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 myths tested on the show as well as the results of the experiments (the myth is Busted, Plausible, or Confirmed). On March 16, 2011, Discovery Channel announced that the 2011 season would commence airing on April 6, 2011.
Episode overview
Episode 160 – "Mission Impossible Mask" Original air date: April 6, 2011
Mission Impossible Face Off Myth statement Status Notes With a realistic mask and good impersonation skills, a person can fool a security guard into believing he is someone else (based on scenes in the Mission: Impossible TV series and films). Plausible Adam and Jamie visited a special-effects shop to have rubber full-head masks made of themselves, based on photos and measurements of their faces. They then worked with professional acting coach Terry McGovern to learn how to impersonate each other's voice and body language.
Adam and Jamie then donned each other's mask and clothing, with padding as needed to match each other's body shape. They directed six volunteers (who were fans of the show) to approach them, starting from 90 feet and ending at 5 feet, while using an unrelated task to mask the nature of the test. Three worked with "Jamie", three worked with "Adam", and all six quickly detected the deception as soon as the imposter spoke. Six more volunteers then took part in a test in which the disguised hosts did not speak; none of them suspected anything until they came face-to-face with the imposter.
Grant and Kari, both thoroughly familiar with Jamie's appearance and behavior, took part in a similar test, with subtle changes in "Jamie's" wardrobe as distractions. Neither of them identified him as a fake until they were 5 feet away, though Kari expressed some doubt at 70 feet. Adam and Jamie classified the myth as plausible, depending on the circumstances under which the deception is carried out.
Firearms Force Myth statement Status Notes It is possible to knock a dropped gun out of reach by shooting it with another one. Confirmed The Build Team chose three surfaces for testing—a dirt road, asphalt pavement, and a tile floor—and used a typical 9 mm pistol as a target. Grant tested the friction forces on each surface and found that the dirt and asphalt required 1.5 pounds of force to move the pistol, while the tile required 0.5 pounds of force. Using a Glock 9 mm pistol, the team was able to move the target gun a total of 16 feet in all three cases (six shots for dirt, four for asphalt, three for tile). They attributed this result to the effective transfer of kinetic energy from the bullet to the target. It is possible to start a playground merry-go-round spinning by shooting it (inspired by a scene in the film Shoot 'Em Up). Busted The Build Team built a merry-go-round, placed it on a firing range, and found that 8.6 pounds of force were needed to get it to start turning. They then fired weapons at the outer portion of the handrails: a Glock 9 mm pistol, a Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum, and a .45 pistol. None of their shots turned the merry-go-round more than a fraction of an inch, but they did punch holes through the rails. A 12-gauge shotgun loaded with deer slugs gave the same result.
The team added steel plates to the rails in an attempt to stop the bullets and force them to transfer their energy to the merry-go-round. After making this change, they tried another deer slug and managed to turn it by 1.5 inches; a shot from an Armalite AR-50 rifle turned it 8 inches and knocked one of the plates off. At this point, the team declared the myth busted and set about replicating the results, with Tory redesigning the merry-go-round's bearing system to reduce friction and Kari and Grant attaching more bullet-stopping plates. They were finally able to keep the device turning with steady streams of 12-gauge deer slugs and .416 Barrett rifle fire.
Episode 161 – "Blue Ice" Original air date: April 13, 2011
Bourne Magazine Myth statement Status Notes A room filled with flammable gas can be made to explode by placing a magazine in a kitchen toaster and turning it on (based on a scene in the film The Bourne Supremacy). Busted Adam and Jamie began by placing magazines of varying thicknesses in toasters and timing how long they took to catch fire. The thinnest ones, similar to common newsprint or comic books, took roughly 2 minutes to burn rather than the 20–30 seconds observed in the film. Small-scale tests with mixtures of methane and air indicated that a methane level as low as 6% (the bottom end of its flammability range) could trigger a noticeable explosion.
For full-scale testing, they built a replica of Jason Bourne's apartment, as seen in the film, and set up the toaster, magazine, and gas supply. Their first attempt, which exactly replicated the scene from the film, had no effect whatsoever, with the magazine completely burning away well before the gas concentration could reach explosive levels. On their second trial, they placed a firestarter log in the middle of the room and allowed the gas to gradually build up to explosive levels. The mixture did eventually ignite, creating a small explosion that partly blew out a wall and gave way to an intense fire that destroyed most of the furniture. Adam and Jamie declared the myth busted and made one last attempt, using enough methane to achieve a 9% concentration (the center of the flammability range) and a set of fans and diffuser hoses to mix the gas and air thoroughly, before lighting the gas mix with a specialized device. This time, they were able to get one wall to blow out and set the apartment on fire.
Blue Ice
Myth statement Status Notes If the contents of an airplane toilet are jettisoned mid-flight, they can freeze into a solid mass capable of inflicting severe injury upon hitting the ground. Confirmed Kari spoke with an airplane technician and learned that although a pilot cannot dump the toilet mid-flight, the contents can leak out if certain valves and seals fail. The Build Team put together a section of a plane fuselage with a toilet outlet designed to suffer a slow or sudden leak as needed.
Grant and Tory visited a NASA research center and placed the rig in a tunnel designed to replicate the high wind speeds and cold temperatures typical of airplane cruising altitudes. When the toilet was dumped all at once, the liquid quickly atomized in the wind, leaving only a thin film to freeze on the fuselage. However, a slow leak allowed the ice to build up into a large mass that did not break loose until the rig "descended" to 12,000 feet.
To determine the ability of such a chunk to survive a fall to earth, Kari and a skydiver flew up to that altitude, threw a 35-pound ice block out of the plane, and jumped out after it as Grant and Tory tracked it from the ground. The block did not suffer any significant melting or damage during the fall or impact, prompting the team to declare the myth confirmed but unlikely due to the number of safeguards that would need to fail simultaneously to achieve the result.
Episode 162 – "Running on Water" Original air date: April 20, 2011
Running on Water Myth statement Status Notes It is possible to run across the surface of a body of water through a combination of footwear and running technique (inspired by a viral video). Busted Adam and Jamie found a lake similar to the one shown in the video and laid a strip of turf to its edge in order to ensure good traction. Wearing the same type of water-repellent shoes, they each made several runs but wound up in the water each time. They brought in Olympic sprinter Wallace Spearmon, thinking that increased speed would help, but he also failed.
After studying film footage of a basilisk running on water, Adam and Jamie decided to build separate footwear rigs to duplicate its leg movements. They called in Jessica Fortunato, a trained acrobat and gymnast, and had her try the rigs: Adam's with hinged foot platforms and a long tail, and Jamie's with concave foot cups and an outrigger frame held in front. She was unable to stay above water, whether unaided or using either of the rigs.
At this point, Adam and Jamie declared the myth busted and built a submersible bridge to replicate the results. After camouflaging it and setting up the camera at a particular angle, both were able to run across the surface until they went off the end of the bridge.
What Is Bombproof? The Build Team investigated the ability of everyday objects to reduce the likelihood of injury or death from an explosion. They began by detonating a charge of C-4, with rupture disks at various distances set to burst at (injury) and (instant death). Distances of were found to be the thresholds of the death and injury zones, respectively, due to the blast shock wave.
For each object tested, the team placed it at 10 and 20 feet, with rupture disks and a foam-cutout figure (to gauge shrapnel injuries) protected by it. They evaluated the question of surviving the shock wave by taking cover behind...
Myth statement Status Notes ...a wooden table. Confirmed The tables were placed on their sides, facing the blast, and the disks and figures were set behind them. Both figures were broken in the blast. The table was destroyed, but the disks did not burst. At , the table was heavily damaged; the "injury" disk did not burst, but it did buckle noticeably. The team noted that shrapnel from the splintered table might cause injury or death independently of the shock wave. ...a car. Confirmed The cars were placed to present one side toward the blast, with the disks and figures behind the front end. No injury was noted at 20 feet, while only the "injury" disk burst at 10 feet. ...a metal dumpster. Confirmed The disks and figures were placed inside the dumpsters. The team observed the same results as for the car and noted that the side toward the blast showed some deformation. ...a cinderblock wall. Confirmed Since the team had only enough time and materials to build one wall, they moved the blast site as needed to achieve the 10- and 20-foot distances. The 20-foot test was performed first; the wall stood, and the disk deformed but did not burst. After the wall was repaired, the 10-foot blast collapsed it and crushed the figure. However, the disks remained intact.
Episode 163 – "Bubble Trouble" Original air date: April 27, 2011
Bubble Trouble Myth statement Status Notes It is impossible to swim in bubbling water. Plausible In a small-scale test, Adam built a crude hydrometer, weighted to float at a certain height, and placed it in a fishtank full of water. The device did not sink when he bubbled air in, but he and Jamie thought that this was the result of upward water currents. Jamie then built a larger bubbler to place in the 10,000-gallon tank used in the "Whirlpool of Death" myth, and Adam donned a wetsuit and carried enough weights to leave only his head above the surface. When the bubbler was turned on, the upwelling pushed him to one side, where he sank in a downward current.
In order to eliminate these wall effects, Adam and Jamie built a 4-by-16-foot bubbler to place at the bottom of a swimming pool. After they added weights to keep the rig from floating up, Adam tried to swim across the pool and back through the bubbles. The trip proved difficult at 25% power and impossible at 100%. Adam and Jamie classified the myth as plausible but for a different reason from the one expected—water currents holding the swimmer at the surface, rather than a density reduction causing him/her to sink.
Dynamite Axe