Assassin Ice Bullet (Season 1)
A killer, wanting to be particularly surreptitious and not leave behind any evidence, can use a bullet made of ice in order to murder someone.
The delicacy of the bullet meant that it was too breakable to be used.
Assassin Meat Bullet (Season 1)
A killer can get away with murdering someone without leaving any evidence by using a bullet made of meat.
Only a small amount of damage occurred when the meat bullet made contact with the skin and immediately broke apart.
Assassin Gelatin Bullet (Season 1)
A bullet made of gelatin will kill someone and leave behind no evidence.
Too weak to inflict terminal injury, the gelatin bullet could not be used to kill someone.
Assassin Poison Capsule (Season 1)
A capsule of poison can be fired from an umbrella, killing someone without leaving any evidence.
It was found to have been the cause of death for a notable Bulgarian dignitary, Georgi Markov. The catch is that the umbrella must be fired from point-blank range for it to work.
Exploding Toilet (Season 1)
A toilet will explode if gasoline is poured into it and lit on fire.
Buster the dummy was not ejected from his throne by either gasoline or an entire container of gunpowder. The gas just burned slowly.
Who Gets Wetter? (Season 1)
Running through rain will result in you being drier than if you walk.
Subjects who ran faster through rain got wetter than their walking counterparts.
Cell Phone Destruction (Season 1)
Pumping gas whilst on a cell phone can cause an explosion.
If a driver gets in and out of his or her vehicle when talking on the phone, the risk increases. This is due to an electrostatic discharge between the driver and a car. A cell phone that's in good working order is highly unlikely to ignite gasoline.
Silicone Breasts (Season 1)
Silicone breasts are at risk of explosion at points of low air pressure or at very high altitudes.
Silicone implants are very flexible and shouldn't explode under these circumstances.
CD-ROM Shattering (Season 1)
A CD-ROM drive of 40x or faster can shatter a CD.
The MythBusters couldn't shatter a CD using a regular CD-ROM drive. The CD would have to be rotating at over 8,000 RPMs to shatter, and would perhaps have to have undergone some other damage in order to shatter.
Barrel of Bricks (Season 1)
A construction worker working on a building who is using a barrel of bricks as a safety harness counterweight can get thrown upwards and hit the barrel if the barrel falls, then get hit (and this time killed) by the barrel again once it's dropped its bricks.
The barrel only dropped its bricks if it was deliberately weakened.
Peeing on the Third Rail (Season 1)
Relieving oneself on the third rail of an electric train track can cause a subject to be electrocuted.
Because a stream of urine would be broken into droplets before hitting the tracks, electrocution is highly unlikely. If one were very close to the third rail and the stream was unbroken, electrocution could potentially result.
Eelskin Wallet (Season 1)
A wallet made of electric eel skin could de-magnetize credit cards due to a static charge.
The eel-skin wallets were actually made from hagfish, which don't emit an electric change. The cards the MythBusters used weren't affected by the wallet.
Penny Drop (Season 1)
Dropping a penny from a high-rise building can kill a person below or bury itself in the pavement.
Pennies do not have enough mass to penetrate either human flesh or concrete/asphalt, not even when fired from a rifle.
Radio Tooth Fillings (Season 1)
A filling in a tooth can pick up radio signals.
The filling could not pick up any signals.
Deadly Microwaves Tanning Booth (Season 1)
Frequenting a tanning booth too often can cause one's guts to cook.
UV radiation, which is what tanning booths use, will not cook one's innards because the radiation penetrates the outside of the body first. The only thing that will cook is a person's skin.
Deadly Microwaves Cooking Metal (Season 1)
A microwave can be blown up if one attempts to microwave metallic objects.
Metal can indeed wreck a microwave oven. It will arc against the wall of the oven and send electricity to the oven's magnetron, which will destroy it. Other than this, the MythBusters saw that spoons and forks had no effect on the oven, and tinfoil created little more than a fun light show.
Deadly Microwaves Exploding Water (Season 1)
Microwaving a glass of water can result in the glass exploding when it's removed due to gross overheating.
A sample of water that contained no impurities would explode if additives were placed into it after superheating.
Deadly Microwave Drying a Poodle (Season 1)
Putting a poodle in a microwave will dry the dog's fur.
Since this myth would involve impossible amounts of animal cruelty, the team didn't test it and they hope no one else will, either.
Hammer Bridge Drop (Season 1)
Throwing a hammer off a high waterfall will break the surface tension below and mean that a falling human will survive the drop.
The surface tension won't be broken enough to mean that a human could survive a long fall into the water.
Cola Can Remove Bloodstains (Season 1)
Bloodstains can be removed by cola.
The cola was quite effective in removing the bloodstains.
Cola Can Clean Rust (Season 1)
Rust can be removed by using cola.
Rust remained intact, despite the use of cola.
Cola Can Clean Chrome (Season 1)
Chrome can be cleaned with the use of cola.
The cola cleaned the chrome better than the special chrome-cleaning formula that the team used as a control!
Cola Can Dissolve a Tooth Overnight (Season 1)
A tooth will dissolve in a matter of hours if left in a cup of cola.
The cola did begin to eat away at the tooth, although the tooth was not completely dissolved in the short amount of time given. A tooth in an acidic solution that the team used as a control did, however, break down a lot more.
Cola Can Dissolve a Steak (Season 1)
Steak can be dissolved by cola.
The steak did not dissolve at all, but rather, became very unappetizing, squishy, and gross.
Cola Can Clean a Penny (Season 1)
A penny can be cleaned by cola.
The cola was very good at cleaning the penny. The only part of the coin that wasn't cleaned was where a bubble had been sitting.
Cola Can Clean Battery Terminals (Season 1)
Battery terminals can be cleaned by using cola.
Although the terminal ended up clean, it was hard to tell whether the cola cleaned any better than regular water.
Cola Can Remove Greasy Stains (Season 1)
Laundry can be relieved of greasy stains with the use of cola.
The cola did absolutely nothing.
Cola Can Degrease Engines (Season 1)
Engines can be degreased by using cola.
The engines were just as greasy as ever after being treated with cola.
Cola Can Kill Sperm (Season 1)
Sperm can be killed with cola.
After examining sperm in both a saline solution and in cola, the MythBusters and Dr. Tuerk decided that the cola had not killed any sperm, just slightly diluted them.
Surviving Being Buried Alive (Season 1)
Being buried alive doesn't always result in death.
The main risk to the life of a person who's been buried alive is suffocation. Above this, there is a significant risk of the coffin collapsing under the weight of the dirt on top of it. Due to the suffocation risk, however, no one would survive being buried alive for any length of time.
Lightning Strikes Tongue Piercing (Season 1)
The more metallic body jewelry one sports, the more likely one is to be hit by lightning.
Although the lightning appeared to be more drawn to the pierced body, it would take a doorknob-sized piercing to really attract a lightning strike.
The Exploding Tree Cannon (Season 1)
A cannon, made overnight out of a tree, killed a large portion of a Medieval Hungarian town when it exploded during testing.
The technology available to these people was not good enough to allowthem to bore the innards out of a tree overnight. However, a cannon madeout of a log and equipped with six ounces of gunpowder did fire a smallcannonball quite some distance. If the cannon's barrel was plugged andit were loaded with about five pounds of gunpowder, the explosion would be enough to destroy a portion of a small medieval town.
Beat the Breath Test (Season 1)
Inserting various things into one's mouth can result in one tricking a breathalyzer into returning a sober verdict.
All the methods failed, including mouthwash, which can actually return a higher reading because of its alcohol content. Additionally, the police can request a blood test, which you definitely can't fake by using clever tricks.
Stinky Car: A Decomposing Body Can Destroy the Car's Interior (Season 1)
A decomposing body will destroy the inside of a car (in this case, a Corvette).
Dead pigs were sealed into a car, which was then placed in a container for two months. When opened, the seats, door panels, and carpets were dirty and disintegrating and there was condensation and 'raining' in the car.
Stinky Car: Dead Body Smell Cannot be Removed (Season 1)
The smell imparted by a body decomposing in a car cannot be completely removed.
Pigs were sealed in a car for two months. The car was then opened.
While a professional cleaning team was able to remove the smell from most of the upholstery, the smell persisted in the ventilation system. By replacing the entire ventilation system (at significant cost) one could conceivably eliminate the smell.
Stinky Car: Can You Sell a Car a Body Has Decomposed In? (Season 1)
If a body has decomposed in a car, can you clean it up enough to sell it?
After allowing pigs to decompose in a Corvette for two months, The MythBusters were only able to find a buyer who would purchase the car for spare parts.
Raccoon Rocket (Season 1)
Supposedly, when a hillbilly attempted to chase a raccoon out of a drain culvert by pouring gasoline in the pipe and lighting it, he was blasted over 200 feet out of the culvert by the subsequent explosion.
Buster subbed for the hillbilly and was merely lit on fire by the gasoline explosion. In order to achieve the results claimed in the myth, Buster was encased in a foam projectile and blasted out of the culvert with gunpowder.
Escape From Alcatraz (Season 1)
It is alleged that a group of prisoners escaped Alcatraz by fashioning an inflatable raft from rain ponchos.
The Mythbusters poncho-raft successfully reached the shore. However, since no evidence exists that prisoners ever survived the journey, the myth was ruled "Plausible." Some personal items of the prisoners who attempted this escape were found washed up on shore, suggesting the men probably drowned during the escape. Some people argue that this was simply a clever trick designed to fool authorities into believing the men hadn't survived.
Does a Duck's Quack Echo? (Season 1)
There is no echo produced by a duck's quack.
A professional audio engineer found that the acoustic structure of the echo and the original quack were so similar as to be indistinguishable from each other. Thus, the echo is essentially "engulfed" by the original quack.
Stud Finders & Mind Control Chips (Season 1)
A common stud finder is able to locate mind control microchips implanted by the Red Cross during routine blood donations.
Stud finders can indeed locate microchips under the skin (such as those used for pet identification), but the Mythbusters weren't able to locate any newly embedded chips after donating blood at the Red Cross.
Chicken Gun (Season 1)
In a simulated bird-strike situation, a frozen chicken fired from a chicken gun is more damaging to a train or aircraft than a thawed chicken.
There was no measurable difference in impact or force between thawed or frozen chickens. However, the experiment didn't use thicker, airline-quality glass, which prompted Mythbusters to try it again in Season 2.
Killer Washing Machine (Season 1)
A man allegedly got caught in his washing machine while attempting to over-stuff it. Accidentally tripping the spin cycle, he was battered against the surrounding shelves, spilling bleach and detergent on the floor. Later, his dog entered the laundry room and peed on the floor causing a chemical reaction that exploded the bleach and detergent, setting the room ablaze.
Completely, totally, undeniably BUSTED. Nothing in this story is even plausible. Dog urine doesn't react explosively with detergent or bleach, and the drum on most washing machines can be stopped mid-spin with one hand. Additionally, most modern washing machines have safety features that stop the spin cycle if the lid is opened.
Octopus Egg Pregnancy (Season 1)
A woman thinks she is pregnant but, as it turns out, she's swallowed a fertilized octopus egg while swimming and the egg has gestated in her stomach.
The highly acidic environment of the stomach would destroy the egg before it could fully gestate.
Explosive Decompression (Season 1)
A plane's fuselage can experience explosive decompression if a bullet penetrates its walls when the plane is pressurized. The hole in the fuselage will get bigger very quickly, possibly causing the plane to break into pieces.
The hole has to be very big before decompression is explosive. Also, the team's dummy wasn't sucked out of the hole. Research uncovered documented cases where planes experienced explosive decompression and still landed safely.
Frog Giggin' (Season 1)
Some country folks found themselves with a burned-out fuse in their truck, so they decided to use a .22LR cartridge as a substitute. This proves to be a bad idea when the bullet discharges as a result of heat, injuring the truck's driver in the crotch.
Not only did the bullet work as a substitute fuse, but upgrading the wiring the a higher gauge made the bullet discharge. However, the bullet didn't fire with enough speed to injure any of the passengers.
Rear Axle (Season 1)
A la "American Graffiti," attaching a steel cable to a street lamppost and a police car's rear axle will result in the axle tearing away from under the car when it tries to drive away.
The force will pull the axle loose, but it had to be loosened from the car before this would work properly. The car's trunk also stopped the axle from getting loose. The team guessed that in "American Graffiti," the car was using a ramp to get enough boost to properly free the axle.
Goldfish Memory (Season 1)
A goldfish, swimming around and around in its bowl, has a memory span of around three seconds.
Jamie's goldfish were trained to remember colors and patterns, and to navigate an underwater obstacle course. The fish remembered what they'd been taught over one month afterwards, and they swam through the obstacle course without help.
The Mad Trombonist (Season 1)
A firecracker in the mute of a trombone was launched at the end of the 1812 Overture. The firecracker struck the conductor and knocked him into the audience. Also, the trombone's bell blew open.
Buster the conductor was hit by the mute after being launched by the firecracker, but the force wasn't enough to knock him down. With the force of six model rocket engines, Buster fell over forwards. Even more force caused the trombone to be wrecked, but the dell wasn't peeled back.
Sinking Titanic (Season 1)
A ship will create suction if it sinks, pulling anything around it underwater. This is rumored to have happened in the case of the RMS Titanic.
Although they could not replicate the sinking of the Titanic, neither Jamie nor Adam were pulled underwater when their nearby ship sank.
Breakstep Bridge (Season 1)
The harmonic oscillation of soldiers marching in unison can collapse a bridge.
The myth appears to be plausible, although testing it proved too hard.
Rowing Water Skier (Season 1)
A waterskier can be kept upright and skiing by a good rowing eight.
Jamie stayed upright for just under one minute whilst being towed by the eight, and he'd only had a few hours of waterskiing experience.
After several tries, Jamie was able to stay upright for over 40 seconds, with only a few hours experience in waterskiing.
Toothbrush Surprise (Season 1)
Toothbrushes can play home to fecal coliform bacteria.
All of the brushes, including controls, were found to contain fecal coliform. None contained a dangerous level of the bacteria, however, and experts said that the bacteria was nearly impossible to avoid.
The Hunt for Hoffa (Season 1)
Jimmy Hoffa's final resting place is the Giant's Stadium.
Several places on the field are rumored to contain Hoffa's grave; however, Jamie and Adam could not detect any readings consistent with a hole where a body had decomposed.
Daddy Long-Legs (Season 1)
Daddy Long-Legs spiders have more dangerous venom than any other spider, but they cannot pierce a human's skin.
The venom of the Daddy Long-Legs was not nearly as potent as that of a Black Widow, and the Daddy Long-Legs did manage to bite Adam. He experienced little more than a burning feeling, which didn't last very long.
A Daddy Long-Legs was able to bite through the skin of Adam's arm. He reported nothing more than a very mild, short-lived burning sensation. Analysis of the venom proves it does not approach the potency of the Black Widow spider.
Jet Taxi (Season 1)
A taxi can be overturned by jet wash from an airplane if the taxi goes behind the jet as it accelerates to full speed.
This myth couldn't be busted because Adam and Jamie's insurance wouldn't cover acquiring the appropriate jet engines! However, the team found out that a taxi in Brazil was blown off a road by a plane taking off. It is, though, very unlikely that a car will pass directly behind a jet when it's taking off.
Compact Compact (Season 1)
The collision of two semi-trucks resulted in the trucks being welded together. Only on arrival at the junkyard did workers discover that a small European car had been trapped, complete with driver, between the two trucks.
Using two semis (obtained for free!), trailers, and a Fiat (provided by a fan), the team positioned the semis so that they would crash. It took a number of tries, but they managed to crash the trucks and the car. However, one of the semis hit the car before the other, and the car was hurled to one side. The end result was not the fusing of the car and the trucks, but rather, a huge mess of wreckage.
Forest Fire Scuba Diver (Season 2)
If in the wrong place at the wrong time, a SCUBA diver could be picked up by a firefighting chopper and dumped on a forest fire.
The pumps that firefighting helicopters use don't have enough power to suck up a human body. Also, the pumps stop working when they're in the air and anything caught in them would be dropped back into the water.
Car Capers Tail Pipe (Season 2)
Plugging the tailpipe of a car with an object will destroy a car's engine.
Starting up the engine ejected all of the objects from the tailpipe.
Car Capers Fuel Tank Explode (Season 2)
A bullet, shot into a tank of gas, will cause the tank to explode.
The bullet did not cause an explosion.
Car Capers Shootout (Season 2)
If you're behind a car door, bullets fired your way won't get through the door and hit you.
The bullets made it through the door, meaning that the door provided no protection at all.
Car Capers Drain Cleaner in the Tank (Season 2)
Liquid drain cleaner will destroy an engine if it's put into the gas tank.
The engine still worked after engine cleaner had been used to clean the gas tank of drain cleaner.
Car Capers Bleach in the Tank (Season 2)
Bleach will destroy a car's engine if it's put into the gas tank.
The engine wasn't completely ruined, but the engined died soon after the bleach went through the tank. Interestingly, the gas tank was completely rusty the next day.
Car Capers Sugar in the Tank (Season 2)
Sugar will destroy an engine when put into a gas tank.
The sugar did not cause the engine to stop running.
Car Capers Moth Balls (Season 2)
Putting mothballs in a gas tank will increase the car's horsepower.
The engine spluttered, but sounded more powerful when Jamie accelerated the car.
Car Capers Cola for Coolant (Season 2)
Cola can be used for a coolant if your radiator is out of water and you don't have any access to water.
Although the engine ran with cola in the radiator, the practice is not advisable, as it may cause damage.
Car Capers Radiator Leak Egg Fix (Season 2)
A leak in a radiator can be fixed by breaking an egg into the radiator.
The leak stopped and the car ran.
Car Capers Metal in the Engine (Season 2)
If metal falls on a carburetor, the engine can be destroyed.
An engine still worked after a penny was dropped on the carburetor.
Car Capers Bleach in the Oil (Season 2)
Adding bleach to a car's oil will destroy an engine.
Indeed, the engine was ruined by the bleach in the oil. Although the engine started, it overheated, smoked, and Adam was able to fry an egg on the tailpipe.
Ancient Death Ray (Season 2)
By reflecting sunlight onto Roman boats, Archimedes was able to ignite the vessels.
Even a very large mirror only raised the temperature of wood a small amount. The Discovery Channel's website ran a competition to see if this myth could be proved plausible, and although some of the entrants did well, the myth is considered busted.
Skunked! Tomato Juice (Season 2)
Tomato juice will remove the smell of a skunk.
Tomato juice has a strong odor, and that odor will mask the skunky smell until the nose is desensitized to it. Then, one will be able to smell the skunk once more.
Skunked! Commercial Cleaners (Season 2)
Commercial cleaners can remove the smell of a skunk.
The cleaners didn't do much to remove the skunky smell.
Skunked! Custom Mixture (Season 2)
A special mixture will remove the smell of skunk.
Hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and soap appeared to actually remove, not just mask, the smell of skunk.
Skunked! Beer (Season 2)
Beer will remove the smell of a skunk.
Beer did nothing to remove the smell.
Skunked! Douche (Season 2)
A douche will remove the smell of a skunk.
The douche did not work.
What is Bulletproof? A Book? (Season 2)
A book can stop a bullet.
A bullet from a .22 rifle can be stopped by a book of more than four-hundred pages. Any stronger bullets will shoot through a book.
What is Bulletproof? Playing Cards? (Season 2)
A deck of cards will stop a bullet.
The deck failed in stopping the bullet.
What is Bulletproof? A Zippo Lighter? (Season 2)
A Zippo lighter will stop a bullet.
None of the bullets were stopped by the lighter.
What is Bulletproof? A Bullet-Resistant Panel? (Season 2)
An inch-thick polycarbonate panel, reputed to be bullet-resistant, will stop a bullet.
The MythBusters team tested the polycarbonate, constructing a four-sided box made of the material. The box stopped .357, .44, and .22 magnum bullets. A Springfield .30-06, however, shot directly through both the front and back of the box.
Elevator of Death (Season 2)
If you are on a free-falling elevator, jumping at the last minute will save you.
A human cannot generate enough power by jumping to cancel out the falling speed of the elevator car. Experts suggested that lying on the floor of the elevator would be a better idea, as the elevator shaft could create an air cushion. Also, a slack elevator cable could slow the car due to spring action, increasing a subject's chance of survival.
Levitation Machine (Season 2)
One thousand dollars is all that is needed to build one's own hovercraft.
The team managed to build two functional (yet impractical) hovercrafts, although they spent more than one thousand dollars.
Plywood Builder (Season 2)
A large sheet of plywood, held at the correct angle, will act as a makeshift parachute and can slow one's fall from a high rise building enough to make it survivable.
It was too hard to control the fall, and the wood was of no good. The team constructed special wood for the experiment, but to no avail. The myth was busted.
Plywood Builder Umbrella (Season 2)
An opened umbrella can make a long fall survivable.
Umbrellas slowed the dummy's fall, but the impact would still have killed a human. Even parachutes would not help much, given the short fall (sixty feet, or eighteen meters).
Beat the Radar Gun with Keys! (Season 2)
Jingling a set of keys can help someone beat a police radar or lidar.
The keys did not help change any results.
Beat the Radar Gun with a Disco Ball! (Season 2)
A disco ball in a rear-view mirror can help beat police radars and lidars.
The ball did not have any effect on the results, and is also an illegal addition to a car.
Beat the Radar Gun with CDs! (Season 2)
Hanging CDs in the rear window of a car can help you beat police radars and/or lidars.
As well as being illegal, the CDs did nothing.
Beat the Radar Gun with Hubcaps of Tinfoil! (Season 2)
Covering your hubcaps in tinfoil can help you beat a police radar or lidar.
There was no noticeable effect from the tinfoil.
Beat the Radar Gun with a Whole Car of Tin Foil! (Season 2)
You can legally beat a police radar by covering your whole car in tinfoil.
The detection ability of the radar was actually heightened by the tinfoil, as it acted as a huge reflector!
Beat the Radar Gun with LEDs! (Season 2)
You can beat a police radar or lidar legally by putting light-emitting diodes (LEDs) around your front license plate.
The LEDs would have to be much stronger in order to change the reading of the radar.
Beat the Radar Gun with Microwaves! (Season 2)
Bouncing microwaves at a police lidar or radar can help you change its reading.
A magnetron could not beat the radar.
Beat the Radar Gun with Bits of Tin Foil! (Season 2)
If one shoots pieces of tin foil behind the car as chaff, one can beat a police lidar or radar.
The chaff did not disrupt the radar readings, and some variables, including wind, meant that the system would not work properly. You could also be fined heavily for littering if you tried to employ this tactic.
There were just too many rogue variables to get the system to work properly, especially wind. The car was still detectable and the chaff did nothing to disrupt the radar. This solution would also likely result in a much stiffer penalty for littering.
Beat the Radar Gun with a Bunch of Mirrors! (Season 2)
Spinning a wheel of mirrors on top of your car at a slower speed than you are traveling can result in beating a police radar or lidar.
The radar was actually fooled into thinking that the car was going slower than it was; however, the difference wasn't enough to do any good. Also, the wheel was impractical, but it was not actually illegal.
Beat the Radar Gun with Black Paint! (Season 2)
You can beat a police lidar or radar by having a matte-black painted car. The paint will absorb the light beams and radar.
The black paint didn't reduce the car's detectability.
Killer Quicksand (Season 2)
As it happens in the movies, "Killer Quicksand" will suck down people and animals.
Because quicksand is denser than water, the buoyancy of anything in it is greater. Things found dead in quicksand probably did not die because of the quicksand, but rather, from another reason.
Appliances in the Bath (Season 2)
If an electrical appliance is dropped into a bathtub of water, the person in the tub will die.
Appliances equipped with GFCIs usually won't result in electrocution (a hairdryer with a GFCI cut itself off when it hit the water). Electrocution is more likely if the water has an increased salt level, or if the appliance falls further away from the drain.
Exploding Tattoo (Season 2)
An MRI can cause tattoos to explode.
Most tattoos do not contain the compounds that react to magnetic fields. Some discomfort might be felt from old pigments of black, because black ink used to have iron in its composition.
Exploding Jawbreaker (Season 2)
If a jawbreaker has been in the microwave or has sat out in the sun, it can explode when bitten.
If a jawbreaker is heated up in the microwave, its layers will heat up at different rates. This can cause a spray of hot candy if compressed. Two of the MythBusters suffered mild burns when a jawbreaker actually exploded: the compression device they'd developed did not include safety screens. Once, a Floridian girl was badly burned when a jawbreaker exploded. This myth was ultimately confirmed.
Static Cannon (Season 2)
It is possible to be killed by a static charge. A construction worker met his end this way, having sandblasted an eight-inch PVC pipe.
At first, no static charge accumulated on the pipe. The team then used a Leyden jar and a Van de Graaff generator, although the amount of static electricity was still too small to be fatal.
Killer Deck (Season 2)
It is possible to throw an ordinary playing card fast enough to kill a person.
While Adam was able to throw cards at 25mph, his best efforts failed to produce any injury. The guys designed a machine capable of throwing cards 155 mph, but even that only caused a tiny cut with a trivial amount of blood.
Ping-Pong Rescue (Season 2)
A sunken ship can be raised by filling it with ping-pong balls.
The Mythbusters were able to successfully raise the sunken Mythtanic II by pumping a ridiculous number (27,000) of ping-pong balls into the ship.
Carried Away (Season 2)
Can a bunch of helium-filled party balloons lift a 4-year old child off the ground?
The Mythbusters were able to lift a substitute 4-year old a few feet off the ground using 3,500 balloons. The number is so large, however, that there is no way this could happen accidentally.
Boom-Lift Catapult (Season 2)
Could a boom-lift actually catapult its operator as much as 200 feet (60 meters)?
Buster barely moved when a car engine was dropped from the boom lift. The guys were only able to catapult Buster (toward the ground) by mounting the boom lift on shipping containers and converting it to a trebuchet. However, the boom lift-come-trebuchet collapsed upon its first throw.
AC vs. Windows Down (Season 2)
It is more fuel efficient to run a car with the air conditioning on than it is to drive with the windows down.
Computer monitoring based on air intake (not actual fuel consumption) showed that at 55 mph, A/C is more efficient. Another test at 45 mph consisted of running the car until the tank was empty. This test showed open windows to be more efficient.
Exploding House (Season 2)
Setting off too many bug bombs in a house can cause an explosion.
The Mythbusters were able to successfully cause an explosion by filling an area with bug bomb fumes and igniting the chemicals with a spark. This confirmed the myth of a San Diego home that exploded due to too many bug bombs combined with an accidental spark.
Talking to Plants (Season 2)
Plants will grow better if they are talked to.
Plants in seven separate greenhouses were exposed continuously to recordings of either kind speech, angry speech, classical music, death metal music, or no audio (control).
The plants listening to speech grew better than the control, regardless of whether the speech was kind or angry. The plants listening to classical music did much better than the control, and those listening to death metal grew best of all.
Needle in a Haystack (Season 2)
Due to advances in technology, the saying "It's like finding a needle in a haystack" is now virtually obsolete.
The saying is not obsolete due to the fact that even with the use of special equipment, needles in haystacks are still very difficult to find. This is partly due to the fact that bone needles won't be picked out by magnets.
Ming Dynasty Astronaut (Season 2)
Forty-seven bamboo rockets sent a fifteenth century Chinese astrologer into space.
An explosion that resulted from the heat of the forty-seven rockets inflicted some serious injuries on the unfortunate Buster, the team's replacement astrologer. Buster's throne also fired unevenly and shot violently sideways when equipped with modern rockets. The force of the modern rockets was not strong enough the lift the chair very high at all, and would not have propelled anyone into space.
Free Energy (Season 2)
One can make a free energy device strong enough in order to power a house.
In this experiment, free energy was actually shown to be somewhat myth. The free energy devices the team constructed usually used more energy to run than they produced. The only successful machine did no more than power half a watch. It was also very big, considering the amount of power it was able to produce.
Ceiling Fan Decapitation (Season 2)
A human can be decapitated by a regular ceiling fan.
Never mind a normal house fan--even a purpose-built fan with very sharp arms and a very powerful motor couldn't sever a head. A regular fan could not even cause any significant injury. A hit from an industrial fan could be fatal, but again, would not be enough to cause decapitation.
Blown Away (Season 2)
Being hit by a bullet will cause a human to be violently pushed backward.
Newton's third law means that if a bullet knocked a person twenty feet backwards, the shooter would also have been knocked back twenty feet.
Brown Note (Season 2)
An infrasonic brown note is enough to make someone lose bowel control.
Nobody lost control of their bowels during this test; however, Adam reported discomfort in his lungs as a result of the low-frequency sound.
Chinese Water Torture (Season 2)
Someone can become insane as a result of Chinese water torture.
This test requires torture equipment, which is very effective in and of itself. The classic, well-known water dripping isn't actually very important. Without the torture equipment, the water drips are unimportant.
Salsa Escape (Season 2)
A Mexican prisoner was able to escape his jail cell by using salsa to corrode its bars.
It would take years, but this is possible because the salsa contains corrosive elements. Electrolysis with a direct current, used along with the salsa, sped up the process.
Salsa Escape: Silk (Season 2)
A shirt, drenched in urine, can bend a prison cell's bars if it's wrapped around them, as happened in the movie Shanghai Noon.
The bars were not bent by the silk; in fact, the fabric tore apart.
Cement Removal Concrete Scraps (Season 2)
Scraps of concrete can be cleared away from the inside of a cement truck using a stick of dynamite.
This worked quite well. The dynamite dislodged much of the concrete that coated the inside of the truck.
Cement Removal Concrete Slab (Season 2)
A slab on concrete can be dislodged from inside of a cement truck by using a stick of dynamite.
FBI explosive experts loaded the barrel of the truck with over eight hundred pounds of commercial blasting agent. Everyone stood a mile away from the truck, which was blown to pieces. The "experiment" ended up being more about making a "big boom" than proving the myth. In the end, the barrel and most of the concrete was still intact after the explosion, but the team had a lot of fun blowing up the truck.
Exploding Port-a-Potty (Season 2)
The methane gas in a port-a-potty can cause an explosion if one lights a cigarette whilst inside.
The decomposing waste in a portable toilet doesn't produce enough methane gas to be flammable. However, if the toilet were tightly sealed and completely filled with methane gas, the atmosphere would be potentially dangerous when combined with a lighter and/or a cigarette. By the time the air was thick enough with gas to be flammable, however, a person would have passed out.
Driveshaft Pole Vault (Season 2)
If a car has a broken driveshaft that drags on the ground, the car can end up rolling end-over-end if it hits a pothole in the road.
Although the back end of a car with a dragging driveshaft can lift up, the car won't flip end-over-end; or, at least, the odds of this happening are extremely low. A more probable result would be the driveshaft being thrust into the car's trunk.
Toy Car Race (Season 2)
Using just the power of gravity, a toy car can beat a regular-sized Dodge Viper over a half-mile downhill course.
Over just one-hundred feet, or thirty meters, the toy car could beat the Viper. However, over the full half-mile course, the Viper won by a very large margin.
Is Yawning Contagious? (Season 2)
Subconsciously, a person can be made to yawn by someone yawning near them.
The team used a test pool of fifty people. Twenty-nine percent of the time, people yawned when "influenced" to by the MythBusters. However, people who were not "influenced" still yawned twenty-five percent of the time, and this four percent difference is not big enough to confirm the myth. Thus, the test was inconclusive.
Toast - Butter Side Up or Down? (Season 2)
If dropped, toast will most likely land buttered side-down.
The toast did not show any preference for which side it landed on when dropped. In fact, the results showed a fifty-fifty split on comparison of the final results. However, when directly pushed from the side of a table, the falling motion of the toast did show that the top side, usually buttered, was most likely to land downwards.
Cooling a Six Pack (Season 2)
Thirsty beach-goers can quickly cool a sixer of beer by digging a hole in the sand, putting the beer inside, covering the hole over with more sand, covering the sand with gasoline and lighting it on fire.
The experiment ended with slightly warmer beer in sandy cans. The myth was well and truly busted.
Baghdad Battery Electroplating (Season 2)
In ancient Babylon, people made a rudimentary battery to use in electroplating.
Plating zinc over copper worked well in an overnight test.
Baghdad Battery Acupuncture (Season 2)
In ancient Babylon, people created a rudimentary battery to use for acupuncture therapy.
The subject felt the electricity through the acupuncture needles. However, the experiment had to be cut short because the needles became too hot for the subject to handle. Thus, the MythBusters theorized that the needles may have been used for torture instead of (or as well as) acupuncture.
Baghdad Battery Spiritual (Season 2)
To test spiritual resolve, people in ancient Babylon created rudimentary batteries.
Adam's thoughts were that ancient people may have believed electric charges were divine because they lacked knowledge about how electricity works.
Son of a Gun (Season 2)
A woman was impregnated by an American Civil War solider after he was shot in the groin and the bullet went through him, into her.
Spermatozoa would not be found alive after such an event. Moreover, an abdominal gunshot wound would have killed both the woman and the man in question.
Phone in a Thunderstorm (Season 2)
If you are talking on the telephone during a thunder storm, you can be electrocuted.
This myth was tested by using a dummy made of ballistic gel. The team sat it on a chair and affixed a telephone to its ear. They then shot 200,000 volts of electricity in the direction of a specially-built hut. The dummy's telephone conversation was cut short when electricity went from the mouthpiece of the phone into the dummy's mouth, setting off some gunpowder that was taped to the telephone receiver. The electricity blew a fuse on the voltmeter that was attached to the test.
Phone in a Thunderstorm: Shower (Season 2)
You can be electrocuted if you take a shower during a thunderstorm.
Although the dummy was not electrocuted, a fire broke out and the voltmeter blew a fuse once more. During both this experiment and the telephone-in-a-storm test, electromagnetic pulses played a little havoc with the camera.
Breaking Glass (Season 2)
A human voice, singing at the exactly correct volume, can break glass.
The myth was confirmed, first by using lead crystal glasses. Adam broke a glass with his own voice, amplified, and then rock singer Jaime Vendera broke a glass using his voice with no amplification.
Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss (Season 2)
As the saying implies, a rolling stone really does not gather any moss.
A rolling stone can in fact pick up moss whilst rolling down a slope, but moss won't grow on a rock while it's rolling. This experiment took six months and is officially the longest experiment the team has ever carried out.
Jet Engine Vacuum (Season 2)
A regular vacuum can mimic a jet engine if one uses it to suck up gasoline.
To even create a small fire, it would take an older model vacuum because the air flow is isolated from the engine in newer vacuums.
Jet Pack (Season 2)
You can make a jet pack from plans on the Internet and a small amount of money.
The MythBusters created a jet pack, but it was too weak to lift even itself off the ground. They spent more than their assigned budget and came to the conclusion that the average person could not afford the parts, and that the instructions were too vague to be of much use.
Pyramid Power (Season 2)
Various household chores can be made easier with the use of pyramid power.
In order to correctly "harness" the power of the pyramid, the MythBusters made a fleet of pyramid frames to exact measurements. They carried out four experiments: keeping razors sharp, keeping food (milk and then an apple) from going bad, and keeping a flower from dying. At first, the apple seemed to be staying good, but the team found out that a dirty saw blade that was used to half the apple might have increased the microbial load in one half. The same rate of spoilage was noted in each half of the apple when they repeated the test with clean equipment.
Killer Brace Position (Season 2)
The airline industry actually created the "brace position" in order to kill people in a crash. They did this because paying off a wrongful death suit is cheaper than paying ongoing injury compensation.
Buster, the unfortunate dummy, was protected from possibly fatal injuries by the brace position. When sitting normally, Buster's injuries were far worse. One has a greater chance of being maimed by smoke inhalation or burning debris than by being stuck under debris during a crash.
One interesting fact learned through this experiment is that airlines do pay a lot less for wrongful death suits than for longterm injury compensation.
Cell Phones vs. Drunk Driving (Season 2)
Using a mobile phone whilst driving a car is equally as dangerous as driving after you've been drinking.
Two of the Mythbusters failed a road safety test whilst talking on the phone. They also failed whilst driving drunk. Adam did point out, however, that a person could put down a cell phone very easily if needed, whereas no one can become sober instantly.
Bulletproof Water (Season 2)
If you're being shot at, hiding underwater will prevent you from being hit.
Bullets up to .50 caliber disintegrated in less than one meter, or three feet, of water. However, bullets with slower velocity, such as those fired from pistols, had to travel to a depth of eight feet, or two and a half meters, in order to not be fatal. Slugs from a shotgun had to be even deeper, but the actual depth wasn't determined. All of these shots were fired straight down, and since most regular shots fired into water are fired at an angle, the required depth would probably be less.
Chain-Straight 360 (Season 2)
You can complete an entire 360 degree loop on a swingset with the chains staying straight.
With just the power of your own body, it is not possible to complete a chain-straight loop. You will need the help of other forces in order to complete a full loop, although keeping the chains straight is very difficult. You would actually need a rocket of some sort in order to be successful. Although the MythBusters completed this test with a rocket successfully using a dummy, it is too dangerous to complete the test with a live person.
Chain-Straight 360 rigid-arm (Season 2)
You can complete a 360 loop on a swingset that uses rigid arms.
Kari, Tory and Grant watched an experienced circus performer complete this stunt, although the average person could not do it due to the excessive amount of energy required.
Border Slingshot (Season 2)
Illegal immigrants can be (and are being!) hurled into the U.S. with the use of a very large slingshot.
Firstly, the potential immigrant would probably be killed using such a method. Assuming that one could survive the fall, the device would probably not be able to throw someone a very long way. Also, such a machine would have to be easy to assemble and disassemble for the myth to work.
Killer Tissue Box (Season 2)
If something as small and unassuming as a tissue box hits you during a car crash, you can be killed as a result.
An object would have to be quite sharp and weigh over three pounds, or 1.3 kilograms, in order to inflict fatal injuries. A tissue box won't kill a person, but could injure someone in its path.
Killer Tissue Box Intact (Season 2)
During a car crash, a tissue box can stay in one piece.
This was proven when the MythBusters crashed a real car and the tissue box was still intact.
Splitting an Arrow (Season 2)
You can split an arrow down the middle by firing a second arrow at the first, as is seen in the movie "The Adventures of Robin Hood."
In the world of archery, splitting an arrow perfectly down its middle is known as "telescoping." This can only be done with fiberglass arrows, which were definitely not available during the Robin Hood era!\
A wooden arrow can be split down the grain of the wood, although this requires ideal conditions and is still not likely to happen. The only way to do this is by using something like bamboo, which has a hollow shaft.
Escape Slide Parachute Raft (Season 2)
You can survive a jump from an airplane a la Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, by using an inflatable life raft to "float" back to earth.
The raft was very instable during a fall, and you could not control it enough for it to be effective. You could make the raft into a parachute, but you couldn't do this midair.
Escape Slide Parachute (Season 2)
You can survive a jump from a plane by using the escape slide to float to earth.
Buster the dummy did return to earth unharmed, but he had to be strapped into the side. There is no way to strap a person in given the limited resources of an emergency situation on a plane.
Escape Slide Parachute Stewardess Seat (Season 2)
Being strapped into the farthest steward's seat on a plane could help you survive a crash. The surviving tail section of the craft would slow your fall and also help adsorb some of the impact.
Although Jamie and Adam couldn't prove this in their test (Buster was again brutally maimed), this myth is documented as having actually taken place. The crash severely injured the stewardess, but she survived. However, this is not a sure-fire way to survive a crash, as the circumstances have to be perfect in order for this method to work.
Exploding Hair Cream (Season 2)
An oxygen-rich atmosphere in the cockpit of a number of Canadian Air Force jets resulted in the pilots' hair gel exploding, killing the pilots.
The team used an F-104 Starflighter was used, along with a heavily-gelled dummy. The product was quite hard to set on fire, and even the most violent "explosion" was not nearly big enough to decapitate the dummy's head. History told the team that small fires have happened in these circumstances, but none had ever been fatal.
The Great Gas Conspiracy Hydrogen Fuel (Season 2)
A hydrogen fueled car will get far better gas mileage than a normal car and will result in you paying far less, effectively "sticking it to The Man."
The car started with the hydrogen, but the hydrogen violently ignited and would potentially be more expensive than regular gasoline.
Chinese Invasion Alarm (Season 3)
A drum, buried in a shaft, was able to let ancient Chinese know when a foreign army was tunneling underneath the ground in an invasion attempt.
The drum actually out-performed contemporary geophone equipment when Kari was listening for Tory and Jamie's tunneling in a mine shaft. She could hear them in two out of three tests.
5-Second Rule (Season 3)
Food that you've dropped on the floor is still good to eat if you abide by the "Five-second rule."
Food that had been on the floor for two seconds had about the same amount of bacteria on it as the food that had been on the floor for six seconds.
5-Second Rule Toilet Seat (Season 3)
Contrary to popular belief, the toilet seat is one of the cleanest places in the home.
The test for this myth resulted from the "Five Second Rule" tests that sought to find out if picking up dropped food quickly can reduce the amount of bacteria on said food. When Adam tested the cleanliness of the toilet seat, it was cleaner than all the other household surfaces!
5-Second Rule Dog Mouth (Season 3)
Dog's mouths are much cleaner than the mouths of humans.
Lulu the dog proved to have much less bacteria inside her mouth than Adam; however, Jamie speculated that the dog's bacteria might be more potent than Adam's!
Confederate Rocket (Season 3)
A two stage rocket made it one-hundred and twenty miles from Richmond, VA to Washington D.C.during the American Civil War.
Using just technology available during the Civil War, the team constructed a rocket (in under two days), but it only traveled 500 yards. Jamie and Adam concluded that the myth was busted, since the technology of the Civil War era would not let such a device be constructed.
Vodka Myths 1: Feet (Season 3)
Vodka can stop you feet from smelling.
Both vodka and commercial foot powder got rid of foot odor.
Vodka Myths: Bad Breath (Season 3)
Vodka can eliminate bad breath.
This was remarkably effective: one cup of vodka and nine teaspoons of cinnamon powder, left for two weeks in a sealed container, was strained and used as mouthwash. The cocktail was equally effective as regular mouthwash; however, it did not remove bad breath caused from cigarette smoke.
Steel Toe-Cap Amputation (Season 3)
You toes can be cut off if something heavy drops on your foot while you're wearing steel-toed boots. Wearing regular boots is safer.
The team discovered that steel-toed boots are a lot safer than normal boots if something heavy is dropped on your foot. The steel did not bend inwards and no toes were lost.
Bottle Rocket Blast-Off (Season 3)
A human body can be launched up to forty meters into the air with the use of fifteen rockets, made of three-liter bottles of water.
One-fifteenth of Kari's body weight was launched quite a distance, but Buster the dummy didn't go far when a larger rocket was attached to his torso. The more bottles the team attempted to use, the greater the likelihood that something would go wrong.
Seasickness - Kill or Cure? Cinnamon (Season 3)
Cinnamon-flavored tongue spray will help relieve your motion-sickness.
None of the motion-sickness-susceptible MythBusters found that the spray made any difference whatsoever.
Seasickness - Kill or Cure? Ginger (Season 3)
Ginger pills will relieve motion-sickness.
Adam and Grant, both of whom suffer from motion-sickness, got through the spin-chair test without feeling at all sick.
Seasickness - Kill or Cure? arm bands (Season 3)
Magnetized arm bands can relieve motion-sickness.
Although some people, such as Barry Manilow, believe that this remedy works, neither Adam nor Grant felt any relief from motion-sickness whilst using the arm bands, and there is no scientific evidence that the method should work.
Seasickness - Kill or Cure? electro-shock (Season 3)
An electro-shock wrist band can help relieve a person of motion-sickness.
Adam and Grant still got motion-sickness with the wrist bands, and the electric shock aspect of the test made both of them slightly uncomfortable.
Seasickness - Kill or Cure? Sugar Pill (Season 3)
Giving someone who is susceptible to motion-sickness (in this case, Adam and Grant), a placebo, such as a sugar pill, can trick them into not getting sick.
Adam still got sick, but Grant fell for the trick and he did not. However, due to this, his other test results, for remedies such as the ginger pill, have to be somewhat discounted due to his apparent disposition to psychosomatic influence.
Tailgate Up vs. Tailgate Down (Season 3)
Driving a pick-up truck with the tailgate up is less efficient than driving with it down.
Having the tailgate down meant increased drag, and the team discovered that a locked vortex flow is created by having the tailgate up. The flow resulted in a steady stream of air passing over the truck, whereas having the tailgate down dissipated the vortex and increased the drag.
Finger in a Barrel (Season 3)
If you plug a shotgun with your finger, the gun will backfire. The result will be an explosion that seriously harms or kills you (the shooter), rather than the things you were trying to shoot.
Neither of the ballistics gel test hands were strong enough to plug up the shotgun's barrel and make it blow up. The team then tried plugging the barrel with dirt, sealing it off with a metal welded into the gun and blocking the barrel with a simulated squib load. Even after all of these tests, the shotgun did not explode, and damage inside the gun was small, and affected the gun's barrel.
Paper Crossbow (Season 3)
Making use of a paper crossbow, a prisoner can kill a person from across a hallway.
Two different crossbows were built for testing, and the team saw that one could kill a person using such a weapon. However, the shot would have to be very accurate and would have to hit an artery or major blood vessel. The accuracy of such a crossbow isn't terribly high, and they weakened considerably after being used a couple of times. Someone wishing to inflict serious damage with such a weapon could only allow him or herself one shot, and would have to aim very carefully.
Vodka Myths 2: Cigarette smoke (Season 3)
Vodka can get rid of the smell of cigarettes from clothes.
The vodka did seem to make a difference. The control jacket smelled slightly, while the jacket that the team had sprayed vodka on didn't smell at all.
Vodka Myths 2: Kill Bees (Season 3)
Vodka can act as an insecticide to kill bees.
The control bees, that were sprayed with water, passed out, only awaking a day later when they dried. The vodka bees did not pass out, and in fact did not show any signs of having noticed the spray.
Vodka Myths 2: Bathroom Cleaner (Season 3)
You can use vodka to clean your bathroom.
Although not as good as commercial cleaner, the vodka still worked to a certain degree.
Shredded Plane Chainsaw (Season 3)
A popular photograph that depicts the shredded tail section of an airplane shows damage inflicted by a chainsaw in the hands of an angry wife.
Chainsaws make jagged cuts and the slices in the picture are clean.
Shredded Plane Propeller (Season 3)
A runaway propeller was responsible for another plane's tail section being shredded, as is shown in a popular photograph.
Testing showed that the damage inflicted by a runaway engine was incredibly similar to that in the photograph.
Fire without Matches Fiction (Season 3)
Rubbing two sticks together can cause a fire.
The team admitted to cheating, but they managed to start a fire with the help of a drill (with the stick for its bit) and a little gun powder.
Fire Without Matches Bullet (Season 3)
A bullet can be used to start a fire.
In order to get a successful result, Tory had to modify a musket, take out the bullet and insert some cloth. On firing, the black powder set the cloth on fire. The tinder into which the cloth was then fired also ignited.
Fire Without Matches Soda Can (Season 3)
The bottom of a soda can, polished with chocolate, can be used to start a fire.
The tinder that was hand-held did not ignite; however, it lit up when a makeshift rig was used to steady it and keep it from moving around. This myth works because the chocolate removes wear and ink, and the bottom can then produce heat when it reflects light.
Fire Without Matches Steel Wool (Season 3)
Fire can be started using a steel wool and the ends of a battery.
The steel wool finally ignited after quite a few attempts. This myth has been proven on some other television shows, and is also required of boy scouts when they go for their Wilderness Survival Merit badge.
Fire Without Matches Ice (Season 3)
Ice can be used to start a fire.
Using it as a refractive lens, Kari started a fire with a customized ball of ice.
Archimedes' Death Ray (Season 3)
A ship made from wood can be set alight using a set of bronze mirrors.
This myth took far too long to set the ship alight. The team also had to position the ship very close to the array of mirrors, and keep the ship stationary. This situation is not likely in "real life." Using Molotov cocktails is probably the most effective ancient method of setting fire to a ship.
Helium Football (Season 3)
Filling a regulation football with helium will cause it to travel further through the air than when it is filled with compressed air at 13 psi.
The balls with helium in them did not travel any further an the regular balls. The two sets of balls also had identical initial velocity, but the helium balls have less inertia in flight because their mass is less than the regular ones. Over very long distances, this mass difference may in fact mean that the helium balls travel less distance than their regulation counterparts.
Catching a Bullet in Your Teeth (Season 3)
Given the correct circumstances, a human can indeed catch a bullet between his or her teeth.
Pigs' teeth, which are a lot stronger than human teeth, were used to test this myth, and they were complete shattered by an impulse test. Secondly, humans can only react so quickly, and even machines are not able to stand the force of the bullet. The team concluded that it is impossible to stop a bullet with your teeth when it has been fired from a regular gun.
Franklin's Kite (Season 3)
Flying a kite during a thunderstorm resulted in Benjamin Franklin discovering electricity.
This experiment worked, but the shock would have killed a human. The kite also didn't have to be directly hit in order for the test to work. The team concluded that, although the experiment was solid, the story about Ben Franklin was busted due to the fact that it would have killed him.
Farting Beans (Season 3)
Beans can cause people to pass gas.
Adam's rate of passing gas doubled after a day of eating nothing but beans.
Farting Soda (Season 3)
Carbonated soft drinks can cause a person to pass more gas.
Kari's rate of passing gas doubled after a day's diet of carbonated drinks.
Farting Beef (Season 3)
Beef can cause a person to pass more gas.
After sticking to a strict diet of beef for one day, Jamie's rate of passing gas did not change.
Farting suffocation (Season 3)
If you pass too much gas, you can suffocate yourself.
Simply breathing causes C02 levels to rise faster than does the gas expelled by the average fart. Even in an airtight room and given a few hours, it is impossible to suffocate from human gas.
Farting Match (Season 3)
After passing gas, you can light a match and burn the gas.
The smell in human gas is produced by methyl mercaptan and hydrogen sulfide. These gases are not reduced by burning a match, and the smell of the match probably just masks that of the human gas.
Helium Raft (Season 3)
Filling a life raft with helium can enable you to fly.
It would take a very, very large amount of helium in order to lift the weight of a human. Also lifting the raft would take even more. Also, due to the fact that helium has a lower mass than air, the raft would be quite flimsy. During testing, the raft was destroyed when the ties were released at different times and Adam became tangled up in the equipment.
Cell Phones on a Plane (Season 3)
As opposed to safety concerns, airlines have banned cell phones on planes in order to force people to use pricey airplane telephones.
The signals emitted from cellular phones, especially in the rang of 800 to 900 MHz, do interfere with some of the plane's instruments. The main concern is from older airplanes because their wiring is most likely unshielded and could be adversely effected by the phones. Also, many cellphones "see" many different towers and thus, the government continues to ban their use on commercial flights.
Bullets Fired Up (Season 3)
When a bullet, fired into the air, falls back to earth, it can still be fatal if it hits someone.
Although virtually impossible for a human to carry out, a bullet that was fired truly vertically would lose its spin and fall back to earth much more slowly. Most bullets are fired at a non-vertical angle and they will not lose their spin when they begin to fall. These bullets could still kill someone when they fall back to the ground. There are documented instances of people being injured by bullets that "fell from the sky."
Vodka Myths 3: Poison Oak (Season 3)
Poison oak can be removed with the use of vodka.
Only one of the MythBusters showed any reaction to the poison oak, without the use of the vodka. Kari did not take part in the test because she had experienced a very bad reaction to poison oak as a child. Only John (in charge of research) showed signs of being effected, and the vodka didn't give any results whatsoever.
Vodka Myths 3: plastic bandages (Season 3)
Plastic bandages can be removed painlessly with the use of vodka.
Bandages on hairy legs were quickly torn off, and the bandage that had been soaked in vodka hurt less than the control. It also torn off less hair than its non-vodka soaked friend.
Vodka Myths 3: Charcoal Filtration (Season 3)
Cheap vodka can be filtered through charcoal and turned into better vodka.
Although the chemical composition of the cheap vodka did not change by being filtered through charcoal, a double-blind taste-test indicated that the taste of the cheap vodka got better every time it was filtered. Despite this, however, the expensive vodka still beat the cheaper stuff hands-down in terms of taste.
Dynamite Paint Job (Season 3)
One can effectively paint a small room quickly by blowing up a stick of dynamite that is lying in a pail of paint, as is seen in the British comedy "Mr. Bean."
The paint was not distributed at all evenly and did not coat the walls of the room with much more than splatter. Also, the exploding bucket of paint caused some damage to the test room, even though it was made of plastic. Jamie and Adam made some devices that were designed to help spread the paint evenly, but none of them worked at all. The myth was busted, which wasn't terribly surprising since the team got the idea from a ridiculous television show featuring Rowan Atkinson.
Mind Control Helmet Kit (Season 3)
You can control someone else's mind by using a psionic helmet kit.
The test was a miserable failure. One person did scratch his nose when he was being "told" to touch his nose, but given that this is a fairly common thing to do, it was discounted as a conclusive result.
Mind Control Air (Season 3)
You can control someone else's mind by using pulsed air.
No one's mind was at all controlled by the test.
Mind Control Magnet (Season 3)
Using a spinning magnet can help you control someone else's mind.
Although EEG recordings showed some changes in brainwaves while the magnet was in use, subjects did not react to their "instructions" and the magnet was not useful in making anyone perform a particular act.
Mind Control Sound (Season 3)
Subliminal sound can be used to control another person's mind.
No one's mind was controlled by the subliminal sound.
Mind Control hypnosis (Season 3)
Remote hypnosis can be used to control the mind of another person.
Using research alone, the MythBusters concluded that the myth was plausible, given pre-existing evidence about hypnosis.
The Great Gas Conspiracy Carburetor (Season 3)
The use of carburetor magnets will dramatically increase a car's fuel efficiency, meaning that you can "stick to to The Man" and travel a long way on one tank.
The magnets did not change the car's fuel efficiency.
The Great Gas Conspiracy Acetone (Season 3)
Mixing some acetone with your car's gasoline will dramatically increase the car's fuel efficiency.
Mixing the acetone with the gasoline made the car less fuel efficient than normal.
The Great Gas Conspiracy Miracle (Season 3)
Something called the "miracle carburetor" will result in your car getting far better gas mileage.
The "miracle" was that the car was far less fuel efficient, rather than far more.
The Great Gas Conspiracy used Cooking Oil (Season 3)
Used cooking oil will fuel your car as an economical, fuel efficient and rebellious alternative to regular gasoline.
A car designed to run on diesel also ran when filled with the used oil, but no one knows if the oil does any damage to the engine. The oil did not improve the car's fuel efficiency at all (the car traveled about ten percent less distance than it did on the same amount of diesel).
Exploding Pants (Season 3)
Farm chemicals can be made to prompt the spontaneously combustion of a pair of pants if the chemicals are spilled on the pants and then the garment is worn normally.
Denim swatches were subjected to fertilizer, herbicide, gun cotton solution and black powder. They were then placed in front of a flame, friction, impact and a radiating source of heat. The swatch soaked in the herbicide ignited; its reaction on impact was quite impressive. Medical professionals decided that Buster, used in a to-scale test, would live through the explosion, just suffering from some burns.
Air Duct Climb (Season 4)
Using magnets, a person can quietly climb up an air duct, as is seen in the movie "Firetrap."
Jamie used ten magnets with 500 pound strength, and although the magnets did indeed let him climb the air duct, they made a lot of noise and couldn't be used surreptitiously.
Air Duct Climb sution cups (Season 4)
As is seen the film Firetrap, a person can quietly climb up an air duct with the help of suction cups.
Using the suction cups, Adam was able to climb the duct far more quietly than Jamie, who was using magnets. However, the cups' mechanics were a little difficult to manage and Adam fell a couple of times. In the end, after he'd mastered the art of working the suction cups in sequence with his footsteps, he made it to the top of the vent successfully.
Laser Beam Dodge Cosmetic Powder (Season 4)
Cosmetic powder, such as that which is used on the face, can be used to detect the position of laser beams if it is expelled into the air. This myth was found in the film "Entrapment."
The powder isn't in the air for long enough to be truly effective, even though it does allow a person to see the laser beams. Another concern is having too much powder in the air, which could cause the beam to break, setting off an alarm. Also, this trick could only work with laser beams that are visible to the human eye; many systems use invisible beams.
Laser Beam Dodge Night Vision (Season 4)
The use of night vision goggles can ensure that one avoids being detected by laser beams. This myth was found in the film "Entrapment."
The goggles did nothing to make the infrared beams more visible, although the combination of goggles and powder in the air let Tory see the beams very briefly. However, even if this myth worked well, night vision goggles can impair a person's ability to navigate their surroundings due to a greatly decreased field of vision.
Laser Beam Dodge another laser (Season 4)
By pointing another laser at its photocell, you can dodge a laser-powered alarm system, as is seen in the movie Entrapment.
The beams would have to be visible, and most systems use infrared beams that aren't visible to the human eye. Detecting the photocell would be very hard and perhaps impossible.
Glass Door Forced Entry suction cup (Season 4)
You can open a glass door without making a noise by cutting around the edge of the glass and pulling the glass away with the use of a suction cap.
Cutting the glass in a workable circle made a lot of noise and thus the myth was busted because the process had to be virtually silent.
Glass Door Forced Entry Drilling (Season 4)
You can drill a hole in a glass door without making any noise in order to let yourself in.
Whilst the drilling did make a little noise, it wasn't enough to bust the myth. The glass ended up breaking; however, it did not break apart because it was laminated and tempered. The team could pick away pieces of the glass in order to make a big enough hole for an arm to fit through. This way, a person could reach through and open the doorknob from the inside.
Fooling the Pressure Sensor gum (Season 4)
Another MythBusters myth from the film Entrapment, this myth states that you can get around the sensor of a glass case by inserting a knife into the space between the sensor and the case it's protecting. Then, you put some chewing gum in there to hold the sensor in its correct position.
If you did this, you'd have to be awfully careful because the sensor is incredibly sensitive and something as minimal as shifting the case to put in the knife could set off an alarm. Seeing as it took three tries to put the knife in its position and the chewing gum isn't strong enough to hold the sensor after one removes the knife, this myth is likely busted.
Fooling the Pressure Sensor Tape (Season 4)
Another Entrapment myth, this one says that you can get past a pressure sensor in order to get into a glass case by inserting a knife in between the sensor and the glass case. Then, you can use sticky-tape in order to hold the sensor in its correct place.
If one can insert the knife and avoid making the alarm go off, the method of using tape works a lot better than the chewing gum did, which was too pliable and unstable to hold the sensor in the right place.
Safecracking Stethoscope (Season 4)
You can quickly crack a safe with the help of a stethoscope.
Because this used to be true, more modern safes are designed with very quiet tumblers. When tested by the MythBusters, no one could hear the tumblers, even with they were amplified.
Safecracking Drilling (Season 4)
If one wants to get into a safe quickly and easily, drill a hole and have the tumblers fall where they need to be in order to open the safe.
Adam cracked the safe using some piano wire and a borescope, but the safe was assumed to be crackable by a professional in about five minutes. It took Adam a lot longer than this, and it probably wouldn't be feasible for a thief to spend any extended amount of time on the safe.
Scaling a Building (Season 4)
A person can climb up a twenty-three story building using a system of suction cups.
A person would have to go through physical training in order to be ready to complete such a task. Although possible, it would be very hard to climb to such a height, and Adam didn't have the endurance to do it.
Cereal Nutrition (Season 4)
You'd be better off eating the cereal box than eating the cereal in it, when it comes to some breakfast brands.
Quite aside from the fact that the chemicals in cardboard could prove poisonous, all of the cereals had far more nutritional value than the boxes they came in.
Steam Cannon (Season 4)
Archimedes built a steam cannon with the technology of his era.
The type of cannon described (but built with modern material), could only fire a projectile just out of the barrel. The team tested a modern system with a valve-trigger, and it projected a cannonball farther and using less pressure than the team had thought it would.
Whirlpool of Death: Container Ship (Season 4)
A tidal whirlpool can bring down a large container ship.
No whirlpool ever recorded was strong enough to sink such a ship.
Whirlpool of Death (Season 4)
A fishing trawler can be sunk by a whirlpool.
No whirlpool in recorded history has been strong enough to sink a fishing trawler.
Whirpool of Death (Season 4)
A person can be sucked into the ocean by a whirlpool.
The team weren't able to determine the minimum whirlpool size it would take to sink a person, but it is definitely true that whirlpools can be big enough to drown a swimmer. This is especially true when a person is tired, dizzy and disoriented.
Snowplow Flips Car (Season 4)
A car can be overturned by the air displaced by a passing snowplow if the plow is traveling too fast.
This myth was truly busted when a very large plow, passing a top-heavy SUV, failed to make the car tip at all. The team determined that a semi, traveling at over sixty miles per hour, could only generate around one sixth of the pressure required to tip a vehicle.
Diet Coke and Mentos (Season 4)
Dropping Mentos into Diet Coke creates a veritable geyser. Why does this happen?
Providing nucleation sites, the unglazed Mentos let the Coke's dissolved carbon dioxide escape in a gaseous form. The reaction is also helped along by the artificial sweetener aspartame, the caffeine, potassium benzoate and the Mentos' gelatin. The combination of these ingredients creates a perfect reactoin, forcing the drink to expel its carbon dioxide quickly.
Stamp on a Helicopter (Season 4)
If a stamp is stuck to a helicopter's rotor, it can unbalance the rotors enough to crash the helicopter.
According the the pilot , neither a stamp on the rotor or the tail rotor of a helicopter made any difference to the way it flew.
Shattering Subwoofer (Season 4)
If it is too strong, a car's stereo can break all the windows in the car, due to is bass.
A ridiculously over-sized subwoofer, custom-built by Adam and Jamie, loosened the sunroof of the car. However, because the sunroof was loosened, pressure from the sound waves escaped. Also, the subwoofer broke due to the force, and the team concluded that a regular car audio system couldn't produce the volume of noise necessary to break all the windows.
Rough Road Driving (Season 4)
The faster you drive on an unpaved road, the smoother your ride will be.
This myth was somewhat confirmed when the team drove fast over a "washboard" road and the car skipped over the troughs, its wheels only hitting the ridges. The fast ride was indeed smoother than the slow one.
Fingerprint Lock latex (Season 4)
You can fool a high-tech fingerprint reader by creating a copy of an approved fingerprint with latex. There are ways around some machines' "liveness-sensing" technology. This type of technology is meant to sense pulse and heat to avoid people making fake prints.
Creating a latex replica and licking it made the scanner think that the fingerprint was real. Licking the print provided both warmth and the notion of sweat.
Fingerprint Lock Gel (Season 4)
You can fool a fingerprint scanner by making a ballistics gel copy of a fingerprint that has approval to pass by the scanner. There are also ways to get around such a machine's "liveness-test" that senses things like heat and pulse.
The gel sample was usable when licked. The machine sensed the saliva as both warmth and sweat.
Fingerprint Lock Paper (Season 4)
By creating a fake fingerprint on paper, you can fool an fingerprint scanner that scans for approved prints before opening a door. There are also ways around scanners' "liveness-tests" which check for things like heat and pulse in order to avoid being tricked by fake prints.
The scanner was fooled when the fake print on paper was licked. The scanner would have identified the saliva as both warmth and sweat.
Thermal Motion Sensor: fire extinguisher (Season 4)
You can get around a heat detector that is meant to see things that are above room temperature. The best way to do this is by spraying yourself with a COs fire extinguisher, as is seen in the movie "Sneakers".
Using fire extinguisher on yourself is very dangerous, but it does not foot the heat sensor.
Thermal Motion Sensor Diving Suit (Season 4)
Using s neoprene diving suit will fool a heat sensor that checks for activity by noting things that are above room temperature, like human bodies.
The suit worked until it warmed up, so any use of this would have to be very quick.
Thermal Motion Sensor Mud (Season 4)
Covering oneself in cold mud can fool a heat detector from "seeing" the warmth of your body.
As was the case with the neoprene suit, the mud only worked until the Tory's body heated it up. The other problem with this method is leaving behind a lot of muddy footprints.
Thermal Motion Sensor Room Heat (Season 4)
You can heat a room to the temperature of a human body in order to fool a heat detector into "not seeing" your body.
Heating the room from the ground up failed to set off the sensor, while trying to heat it from the ceiling down made the sensor go off. When the room was the temperature of a human body, the sensor could still notice the difference between a person and the atmosphere around said person.
Thermal Motion Sensor Glass (Season 4)
A pane of glass can fool a heat sensor by blocking the sensor from "seeing" a person's body heat.
The glass worked in that it stoped infrared light from getting to the sensor. Infrared light is heat.
Ultrasonic Motion Sensor Thick Clothing (Season 4)
Very thick clothing can trick a motion detector because the detector tracks doppler shifts that a moving person makes.
The motion detector still saw Kari.
Ultrasonic Motion Sensor Bedsheet (Season 4)
Holding up a common bed sheet in front of oneself is enough to fool a motion detector from seeing you.
The sheet absorbed a lot of ultrasonic waves in order to trick the detector.
Ultrasonic Motion Sensor Slowly (Season 4)
Moving very, very slowly will trick a motion detector into not seeing you.
Kari spent over twenty minutes traveling a very short distance, but the motion detector did not see her, due to the fact that she moved slower than the detector's sampling threshold.
Water Safe (Season 4)
A great way to get into a safe is to drill into it with a thermal lance, pour water into the safe until it is full, then blow up an explosive inside. You will not wreck whatever is inside the safe, and you won't set off the glass re-locker.
You can drill a safe with thermal rods, but it takes far more time than is allowed in the myth. The thermal rods are also hot enough to ruin the safe's contents. Also, the team had to specially waterproof the safe before they could carry out the filling-with-water part of the experiment. They detonated the explosive, and the safe's door opened, but the contents of the safe were well and truly destroyed.
Miniature Earthquake Machine (Season 4)
Nikola Tesla once created a device that could be attached to something, made to vibrate at a particular frequency, and could thus create an earthquake-like effect on the said object.
Once the custom machine was complete, the team performed tests on metal bars. Using the technology presumably available to Tesla, the team could not create a significant result. The test involving a real truss bridge produced a vibration and matched the bridge's frequency, but the vibrations weren't large enough to be considered the size of an earthquake.
Stove Myths lava lamp (Season 4)
Putting a lava lamp on the stove will cause an explosion that can be fatal.
The lava lamps reacted violently. The bad seal on a bottle-capped lamp caused the lamp to leak, and the team managed to get it to blow up by hosing it with cold water. The unfortunate dummy, placed within a believable distance to the lamps, ended up with glass embedded in his ballistics gel-self.
Stove Myths: beans (Season 4)
A can of beans, left on a stove, can explode and kill a person.
The larger the can of beans, the more impressive their explosion. All the cans exploded, and the team pronounced the myth confirmed.
Stove Myths Meat (Season 4)
Potted meat can explode and kill someone if it's left on the stove.
This myth was busted because, although the can blew up, its force was not strong enough to kill someone.
Stove Myths Milk (Season 4)
A large jug of milk can kill someone if it is left on the stove, as it will explode.
The milk jug did explode, but it did not explode with very much force. Given the right circumstances, such an occurrence could prove fatal, but a person would have to be standing very close to the jug.
Straw Through a Palm Tree (Season 4)
Hurricane-force gales can force a piece of straw through the trunk of a palm tree.
The strongest recorded wind speed at ground level is 320 miles per hour. Propelled at this speed from a distance of fifty centimeters, the straw only burrowed 1/4 of an inch into the palm. Just in case some reed had been mistaken for straw when the story was created, the team tested the myth with reed and the reed only made it about two inches into the palm.
Wind Blown Chicken (Season 4)
A chicken can have its feathers blown off by the force of wind alone.
The fastest wind speeds in history did not blow any feathers from the team's tethered chicken. In reality, the chicken would most likely be blown away before any of its feathers came off.
Primary Perception (Season 4)
There is an interconnected consciousness between all living things, and this is clearly indicated by polygraph tests.
The team hooked plants up to a polygraph machine and then inflicted real and imaginary harm upon the plants. They also inflicted such distress upon things in the plant's immediate surroundings. Because the polygraph showed conflicting results, the team resorted to a sensitive EEG machine. They then rigged up a device that dropped eggs into boiling water at random. With this stimulus, the plant did not react. Tory's leukocytes also did not react when he was hit with a stungun.
Killer Cable Slice (Season 4)
A snapped, swinging cable can slice someone in half.
Although a 5/8" cable, strung at thirty-thousand pounds of tension, inflicted some wicked damage to the body of a pig, the cable did not slice through the animal. They managed to successful cut the pig in half when Adam used a forklift to tighten the cable around the pig. Research could not unearth any instances where this myth had played out in real life.
Pottery Record (Archaeoacoustics) (Season 4)
Old pottery can store old sounds, which one can recover.
This myth seems to have been busted, since the team couldn't hear or record any sounds from the pot, even with the most advanaced professional audio gear they could find. They appeared to do everything right, including using a glass needle in their initial tests to avoid scratching the pot.
Air Cylinder of Death Wall (Season 4)
A concrete wall can be destroyed by a compressed air cylinder.
The cylinder not only blasted itself through the MythBusters' concrete wall, but it damaged the concrete wall behind. This, along with historical evidence of such a thing happening, thoroughly confirmed the myth.
Air Cylinder of Death Speedboat (Season 4)
A speedboat can be powered by a cylinder of compressed air.
A boat with two cylinders attached only traveled 120 feet, and only traveled at five knots. The second shot at the myth yielded even worse results, with the boat traveling about half the distance it had on the first try. It also went even slower, leading the team to joke that Jamie could beat it swimming.
Gunpowder Engine (Season 4)
Gunpowder can power an engine. Nothing else is required.
The three designs the team used did work, but not for more than one cycle. There appeared to be no sensible way to use gunpowder as an alternate to gasoline, and the team couldn't effectively convert a lawnmower to run solely on gunpowder.
Sword vs. Gun (Season 4)
A machine gun can be halved with a sword.
The sword failed to cut the machine gun barrel in half. The team then heated up a machine gun's barrel, and then attempted to cut it in two with a specially built sword machine. Their next step was to quickly heat up, then cool down the gun with the purpose of making it very brittle. Both methods failed to produce any successful results. Their last step was to try and half a smaller barrel, but this also failed.
Exploding Lighter Welding Tool (Season 4)
Putting a cigarette lighter underneath a welding tool can make the lighter explode.
The welding tool ended up igniting a small explosion when it melted the lighter's plastic case, letting the fuel leak.
Exploding Lighter laundry (Season 4)
If you put a lighter into the dryer, it may explode.
The lighter did not explode, and in fact, did not sustain any damage whatsoever.
Exploding Lighter Golf Ball (Season 4)
Hitting a lighter with a golf club can make it blow up.
Just striking the lighter with the club did not do anything; however, striking it while it was lit made it blow up.
Exploding Lighter Dashboard (Season 4)
If left on a car's dashboard, a lighter can blow up.
The temperature would have to get above 350 degrees Fahrenheit in order prompt an explosion, and a car's temperature would never get that hot under normal circumstances. The maximum temperature that the inside of a car usually gets to is around 180 degrees Fahrenheit.
Exploding Lighter Lethal (Season 4)
The explosion generated by just one lighter can kill a person.
To test this, the team put a lighter in the pocket of a pair of pants. They then put the pants underneath a welding tool. Despite the heat and the sparks, the lighter did not explode, although the pants did catch on fire.
Exploding Lighter 500 (Season 4)
A car filled with 500 lighters can explode, killing someone in the near vicinity.
This myth was tested and considered plausible when the team slowly heated up 500 lighters inside a car. The lighters would rupture, thus releasing fumes. Given the right type of ignition, the fumes blew up. The car ended up on fire.
Gunslinger Myths coin (Season 4)
Good gunslingers from days past could fire off five shots in between dropping a coin and having the coin reach the ground.
After concluding that no one could get off more than one shot in the allowed time, Grant constructed a machine to fire the gun. The pistols were not capable of firing fast enough to get off five shots in the time allowed. A gunslinger told the MythBusters that completing five shots would be "extremely difficult".
Gunslinger Myths: silver dollar (Season 4)
Old West gunslingers could fire a bullet through a silver dollar.
Using real silver dollars from the era specified, the team used a Navy and a Peacemaker revolver. The guns could not fire a bullet through the dollar; they just inflicted dents. A .357 Magnum shot a hole in the dollar, but that style of gun was not avaiable until the 1930s, which is too late for the purpose of the myth. The myth was busted.
Gunslinger Myths hanging (Season 4)
Gunslingers could save a person who was about to be hung by shooting the rope in two.
Instead of breaking the rope, the bullets bounced off it and would not have saved a hanging victim. The myth was declared busted when a professional and his Winchester rifle had to try several times before he could break the rope.
Train Suction (Season 4)
A person can be sucked onto train tracks by the vortex of a train going by.
Ted the dummy simply tell down, away from the train, when this myth was played out to scale. A smaller scale test showed a vortex, but other factors appeared to influence the real-life scenario. However, everyone could agree that standing right alongside train tracks as a train goes by is thoroughly inadvisable.
Concrete Glider (Season 4)
You can create a functional glider from concrete.
Amazingly, Adam made a glider that flew thirty-four feet after being launched from a height of nine feet. Jamie's glider was less functional, taking a nose-dive for the ground. Research showed that Germany had considered concrete gliders during the Second World War. Ultimately, the team decided that while it is possible to make a concrete glider fly, it is too dangerous, and the concrete is very brittle and its structural integrity would not survive even the shortest fall.
Firearms Folklore Fused Bullets (Season 4)
If two bullets collide mid-flight, they can fuse together. This happened during the American Civil War.
The first attempt at recreating this myth was unsuccessful, as it proved nigh-on impossible to have two Civil War-era rifles fire in unison, facing each other. The team then took one rifle and shot at a bullet that was hanging in the air. When the two bullets hit each other, they did indeed fuse together. This confirmed that--although this isn't a likely occurrence--two bullets can fuse together if they hit each other whilst in flight.
Firearms Folklore: Shot Through the Scope (Season 4)
By shooting another sniper straight through his or her scope, one sniper can kill another sniper.
The team used SWAT sniper rifles with standard ammunition to fire at a dummy, placed behind a scoped rifle. However, the dummy was unharmed after multiple shots, due to the bullets being deflected by the scope's many lenses. The MythBusters concluded that this myth is probably busted, since they were unable to crack the scope's lenses.
Firearms Folklore: Empty Chamber (Season 4)
By aiming at the chamber of an empty gun, you can shoot a bullet from one chamber, into the other.
This myth was confirmed, as the team fired a bullet into an empty chamber of another revolver. The myth played out exactly as it was said to, as the bullet became lodged inside the revolver's chamber.
Hammer vs. Hammer (Season 4)
Two hammers striking each other at the same time will result in one of the hammers shattering.
Wooden-handled hammers broke in half; metal-handled hammers warped and bent. The team made the steel hammers more brittle with heat treatment, but they still didn't shatter. The only inkling that the myth might be plausible were the warnings on the hammers that instructed users not to hit anything with too much force. The only hazard was some high-speed chips that could threaten people's eyes.
Antigravity (Season 4)
Anti-gravity is not impossible to achieve.
Not one of the devices said to be capable of anti-gravity was actually able to do so. The devices that did get off the ground were generating an upward force. This balances out the downward force of gravity, and does not constitute anti-gravity, the same as airplanes are not anti-gravitational. The myth is considered Busted, but the team would re-open the case, as the theory of anti-gravity couldn't be completely ruled out after simply discrediting several machines.
Christmas Lights (Season 4)
Christmas lights can set a Christmas tree on fire.
The team laced a dried out Christmas tree with 2500 lights. Forty minutes later, the tree hadn't lit itself on fire. Using a spark that they created in order to replicate a short circuit, they team managed to start a fire, but myth stated that the fire could be started by the lights alone and was thus considered busted.
Vodka Myths IV (Season 4)
The pain of being stung by a jellyfish can be remedied with vodka.
A vodka-based remedy was about as good as a traditional water-based treatment at making the pain of a sting go away. Kari received a sting, and she reported that the vodka was quite effective at taking the pain away.
22,000 Foot Fall (Season 4)
A French airman survived a 22,000 foot fall when he landed on a glass-ceilinged train station and a 1000 lbs bomb went off in the train station at the exact moment he fell on to the glass.
The team tested both small scale and full scale experiments, and in both cases, the shockwave didn't make much of a difference on the rate at which a falling body dropped. In addition to this, a blast from a 1000 lbs bomb would probably kill a person with shrapnel.
Lights On/Off (Season 4)
The surge of power when a light is turned on means that it's actually more energy efficient to leave lights on than it is to turn them on and off as you enter and leave rooms.
The power surge was equal to leaving a light on for a very, very short period of time. For most bulbs, the difference was just a fraction of a second (23 seconds for the fluorescent bulb). The stress on the bulb of being turned on and off also didn't shorten the bulb's life enough to justify the higher use of electricity that would come from just leaving the light on.
Hindenburg Mystery (Season 5)
Rather than being destroyed due to the hydrogen that it was fueled by, the Hindenburg disaster was caused by the highly flammable doping compound used to paint it.
The Mythbusters combined the same compounds found in the Hindenburg's pait, and discovered that they could be combined to form thermite. Unfortunately, the real proportions of the compounds were discovered to be inflammable. 3 scale models of the Hindenburg were made, and the one with the historically accurate thermite/hydrogen combination burned the most similar to the actual Hindenburg footage.
Crocodile Zig Zags (Season 5)
You're able to outrun a crocodile by running in a zig zag pattern.
The team build a zig zag running overhead track system, and tried, unsuccessfully, to get a real live crocodile to chase them. The crocodiles never gave full chase -- rather they just lunged or followed them slowly. It was concluded that most crocodiles kill their prey by ambushing them, avoiding an out of water chase all together.
Frozen Urine (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
Urine can freeze mid-air in very cold conditions.
The team tested this myth at a temperature of negative 70 degrees Fahrenheit, and their synthetic urine did not freeze.
Jet Assisted Chevy (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
Attaching a car to the JATO rocket means that the car can reach speeds of 300 mph. At this speed, it can become airborne and can hit the side of a cliff.
The Air Force refused to impart a JATO rocket to the MythBusters team, so they resorted to three rocket motors that equaled the power of a JATO rocket. The car sped up when these were attached, but the car did not reach 300 mph and did not take flight.
Pop Rocks and Soda (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
Your stomach will blow up if you drink a lot of cola and eat Pop Rocks.
Although a stomach will not explode, the stomach's owner will end up in some considerable pain.
Vacuum Toilet (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
If one is somewhat overweight, one can get stuck in an airplane's toilet due to an unfortunate vacuum effect.
A human can overcome the 3 psi suction strength of an airplane's toilet. Also, it is nearly impossible to perfectly seal aircrafts' toilets, and they only flush for about three seconds.
Biscuit Bazooka (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
If a tin of biscuit dough explodes, it can hit you in similar fashion to that emitted by a bullet if the dough is too hot. This happened to a woman, and she believed she'd been shot.
Although it is possible for dough to powerfully blow out of its tin at a temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit, the MythBusters couldn't find an account of this actually happening to anyone.
Leaping Lawyer (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
A lawyer fell from his twenty-fourth floor office when he ran at a plate-glass window which gave way when he hit it.
A journalist confirmed that this actually happened to a man in Toronto, and the team also tested the myth. They found that a 160lb person running at about 4.7 miles an hour would break through pressurized plate glass. This is not an unreasonable speed to reach in an office, and thus the myth was confirmed.
Goldfinger (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
You can die of skin asphyxiation if your body is completely covered in gold paint, as is seen in the film "Goldfinger".
The team painted Jamie with gold paint, and he survived for more than an hour. The only negative effect he reported was a short-lived flu-ish feeling. In the myth, the actress in the Bond movie is reported to have died from the paint. The team confirmed that the actress, Shirley Eaton, did not in fact die and is currently still alive.
Larry's Lawn Chair Balloon (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
Using nothing but weather balloons and a lawn chair, it is possible to fly. You can land using an airgun. This was carried out by Larry Walters.
This event was proven to have taken place by FAA documents, but the team carried it out nonetheless. A rig of sixteen plastic weather balloons and a lawn chair took Adam to a height of seventy-five feet (with cables attached for safety). He descended successfully by shooting some of the balloons.
Poppy Seed Drug Test (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
If you eat too many poppy seed bagels (or other things that contain said seeds) you can test positive for heroin on a drug test.
A very sensitive test can show a false positive for heroin. This is because heroin is made from Morphine and is a semi-synthetic opioid.
Turkey Explode (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
If dropped into a deep fryer very quickly, a thawed turkey may blow up.
The bird didn't explode, but doing such a thing can make boiling oil splash everywhere.
Champagne with a Silver Spoon (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
If your champagne loses its effervescence too quickly for your liking, you can put a silver spoon in the bottle in order to keep it bubblier.
The champagne containing the spoon ended up being less fizzy than opened, re-corked and unopened champagne.
Icicle (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
A falling icicle can be fatal if it hits a person.
The icicle would have to be longer than one and a half feet long. If such an icicle fell on someone, it could indeed kill him or her.
Naked Snowman (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
Dressing your snowman will cause it to melt more slowly than if it is left naked.
The team tested this myth in 80 degree Fahrenheit weather. Their naked snowman melted a lot quicker than their dressed one, as the clothing insulated the snowman and slowed the rising of the temperature.
Fireplace (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
The area directly surrounding the fireplace is cooler than all other parts of the room when there is a fire in the fireplace.
The area right by the fireplace was about one degree cooler than the room as a whole.
Hollywood on Trial Bullets (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
Bullets that ricochet off of other things can produce sparks.
It took a couple of attempts, but the team did finally manage to make this one work. The team determined that this one was pretty improbable, but it was proven to be possible when Kari shot at a picture of Adam and Jamie, and Grant shot paint balls at it. Tory watched the sparks.
Hollywood on Trial Tin Man (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
Jack Haley, who played the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz in 1939, was hospitalized after he had a very bad reaction to the silver aluminum paint that covered significant parts of his body.
Kari had no adverse reaction to the aluminum paint. There is some truth to this myth, however. The story is thus: the part of the Tin Man was originally given to Buddy Ebsen, who later starred in The Beverly Hillbillies. He had a reaction to the paint that was almost fatal. The cause was his breathing in the aluminum powder used in experimental makeup. Not only was Ebsen replaced, but the makeup was replaced with paint. Haley himself did not have any bad reactions to the paint.
Hollywood on Trial Wooden Door (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
A relatively well-built man can burst through a wood door frame using his strength alone.
The team made a door frame that met the standards of the American Building Code, and Jamie broke through three of four locks on it. The fourth lock held up due to the stronger screws that the team used. Adam could not break through the fourth lock, either, but due to the ease with which the first three locks were busted, the team decided that the myth could easily be carried out in real life.
Hollywood on Trial Glass Window (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
Hollywood does not lie: a person can be thrown through a glass window and not suffer any ill effects, walking away from the incident as though it had not happened.
If the glass is very thin, one could survive a fall through it without too many injuries. However, given glass with a thickness of more than half an inch, one would suffer substantial lacerations. The glass that Hollywood uses is called sugar glass and it does not fragment into sharp pieces. Being thrown through this does not really mimic being thrown through real glass.
Hollywood on Trial: Gasoline (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
A lit cigarette is all it takes to let an entire pool of gasoline on fire.
Although a lit cigarette could light a pool of gas on fire, it does not have many sustained heat. It is highly improbable that a pool of gas would ignite, given that a cigarette is hottest at about 450 degrees, and it takes heat of around 500 degrees to light gas. Also, a cigarette is only this hot when it is actually being smoked.
JAWS Scuba Tank (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
Shooting a pressurized scuba tank will cause it to blow up.
This was busted when the tank simply whizzed around like a compressed-air rocket when it was hit by the bullet. The team blew up a tank, but they had to use explosives.
JAWS barrel (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
A Great White Shark is strong enough to tug barrels under the water.
The sharks are strong enough to do this.
JAWS Barrels underwater (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
After pulling barrels underwater, a Great White Shark is strong enough to hold them there.
Although the shark could pull barrels underwater, its force is not strong enough to hold the barrels under the water for a long time.
JAWS Dive Cage (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
A Great White Shark is strong enough to wreck a dive cage if it rams the cage hard enough.
The team's "ShaRammer" did tear away a good part of the cage.
JAWS Boat Ram (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
A Great White Shark is strong enough to rip a hole in a boat by ramming into it.
Although there is no documentation of this ever having happened, a Great White Shark is strong enough tear a hole in a boat.
JAWS Boat Pulling (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
A Great White Shark is strong and fast enough to tow a boat backwards fast enough to cause waves to break over the boat's rear end.
The shark is not strong enough to tow a boat for long enough to make this happen.
JAWS Punching (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
The best way to get a shark to back away is by punching it in the gills, nose or eyes.
The gills proved to be the best place to hit a shark in order to have it back off. The sharks were also not quick to mount a counterattack when hit in these three places.
JAWS Piano Wire (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
A special piano wire can be used to catch a shark.
The piano wire was not strong enough to trap a shark.
Dukes of Hazzard: Flying Cars (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
Sustaining only a small amount of damage, a car can fly quite some way when it is driven off a pile or dirt.
The team's car flew one hundred and seventy-two feet, which is only three feet shorter than the distance that the Dukes of Hazzard car is thought to have jumped. The "minimal damage" part of the myth was busted, however, when the car nose-dived and was completely wrecked upon landing. Most stunt cars don't live through long jumps, even if they make the distance.
Big Trouble in Little China: Shooting Locks (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
Shooting a lock with a handgun will break the lock and let one through the door.
Both padlocks and deadbolts were not broken with a nine millimeter pistol or a .357 Magnum.
Shoot the Lock (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
You can break a lock with a shotgun or rifle.
Slugs from the shotgun and ammunition from the high-powered rifle destroyed the locks and thus broke into what the locks were meant to be guarding. This method of entry would be hazardous, however, because of the risk of ricochet. The military and SWAT teams use a method similar to this, but they have shotgun cartridges that are specifically designed to break locks without the above mentioned dangers.
Austin Powers Goldmember: Ejector Seat (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
An ejector seat is not impossible to discreetly place in a car.
Such a seat is best disguised in a roomy car, whereas the cars in spy films are usually streamlined sports cars. The team installed a pneumatic ejector seat into a car, and most people could not tell that there was anything different about the seats. The seat was also successful in ejecting Buster from the car.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom: Falling through Awnings (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
Falling through layers of awnings is survivable.
Buster sustained some serious injuries, but his shock sensors predicted that, if he were human, he would have survived the fall. On movie sets, teams employ pre-cut awnings and safety wires during stunts like this, and Adam was going to perform the stunt, but insurance issues meant that he could not.
Underworld: Shooting Through (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
You can flee from a room by shooting a ring around yourself.
A fully-automatic MP-5 could not break the support beams quickly enough, and still could not do so with the help of a 12-gauge. Tory went through 360 rounds of ammunition while performing this stunt, and thus actually doing this would waste far too much firepower to be a good method of escape.
The Count of Monte Cristo: Swords (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
A sword can cut through another sword's blade.
The only sword that cut through another was a genuine Japanese Katana, and it managed to cut a replica sword, made of stainless-steel. Using genuine sword on genuine sword, none of the swords could actually slice through each other.
Free Energy (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
A coil of baling wire placed underneath a power line can produce free energy.
Wrapping a large coil of wire around a PVC pipe box, the team took the rig to some power lines and attempted to harness some electricity. The end result was just 8 millivolts of electricity, which is virtually useless. In order to "catch" any significant electricity, you would need literally thousands of pounds of wiring. This practice would also be against the law, as well as difficult and dangerous.
Egg-uinox (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
An egg can be balanced on its ends, but only during the two annual equinoxes.
Eggs can be balanced on their ends at any time during the year; there is nothing unique about the spring or autumn equinox that would make this easier. As a point, however, it is easier to do this with hard boiled eggs than it is with raw eggs.
Shark Yellow (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
Sharks are more attracted to bright colors than they are to dull ones.
The sharks did appear to be more attracted to the yellow seal dummy than they did to the other dummmies, whose colors were "duller" than yellow.
Shark Blood (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
Sharks will notice one drop of blood in a large pool of regular water.
The sharks ignored or didn't notice the human blood, but they did notice and react to fish blood. However, sharks cannot detect the blood until they actually come into direct contact with it, which is the case with any scent. Also, water dilutes the blood, and thus the scent weakens with time.
Shark Skin Sandpaper (Season Pilots, Specials and Mini-myths)
The texture of shark skin is like sandpaper and can be used in the same way.
The shark's skin was indeed similar to high-grain sandpaper. Jamie and Adam could use the skin on a rotary sander, it was so effective.
308 Total Myths |
55 Confirmed |
9 Partially Confirmed |
9 Partially Busted |
50 Plausible |
185 Busted
Created by of Drivl.com. Special thanks in part to Brandon Potteiger and for help writing and rewriting the myths.