| Bgcolour: |
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| Network: | Discovery Channel |
| Num Episodes: | 20 (includes 8 specials) |
| Prev Season: | 2007 season |
| Next Season: | 2009 season |
| Episode List: | List of MythBusters episodes |
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).
| No. in series | No. in season | Title | Original air date | Overall episode No. |
|---|
The MythBusters test various myths inspired by scenes in several James Bond movies.
The MythBusters, having already put the concrete glider through its paces, test another flight idiom.
| Myth statement | Status | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cockroaches can survive the radiation of a nuclear holocaust and then inherit the Earth. | Busted | To test the myth thoroughly, the Build Team obtained three different kinds of insects—cockroaches, flour beetles, and fruit flies—and exposed them to varying amounts of cobalt-60 radiation. They then observed the insects for the next thirty days to see how many would survive after exposure. Surprisingly, the flies and beetles performed much better than the cockroaches, with the beetles being the only insects able to survive the most lethal dose of radiation the Build Team used. | |
| Cockroaches could survive a flood much longer than humans. | Confirmed | In an experiment shown only on the website, the Build Team placed five German cockroaches in separate containers, which were each filled with water, and let sit for 30 minutes. When released, the cockroaches were not moving. However, after waiting a day, the cockroaches had revived. This was explained by the fact that the insects do not need as much oxygen as humans so that they can survive underwater longer. |
Though this is not actually a myth, the Build Team decided to test why James Bond prefers his martinis "shaken, not stirred."
On the MythBusters fansite, the Build Team tested another short myth.
| Myth statement | Status | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| A person can make a working two-seater ultralight plane out of makeshift materials. | Busted | Taking footage from the show, the Build Team built an ultralight plane out of bamboo, duct tape, trash bags, and a cement mixer engine. The show depicted the plane MacGyver built as not being powerful enough to achieve flight on its own, but it was able to attain enough lift to sustain powered flight after taxiing off a cliff. With their plane complete, the Build Team added remote controls and took the plane to a quarry that had flat, level ground and a 150feet cliff. While they demonstrated that the plane's engine had enough power to move the plane, it was not enough to achieve flight and the plane plummeted straight to the ground. | |
| An ultralight plane can make a safe landing while gliding. (This test is shown only on the website.) | Confirmed | Kari demonstrated that even without engine power, an ultralight plane can stay in the air long enough for the pilot to safely land. | |
| An ultralight plane can keep sustained flight with a 9hp engine. (This test is shown only on the website.) | Busted | Grant demonstrated that is not enough power to keep a plane in the air, as the test showed that the plane was dropping 200feet per minute. |
Adam and Jamie were put under a battery of tests to prove that they could match MacGyver's ingenuity. They were not necessarily testing these myths to bust or confirm them but to see whether they had the smarts and the ability to make them work without any preparation. In each test, Adam and Jamie had a one-hour time limit and could use only the materials that they were provided by Tory and Grant.
| Task | Status | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Picking a lock by using lightbulb filaments. | Pass | While the show had MacGyver picking the lock in just 52 seconds, it took the MythBusters 52 minutes to pick the lock. | |
| Developing film with ordinary household chemicals such as ammonia and orange juice. | Fail | Both Adam and Jamie were placed in a room that had multiple household chemicals that included the necessary ones to develop photos. While Adam did have some experience in developing photos and could remember the necessary ingredients, he could not remember the exact process and the MythBusters were unable to develop the photos within the given time limit. (The proper technique to develop film this way is to soak the film in orange juice for 10 minutes and then wash it with ammonia as a fixer, all without exposing the film to light.) | |
| Creating a makeshift magnetic compass. | Pass | Adam and Jamie built a makeshift electromagnet by wrapping wire around a metal screw and connecting it to some batteries. They then used the electromagnet to magnetize a paperclip, put the paperclip in a cork, and floated the cork in a cup of water to create a compass. While it was not perfect, it was good enough to direct the MythBusters to their next objective. | |
| Creating a makeshift device that can go 100feet into the air and attract the attention of a passing helicopter. | Pass | Using materials found at an improvised "rebel camp," the MythBusters were left to try to create some kind of signal that would be visible 100feet in the air. Tory and Grant originally intended for Adam and Jamie to build a potato cannon and left the requisite materials, but the MythBusters had different ideas. They used a tarp, a PVC pipe, and a rope to create a large kite, and though it took several failed attempts, they were able to get it to fly at a height of 100feet within minutes of the time limit expiring. |
In the weeks before the broadcast of the MacGyver special, the MythBusters were advertising this special by using the following mini myths.
| Myth statement | Status | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Someone can break a lightbulb by spraying it with drain cleaner. | Confirmed | The spray caused a thermal shock to the hot glass of the lamp, making it break. | |
| You can repair a blown fuse by wrapping it in a gum wrapper. | Confirmed | Adam demonstrated that this is possible. | |
| You can fix an acid leak with chocolate. | Confirmed | Kari and Grant showed that this myth is true. The chemicals and sugars in chocolate neutralize the acid. |
The MythBusters went to Alaska as part of the Discovery Channel's Alaska Week.[1]
This was a double-length episode for Shark Week 2008 in which seven myths were tested.
The myth was said to be borne out of claims from several survivors of the sinking of the .
This was a web-exclusive mini myth that Kari, Grant, and Tory tested.
This episode was announced by "This Week at NASA" on NASA TV on February 8, 2008.[3] "The Marshall Space Flight Center hosted the MythBusters television show. The MythBusters chose Marshall as one of several NASA locations for an episode to debunk the notion that NASA never landed on the Moon. The cast conducted tests involving a feather, a weight, a lunar soil boot print, and a flag in a vacuum. A team of Marshall scientists helped with the tests."
See also: Third-party evidence for Apollo Moon landings.
| Myth statement | Status | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| One of the NASA photos is fake because the shadows of the rocks and lunar lander are not parallel. | Busted | The MythBusters built a small-scale replica of the lunar landing site with a flat surface and a single distant spotlight to represent the Sun. They took a photo, and all the shadows in the photo were parallel, as the myth proposed. The MythBusters then adjusted the topography of the model surface to include a slight hill around the location of the near rocks so the shadows fell on a slope instead of a flat surface. The resulting photograph had the same shadow directions as the original NASA photograph from Apollo 14. | |
| One of the NASA photos is fake because Buzz Aldrin can be clearly seen while in the shadow of the lunar lander. | Busted | To test this, the MythBusters built a much larger scale (1:6) replica of the landing site, including a dust surface with a color and albedo similar to lunar soil. The MythBusters then took a photograph that was nearly identical to the original NASA photo from Apollo 11. The MythBusters explained that the astronaut was visible because of light being reflected off the Moon's surface. |
In order to test these myths, the Build Team made a trip to the Marshall Space Flight Center to use one of their specialized vacuum chambers. The hammer and feather demonstration was not aired in the original episode due to time constraints, but it can be seen as a supplement on the MythBusters website.
| Myth statement | Status | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Footage of the American flag planted on the Moon shows it flapping, and a flag cannot flap in a vacuum, so it could not have been filmed on the Moon. | Busted | The Build Team placed a replica of the American flag planted on the Moon into the vacuum chamber. They manipulated the flag in a manner similar to what the astronauts did when they planted the flag on the Moon, then stopped the manipulation. They first tested at normal pressure; the momentum moved the flag around somewhat but quickly dissipated. In pure vacuum conditions, after the manipulation stopped, the momentum caused the flag to flap wildly as if it were being blown by a breeze. This is because there was no resistance from air to dampen the motion. This proved that in a vacuum, a flag does not need wind to flap for a while after a person sets it in motion. | |
| A clear footprint cannot be made in a vacuum, because there is no moisture to hold its shape. | Busted | The Build Team first tested whether dry sand or wet sand made a more distinguishable footprint by stepping in them with an astronaut boot. It was clear that the wet footprint had more detail than the dry footprint. They then placed sand similar in composition to the soil on the Moon in a vacuum chamber and stepped on it with an astronaut boot, which made a clear print. The reason for this is that the composition of lunar soil differs from terrestrial sand, meaning it behaves differently when stepped on. Terrestrial soil is weathered and rounded, so the particles do not support each other's weight very well. Lunar soil, because it is not weathered, has a more jagged texture, so the particles "lock" with each other and will hold the shape of the imprint much more clearly. | |
| In a vacuum, a feather and a hammer will drop at the same rate and hit the ground at the same time. | Confirmed | Kari first dropped a hammer and feather at atmospheric pressure, showing that air resistance caused the feather to fall more slowly than the hammer. However, when the test was repeated in the vacuum chamber, the hammer and feather fell at the same rate. |
Despite the fact that most of the myths tested in this episode were confirmed, the MythBusters warned that not all viral videos are what they appear. They posted their version of the hoax Rubik's Cube viral videos online that showed Adam solving a Rubik's Cube with his feet while Jamie solved one blindfolded. In reality, they started with solved cubes and just manipulated them randomly. They then ran the footage backwards in order to give the illusion that they solved the puzzles. The illusion was partially achieved by having a crewmember walk backwards in the background so he would appear to walk normally in the final video.
This was a myth based on a video posted on the YouTube website (it was this video created by the user Household Hacker). This myth was cut for time, which was why it was not shown in the actual episode. It was instead posted as a supplement on the MythBusters website.
| Myth statement | Status | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| It is impossible to separate two phonebooks interleaved page-to-page due to the massive amount of friction between the 800 pages of each book. | Partly busted | The MythBusters tried to pull the books apart with human power, first attempting to do so on their own and then bringing in ten other people (which included Tory and Kari in a separate test) to help. These attempts did not succeed, so they hooked up a pair of cars to try to pull the phonebooks apart. However, the books held, and the MythBusters resorted to using the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation's M551 Sheridan light tank and M113 armored personnel carrier, with a combined 650 horsepower, which were finally able to pull the phonebooks apart, but they still did not separate every page. While the myth was busted, the MythBusters pointed out that it took 8,000 pounds (3,600 kg, or about 36,000 N) of force to part the phonebooks; the two cars they used in the testing could have been suspended from ropes connected to the two interleaved books without separating them. | |
| Only a strong man can tear a phonebook in half. | Busted | Adam showed that there is a trick to tearing apart a phonebook. He bent the book into a V separating the pages, tearing them one at a time. |
The Build Team received a request to test whether the final scene in the film Deep Blue Sea, where the protagonists destroy the last shark with a harpoon gun, some gunpowder, and a car battery, was possible. To test these myths, Tory built a replica shark named Hugo out of foam.
| Myth statement | Status | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gunpowder can be set off by a car battery by using seawater to conduct the spark. | Busted | The spark created by the car battery was not powerful enough to be conducted through seawater into the gunpowder. | |
| A harpoon gun is accurate up to 100feet. | Confirmed | Tory was able to hit Hugo accurately in exactly the same spot that was shown in the movie. | |
| Ten flares contain enough black powder for two and a half sticks of dynamite. | Busted | Grant first began by trying to take apart several tube flares, which took far longer than it did in the movie. After measuring the powder, the Build Team calculated that it would take at least 450 flares' worth of gunpowder to equal two and a half sticks of dynamite, instead of the ten shown in the movie. | |
| Two and a half sticks of dynamite will cause a tremendous explosion. | Busted | The Build Team first tested this myth by using a canister with the same dimensions as in the movie, which could hold only 28 grams of powder, which did not even disturb the surface of the water, and caused minimal damage to Hugo. Two and a half sticks of dynamite (681 grams of powder) was enough to blow up Hugo and cause a large explosion but not anywhere near as large as seen in the movie. The Build Team also concluded that the size of the canister needed to contain two and a half sticks of dynamite would make the harpoon too heavy to hit a target 100feet away. Eventually, to produce an explosion of the movie's magnitude, 400lb of TNT was used. | |
| A person can survive a large underwater explosion at a distance of 50feet. | Busted | The Build Team tested this myth by using rigs containing rupture discs that would burst if they were hit with a lethal pressure of 500abbr=onNaNabbr=on. They placed several in varying distances from the explosion, and determined that a person would have to be at least 150feet away in order to have a chance of survival. |
The Build Team tested whether the following fire extinguishers, if thrown into a fire, will explode and put out the fire.
| Myth statement | Status | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| A carbon dioxide fire extinguisher with a safety valve | Busted | The carbon dioxide fire extinguisher did not explode, due to the safety valve, and merely vented its contents harmlessly over a span of fifteen minutes. | |
| A water fire extinguisher | Busted | The water fire extinguisher did better than the carbon dioxide fire extinguisher, but it did not manage to extinguish the flames entirely. | |
| A chemical foam extinguisher | Plausible | The chemical foam extinguisher actually exploded, putting out the fire by scattering the fuel rather than actually extinguishing it. | |
| A carbon dioxide fire extinguisher without a safety valve | Plausible | Like the chemical extinguisher, the carbon dioxide fire extinguisher exploded, putting out the fire by scattering the fuel rather than actually extinguishing it. |
This myth was revisited due to fan complaints that the bow was too close to the arrow-catching rig, so the arrow was traveling faster than it would at a farther distance. Fans also pointed out many people who could catch an arrow on camera and wanted the MythBusters to bring one on the show.
Adam and Jamie tested several alleged methods for sobering up quickly. For each test, one of the co-hosts subjected himself to the remedy while the other did not, and both then traced a line pattern as quickly and accurately as possible. The difference in their performances was taken as the effectiveness of the remedy, although Adam also mentioned at the end of the experiment that their BAC measurements agreed with the differences in their performances as well. They tried to sober up by...
| Myth statement | Status | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ...drinking black coffee. | Busted | Jamie's and Adam's results were about the same, showing no change. | |
| ...exercising vigorously. | Plausible | After running for five minutes on a treadmill, Adam's test had a remarkable improvement over the control test. During the test, Adam slipped and fell off the treadmill, but he was not injured. | |
| ...dunking their heads in ice water. | Busted | The results showed no effect. | |
| ...getting slapped in the face. | Plausible | The results showed a noticeable improvement. |
The hwacha is an ancient rocket launcher built in Korea based on earlier designs of ancient Chinese firearms technology such as the fire arrows that shoots in rapid-fire sequence hundreds of rockets at once. The Build Team tested this weapon in 3 parts.
This is a movie myth based on a scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
The Build Team tested whether or not a person can escape prison (in this case, climbing down the face of the Alameda County Courthouse) by using a rope made out of...
| Myth statement | Status | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ...toilet paper. | Plausible | Tory quickly found that toilet paper itself did not have very strong tensile strength, and he decided to twist the toilet paper into multiple yarns to create rope. After creating the rope, Tory found that it would be strong enough to support his weight. During the actual test, the toilet paper was strong enough to hold his weight, snapping only when he swung on it for a few seconds after the test, but he had difficulty keeping a firm grip on it. However, despite that issue, the Build Team declared the myth plausible. | |
| ...bedsheets. | Confirmed | Grant found that his bedsheet rope was incredibly easy and quick to make in comparison to the toilet paper and hair. Grant then tested his rope and found that the bedsheets were strong enough to hold his weight. During the actual test, Grant successfully managed to climb down the rope (though suffered from a bad case of rope burn in the process). | |
| ...hair. | Plausible | In order to make a rope, Kari braided numerous ponytails and braided them to other braids to create a rope. However, she had trouble getting her hair rope to stay together. Despite initial doubts, Kari managed to successfully climb down the hair rope. However, the Build Team declared the myth plausible since getting the necessary amount of hair to create a rope would be extremely impractical. |
Adam and Jamie take fan requests and determine if the following objects are bulletproof.
| Myth statement | Status | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| A police badge | Plausible | First, a silver star was tested, but the bullet easily penetrated it. A star on a copper shield was tested, but it also failed to stop the bullet. Finally, a star on a nickel shield was tested. It was heavily deformed, but it caught the bullet. | |
| An MP3 player/iPod | Busted | When Adam fired an AK-47, his second shot cleanly penetrated an iPod after his first shot only grazed it. The myth came from a story about a soldier in Iraq who survived when the iPod he was wearing was shot. However, he was also wearing body armor when he got shot. | |
| 3 pizza boxes in a warming bag | Plausible | This myth is based on a story that a pizza delivery boy survived a shotgun blast by holding his warming bag in front of him. Adam and Jamie first fired birdshot at a warming bag containing three pizzas, and it stopped all but six of the pellets. Adam and Jamie then used buckshot, which easily passed through the pizzas. To see how far the buckshot would penetrate, 5 warming bags, each containing 3 pizza boxes, were placed in front of the ballistics gel dummy. Buckshot was fired at it, and the shot made it all the way to pizza 14. | |
| Human fat | Busted | Determining that the largest layer of fat around a human (Walter Hudson) would measure 16inches, Adam and Jamie placed that amount of human-temperature cow fat in front of the dummy. The bullet made it all the way through the fat easily. | |
| Human muscle | Busted | Using the measurements of a man with 3inches pectorals and 11inches biceps, Adam and Jamie placed 14inches of cow muscle in front of the dummy (assuming the man placed his bicep over his pectoral and the bullet passed through them both). The muscle failed to stop the bullet. | |
| A mixture of cornstarch and water known as Oobleck | Busted | Adam reasoned that this mixture's properties as a non-Newtonian liquid might allow it to stop a bullet. However, 6 thin bags full of the liquid failed to stop the bullet from a Glock pistol. | |
| Bathroom tiles covered in a fiber-reinforced gypsum cement | Plausible | Jamie's attempt at a bulletproof material stopped rounds from a 9 mm pistol, a .45 caliber handgun, and buckshot. It failed to halt deer slug or rounds from an M4 Carbine. | |
| A belt buckle (found only on the Discovery Channel website) | Plausible | Although the bullet did pass through the belt buckle, a Deputy Sheriff who had been shot in the belt buckle and survived spoke with Jamie and Adam, saying the bullet caused a large bruise but lodged in his shirt. |