opposed to your staff?
Oh, and can you get Discovery to show the show at some time other than 9:00PM EST on Wednesdays? I have a commitment then and always have to miss it. (Silly family.)
Injuries (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Injuries (Score:5, Interesting)
Are there any myths that you would like to attempt to prove/disprove, but the risk involved is too great? Specifically, are there any scenarios that you can build sufficient saftey measures around that would allow you to test?
(Love your show, keep up the good work. One of the few things worth watching on Discovery anymore...)
Build Team (Score:3, Interesting)
busting myths mistakenly (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:busting myths mistakenly (Score:5, Interesting)
You'd have to be more uber than me to be able to do it repeatedly, or to hit the arrow on purpose, but I've known people who could hit their own arrow, given a few shots.
If I'd seen them prove that one "busted", I would have been peeved as well. In the era that they're referring to, in England, archery was the only allowed sport...I bet there were some damn ferocious archers, who could do things that modern sport hunters would not be capable of. They bow hunted for birds for christs sake.
Re:busting myths mistakenly (Score:4, Interesting)
While there may be that 1 in a bazillion chance that it would work, all the tests they did showed that it is impossible. The blade of the arrow tip follows the grain in the wood, and unless you have a perfectly straight grain that never hits the edge of the shaft, the arrow will always pop out before it hits the target.
Re:busting myths mistakenly (Score:5, Informative)
The one arrow they were able to somewhat damage, the problem was the arrow split following the wood grain of the shaft. Since all wood arrows have wood grain, they conclude that even if there was a direct tip to nock impact, there wouldn't be a "perfect" split.
Please watch Mythbusters Episode 36 "Killer Tissue Box", which will be re-broadcast Nov. 25, 2005 on the Discovery Channel @ 10am(EST). This is the episode that they "bust" this myth.
ultimate myth? (Score:5, Interesting)
Cool (Score:5, Funny)
I understand completely why you guys warn us to "not try this at home". But who warns you guys?
Ok all joking aside. You guys do some really dangerous stuff on the show. What has been the scariest/ most hair raising moment on the show so far, a time when you might have thought "this is really going to hurt"?
Re:Cool (Score:5, Funny)
upside down car (Score:5, Interesting)
I heard that an F1 racing car has enough downdraft to drive upside down at speed. True or false?
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:upside down car (Score:4, Informative)
AFAIK, that is completely true. Or at least I saw it on some HD show and they said so. It seems completely possible. I just found here http://www.formula1.com/insight/technicalinfo/11/
A modern Formula One car is capable of developing 3.5 g lateral cornering force (three and a half times its own weight) thanks to aerodynamic downforce. That means that, theoretically, at high speeds they could drive upside down.
That is pretty intense, but I don't see how 3.5 g of lateral force translates necessarily to downward force. Lets click on the second google hit. http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/moments/s282081.
A Formula 1 car uses aerodynamics to generate, at full speed, a downforce of 2-and-a-half times its own weight, so that it'll stick to the road really well. At 160 km per hour, they're generating their own weight in downforce - so they could theoretically drive upside down on the roof of a tunnel.
OK, 2.5 downward gs is enough.
I need a more fun job. By those specs, these things are basically a better handling fighter jet that can't go quite as fast, but pretty damn fast.
Fact vs Fun (Score:5, Interesting)
For those of us not of TV-land.. how long does it take for you guys to produce an average episode.. how much of it is fun vs time spent working on getting it right?
Would you consider a contest to have a guest helper? (Not that I am plugging this potential guest helper at all.. no!).
Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)
Is it true? (Score:5, Interesting)
Oh this is an easy one... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Oh this is an easy one... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Oh this is an easy one... (Score:5, Funny)
Idea behind MythBusters. (Score:5, Interesting)
Budget (Score:5, Interesting)
q: (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:q: (Score:4, Informative)
Jamie: I was interviewed a while back about one of the above machines by our current producer. He had the idea for the show, approached me and there you go. I realized that I am a bit too serious and unanimated to carry a show, and recommended Adam and I work as a team. It turned out to be a good idea.
Source - http://www.joe-mammy.com/pages/features/hyneman/h
Impact on the World (Score:5, Interesting)
Gilligan's Island (Score:5, Interesting)
Computer myths? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Computer myths? (Score:5, Funny)
What happens then is the game goes into demo mode. However, that missile is still there, and it kills the demo tank. The game then crashes, as the demo mode code did not expect the demo tank to die.
What happened in our case was the monitor then went freaky, and that distinct smell and smoke that you get when a monitor fries appeared.
We wanted to try this again after it was fixed to see if it was reproduceable, but the owner was against it as none of us could afford to cover the damages if it happened again (we were all poor college students).
Van Eck Phreaking! (Score:5, Interesting)
Could you take on some computer myths?
Oooh, how about Van Eck Phreaking [wikipedia.org]? Not exactly a myth, but wouldn't it be cool?
Would it be allowed even?
zCritique (Score:5, Interesting)
In particular I refer to a show where you were examining fuel mileage on SUVs with windows open vs. air conditioning. As an engineer, I believe that you failed to conduct adequate experimentation to demonstrate anything other than results at a single data point and you didn't make that clear to your viewers.
Source Material (Score:5, Interesting)
To the Mythbusters whom it may concern- (Score:5, Informative)
It seems like it must be tempting to definitively call a myth "busted", even though the reality is that you just couldn't duplicate the results. Whether something is fact or fiction, scientifically a myth probably shouldn't be considered "busted" unless you have empirically show it to be implausable.
You guys generally do a good job of this, though on occasion I've seen an episode where you seemed a little premature. What can you say about where you draw the line, and do you feel like you generally do a good job of following the scientific method to get your results?
Also, can you get me that redhead's phone number?
Kari and Grant (Score:5, Funny)
Strictly speaking ... (Score:5, Interesting)
My question is this: are you taking yourselves too seriously as "myth busters"? (And a suggestion: why not let a physics prof supervise some of your stunts?)
I'll second this! (Score:5, Insightful)
To add to your jet engine example, my biggest gripe was always their "windows down vs. AC" gas-mileage test. All their test could possibly show was that at the one tested speed in the one tested vehicle, that's what happened. Even their retraction and correction later was oversimplified-- they explained that at some point, the speed of a vehicle becomes great enough that the AC wins over the windows-- but they acted like that number is the same for all cars regardless of all the other variables. (engine size, AC design, window size and position, and overall aerodynamic shape, to name a few)
Blasting Zone Myth (Score:5, Interesting)
Myth Creation (Score:4, Interesting)
There is a myth that myths/new words can be created and propagated very easily, such as the famous myth relating to the Dublin origins of the word "Quiz" - similar to memes such as "All your Base" -though you tend to prefer big explosion myths (and I know why!)
So - why not see if you can create a myth (that involves explosions, and bust your own myth, and then confirm the myth of being able to create myths?!
Budget restrictions? (Score:5, Interesting)
What sort of budget limits do you guys have for your show these days? I remember seeing some earlier episodes where money really seemed to be an issue (spending an extra $700 on helium for the weather baloon lawn chair seemed to cause some concern). Whereas these days you guys seem to have no problem blowing up cement trucks or catapulting a boom lift.
As a corollary: Which experiment(s) ran rediculously over budget, and which one was surpirisingly cheap to pull off?
From the Front vs. From Behind (Score:5, Interesting)
Question (Score:5, Interesting)
Myths you cannot do? (Score:5, Interesting)
Are you Scientists or Special Effects Builders? (Score:5, Interesting)
Even with my harsh comments, I'm not disrespecting your show. I have it setup to record on my DVR every week. I mostly enjoy the shows but occasionally your lack of scientific method is maddening. I realize you are probably cutting a lot out for the sake of TV, but could you at least point out that there are some possibilities you aren't testing?
Repeatable Experiments (Score:5, Interesting)
You start every show with "Don't try this at home" but sometimes there are experiments that you do which you could try this at home. Have you ever considered having a show where you say, "DO Try this at home?" Its fun to see my child get such a love of science in such a fun way.
Scientist on staff? (Score:5, Interesting)
Groupies? (Score:3, Interesting)
Different types of myths? (Score:4, Interesting)
Would there be room on your show for phycological behviour myths through the use of a psychologist as example?
M5 Industries (Score:5, Interesting)
Love the Mythbusters (Score:3, Interesting)
Who would you rather have on your team (Score:5, Funny)
Guests on the show (Score:5, Interesting)
Shown vs. Not Shown (Score:5, Interesting)
Has there ever been a segment that you wish had been shown, but didn't make the cut? Conversely, was there a segment that did make the final show that you wish had not been shown?
Forget Mythbusters... (Score:5, Interesting)
- Would you choose to be a Super Hero duo, or a pair of villains, which would you be?
- Would they be original characters, or someone/something that already exists?
- Would you wear tights?
- WHY?
Fans' science (Score:4, Interesting)
Great fan of the show, by the way.
Insurance issues (Score:5, Interesting)
Bloopers! (Score:5, Interesting)
So, barring, that, my question would be, what are your top 5 "oops" incidents that never made it on to the screen?
Bust this myth (Score:4, Funny)
How does it make you feel... (Score:5, Insightful)
working at M5 (Score:5, Interesting)
Do you read Slashdot? (Score:4, Interesting)
Ballistics Gel (Score:5, Funny)
Myths to avoid? (Score:5, Interesting)
REJECTED MYTHS? (Score:5, Interesting)
What are some of the rejected myths that were too dangerous to pull off and why?
BTW - Thank you for having a great show that is both entertaining and educational.
Libility aside.... (Score:5, Interesting)
Which is actually cheaper, soda or ice? (Score:5, Interesting)
Network says "DON'T GO THERE!" (Score:4, Interesting)
Will the new San Francisco gun laws change show? (Score:5, Interesting)
Myth-ing Proof (Score:5, Interesting)
Worst Fallout (Score:5, Interesting)
What Busting has had the most dramatic fallout for companies and people who've relied on the Myth being true?
And while we're out it, how many times have you been sued or threatened with lawsuits?
Previous interview (Score:5, Informative)
Energy drinks (Score:5, Interesting)
Changes in billing and useage of Kari (Score:5, Interesting)
Also my Wife noted "boy they don't really make any bones about using Kari for sex appeal" and not that I mind one bit but I did notice that even before changes in billing and the departure of other female Mythterns, Kari was pretty much like the third host of the show. Were I to guess I'd say her increased useage on the show was Discovery's idea (since the audience is probably mostly male) - is there any concern about using her too much?
Bittorrent (Score:5, Interesting)
How many times... (Score:5, Interesting)
About the 'science' used in the show (Score:5, Interesting)
A particular incident of this which comes to mind was the 'myth' of 'Urinating on the Third Rail', which had been 'Busted' on the show, but which was later refuted by officials from a large city (I believe it was New York) who stated that several people each year are electrocuted by contact with the third rail in their subways, and felt the show had misportrayed the safety hazards of contact with a third rail.
What efforts do you take to ensure that the science of the tests you are performing is valid? Do you have any sort of outside independant review (similar to a scientific peer review process), to ensure that you are not accidentally miseducating the public (either about potential real dangers, or simply by teaching bad science)?
Getting Struck by Lightning while showering.. (Score:4, Interesting)
http://teslamania.delete.org/frames/shrinker.html [delete.org]
And knowing Adam, he'll be giggling like a kid in a candy store when he hears the shrinker fire the first time at 5K Joules.
Cell Phones on Planes (Score:4, Interesting)