MythBusters (2015 season)

==Episode 223 – "The Simpsons Special"==

• Original air date: January 10, 2015 Adam and Jamie investigate two scenes from the animated series The Simpsons. Showrunner and executive producer Al Jean makes a guest appearance. Homer Wrecker }. He used upholstery foam to build a hollow framework for the body and had a solid plastic mold fabricated for the head. After he and Jamie coated the mold with a layer of latex, they filled it with polyurethane foam to create the head. The body was painted with waterproof rubber and filled with water to match Homer's weight of . Jamie built a wrecking ball by pouring concrete around two hemispherical steel frameworks set in holes dug into the ground, then letting the halves cure for several days before gluing them together. The finished ball measured in diameter and weighed , matching the one used on the show. Adam and Jamie next built two house end walls with structural bracing to meet local building codes. With the ball pulled back to avoid tipping the crane to which it was attached, they swung it at one wall to evaluate the damage without Homer hanging on. The impact caused severe buckling and knocked a section of the chimney loose; when they attached Homer and repeated the test on the other wall, it flexed but exhibited much less visible damage, and Homer remained intact. Adam and Jamie classified the myth as plausible. Toilet Bomb }; tests at each of several positions always sent a burst of water from each toilet. Placing a clog in the pipes led to a gusher of water instead, due to the pressure pushing against incompressible water rather than air. For a full-scale test, Adam and Jamie set a platform at the bomb range and mounted three toilets on it with common piping. To see if the fuse would have kept burning after the flush, they made a bomb of their own with a long fuse, placed it in a bucket of water, and lit the fuse. The gunpowder in the fuse allowed it to keep burning underwater, and the bomb exploded and shattered the bucket. With the pipes clogged, Adam and Jamie placed a bomb at the midpoint of the initial shared outlet pipe for the system and set it off. The explosion blew all three toilets off their mountings, which were not strong enough to withstand the force of the blast. A second test, with the toilets bolted directly to the piping and the bomb repositioned to the lowest point in the system, led to the same result and partially/completely destroyed them. Since they could not match the geysers of water seen in the episode, Adam and Jamie judged the myth busted. Al Jean would later justify the episode depiction by reasoning that the school would have reinforced the bathroom plumbing in order to protect it against a meltdown at the nearby nuclear plant, which he sardonically described as being run by "idiots." ==Episode 224 – "Indiana Jones Special"==

• Original air date: January 17, 2015 Adam and Jamie investigate two scenes from the film Raiders of the Lost Ark. Temple Run } and avoid 16 separate dart launchers. Jamie built enough wall-mounted paintball guns to match, triggered by floor-mounted pressure plates. Adam and Jamie then constructed a mockup of the temple chamber and adjusted the time delay between triggering the plate and firing the gun to match that seen in the film (1 second). After further troubleshooting, Adam donned protective padding and ran across the chamber, matching Indy's running posture and speed. He was able to stay well ahead of the shots with the 1-second delay; when it was reduced to almost zero, he did take one hit. He and Jamie judged the myth to be plausible due to the fictionalized nature of the scenario. The Science of Whips }, slightly in excess of the speed of sound (). ==Episode 225 – "A-Team Special"==

• Original air date: January 24, 2015 Adam and Jamie test two scenes from the television series The A-Team. Log Shooter }, as used in the scene, and bored out its center to serve as the cannon barrel. Jamie connected the breech to a propane tank and set up a spark generator as the ignition system. Their first trials, with a 5-second propane charge, failed to ignite; Adam realized that the fuel/air mixture contained too much propane to be flammable. When they used a 1-second charge, the mixture ignited but the plank projectile remained in place. Realizing that the space between the plank and the barrel wall allowed the combustion gases to escape, Adam machined a plastic plug to fit onto the end and seal the breech. The next test barely pushed the plank free of the cannon. Jamie then pumped oxygen into the breech along with the propane in an attempt to raise the explosion pressure. The first test with this mixture launched the plank across the workshop at high speed, but also split the cannon along its length. After patching it together, they tried several other propane/oxygen ratios but were unable to get a satisfactory launch. Declaring the myth busted at this point, they traveled to an abandoned lumber yard and gave themselves one hour to build a workable board launcher from tools and supplies on hand. They built a device similar to a baseball pitching machine, using an air-powered torque wrench to spin a trailer wheel at high speed and hurl boards fed to it from an ammunition hopper. With the rig mounted on a swiveling/tilting carriage carried by a forklift, they were able to hit a group of pop-up targets arranged as they were in the scene and achieve projectile speeds near . Sewer Blast } and to gauge shrapnel injuries. The explosion destroyed the car, with the blast wave spreading to either side from underneath and subjecting the bystanders to a lethal pressure of . Buster's sensors gave a peak of - survivable, but with multiple severe injuries. They then dug a trench and covered it with metal plates and dirt to create a sewer with a manhole. One end was left open to the atmosphere in order to replicate an actual sewer system with areas for gases to expand. They set the dynamite just below the surface of the open manhole, put the cover in place, and placed a second car directly above it, with Buster and the bystanders positioned as before. This time, the blast briefly lifted the car into the air and inflicted much less damage than in the control test. Buster and the bystanders experienced pressures of and , respectively, both survivable with minor injuries. Adam and Jamie decided that the myth was plausible. ==Episode 226 – "Video Game Special"==

• Original air date: January 31, 2015 Adam and Jamie test two video game scenarios. Doom }), and crew members stood in for the enemies. Adam and Jamie each ran the level twice, stopping to pick up all items along the way and attacking the enemies. For the first run, they discarded the weapon they were carrying once they found a new one; for the second, they had to carry everything they picked up throughout the level. Jamie went first, achieving a time of 5:53 for his first run, while Adam did the same in 5:38. Their respective times on the second run were 11:59 and 10:17, with the increased weight and bulk of the items slowing them down greatly through the latter part of the level. Adam and Jamie then brought in professional mixed martial arts fighter Brendan Schaub to run the level, as they considered him to be a better real-world analog of the character controlled by the player in the game. His run times showed little difference (4:00 when discarding weapons, 4:03 while carrying them all), prompting them to declare the myth plausible as long as the person involved is in excellent physical shape. Fruit Ninja ==Episode 227 – "Transformers"==

• Original air date: February 7, 2015 Adam and Jamie test myths related to vehicle transformation. Motorcycle Car } before tipping over. They deemed the myth busted, commenting that a loss of balance or a snagged body part or article of clothing could lead to severe injury. Aqua Bike ==Episode 228 – "San Francisco Drift"==

• Original air date: February 14, 2015 Adam and Jamie test myths related to automotive drifting. Drift Turn }, they were to make each turn as quickly as possible using both drifting and non-drifting techniques. Adam hit the barricades on his first several attempts, but eventually achieved a time of 4 seconds for both drift and non-drift. Jamie recorded 4 seconds on his non-drift run, but repeatedly hit barricades on his drift runs and caused increasing amounts of damage to the car. From this point on, he performed only the non-drift trials while Adam carried out the drifting. In a 180-degree turn, their best times were 8 seconds (Jamie) and 9 seconds (Adam). Next they set up a road driving course with assorted twists and turns, and each drove several laps to achieve the best time possible. Jamie's fastest time was 1:54.50; after several laps with mistakes, Adam posted an identical error-free time. Finally, Conrad ran the course in 2:00, leading Adam and Jamie to call the myth busted, with Adam commenting that Conrad's time was longer than his owing to Conrad's more refined technique (thus demonstrating the real effect that safe drifting would actually have). Powerslide Parking } long, marked off with traffic cones and a wooden curb, and tried to drift into it while driving at . After repeated failures due to either hitting the cones or missing the space, they both successfully parked the car - Jamie at a 90-degree turn, Adam at 180 degrees. They then replaced the cones with actual cars and shortened the space to to simulate a real-world scenario. Adam, outfitted in racing protective equipment, repeatedly hit one or both cars when he tried to drift into the space. He failed again with a limousine, hitting and eventually destroying the foam cutouts that were put in place of the cars to avoid any damage. Conrad then drifted the limousine into the space without hitting the curb or the cutouts, prompting Adam and Jamie to classify the myth as plausible. ==Episode 229 – "Blow It Out of the Water"==

• Original air date: July 18, 2015 Adam and Jamie test two myths related to "blowing it out of the water", one literal and one metaphorical. Boat Lift } of water, placed a model boat inside, and detonated 15-gram charges of black powder at varying depths. A surface detonation destroyed the boat, while a test at half depth lifted and flipped the boat, but also blew out the seals holding the panels to the tank frame. Once the tank was repaired, they performed a third test with the charge at the bottom and were able to lift the boat, but not as far as in the second test. For a full-scale test, they set a , steel-hulled boat on a quarry lake, anchored to the shore to keep it in place. An explosive charge of ANFO was hung underneath the boat at a depth of , half the total depth of the lake, and sand was added to ensure that the charge would not float to the surface. The detonation system failed on the first attempt; after it was replaced, the ANFO charge blew the boat to pieces. Adam and Jamie judged the myth as busted, and Jamie commented that the explosion created a bubble of gas that expanded with enough force to tear the boat apart rather than lift it. Machine Gun Booby Trap Before this episode, Jamie, Adam, Kari, Tory and Grant had busted two Breaking Bad myths from Season 1 on a Breaking Bad special in 2013: The use of hydrofluoric acid to completely dissolve a body and eat through a bathtub and a floor (from ''Cat's in the Bag) and the use of mercury fulminate to incapacitate attackers without harming the user (from Crazy Handful of Nothin'). Breaking Bad'' creator/director Vince Gilligan and co-star Aaron Paul (Jesse Pinkman) had appeared in the 2013 special. ==Episode 230 – "Flights of Fantasy"==

• Original air date: July 25, 2015 Adam and Jamie test two flight related myths. U-2 Flight }, technical issues of takeoff and landing, and being able to move and work while wearing high-altitude pressure suits. The plane only had space for one passenger; noting Adam's enthusiasm for the U-2, Jamie allowed him to take the flight. As the plane flew a practice mission to a maximum altitude of , Adam commented on the crew's activities during all phases of the flight. During the landing, the pilot's limited visibility required a second pilot to follow him in a chase car and talk him down, with Jamie riding along. Due to the difficulties associated with the specialized purpose for which the plane was designed and built, Adam and Jamie classified the myth as plausible and "Ultra-Cool." Deadly Drones ==Episode 231 – "Accidental Ammo"==

• Original US air date: August 1, 2015 • Original Finland air date: May 27, 2015 Adam and Jamie test two myths of possibly lethal projectiles. Lethal Lawnmowers }. For comparison, Jamie returned to the firing range and fired bullets of various calibers, measuring speeds between and . Since the rocks had more mass than the bullets, Adam and Jamie decided to investigate the relative energy carried by each. They built a ballistic pendulum to measure the energy, based on how far the pendulum swung up after being struck by a projectile. A test with a .357 Magnum round gave an angle of 60 degrees; with a rock fired from an air cannon at , the pendulum swung 66 degrees. Since this result meant that the rock was delivering more energy than the bullet, Adam and Jamie declared the myth confirmed. Jamie then decided to build what he described as the "Lawnmower from Hell," using a motor and a blade spinning at 5,000 rpm. After he tested it by running over a bucket of water and shredding it, Adam set up a course of other objects, including rocks, wooden pallets, and metal debris. However, as soon as Jamie hit the first obstacle—a group of watermelons—the blade broke loose and spun across the grass. He and Adam decided not to test the mower any further until they could improve its reliability. Glass Guillotine }. The pane was by , with a thickness of . After their first test resulted in a miss due to the pane drifting off target, Adam designed a guide system to bring it down accurately. Once the system was installed, a second test led to a direct hit but inflicted only crushing injuries on the dummy. When they switched to a pane of plate glass that they had broken to give a sharp edge, the impact cut the dummy into two pieces. Adam and Jamie noted that tempered glass is designed to fracture into small pieces when broken, while plate glass can shatter into dangerous shards; however, being hit by a pane of either type would still lead to fatal injuries. They classified the myth as busted for tempered glass (used in modern office buildings), but plausible for plate glass. ==Episode 232 – "Dangerous Driving"==

• Original air date: August 8, 2015 The MythBusters test two myths related to driving, and how dangerous they are. Distracted Driving Driving in Reverse ==Episode 233 – "Supernatural Shooters"==

• Original US air date: August 15, 2015 • Original Netherlands and Belgium air date: May 10, 2015 Adam and Jamie test two myths related to unusual use of bullets. Actor Jonathan Banks, from Breaking Bad, makes a guest appearance. Shooting Through Walls }. Copper plumbing pipes within one wall changed the trajectory slightly, while a steel electrical junction box in the last one stopped the bullet completely. Adam set up a full-size cutout of himself to move via remote control on a track that ran behind a wall. One man remotely controlled the target's motion, while the other fired. For the first test, the target was moved at a consistent walking speed behind the wall, and one shot was allowed; both Adam and Jamie were able to score a hit. In a second test, the target was equipped with a speaker that broadcast the sound of footsteps, and the shooter was given three shots as it moved back and forth. Neither Adam nor Jamie was able to hit it under these conditions. For a final test, they traveled to Mare Island Naval Shipyard and set up a labyrinth of rooms with paper walls. Armed with paintball guns, they were allowed a maximum of 8 shots each per trial; the first to hit the other was the winner. Jamie beat Adam twice, using a combination of briefly glimpsing Adam through the doorways, predicting his movements, and listening for his approach. Based on both these results and the firing range tests, they classified the myth as confirmed. Shoot 'Em Up Bullets }, due to the lack of a gun barrel to focus the pressure of the expanding gases in a single direction. When they repeated the test with a ballistic gelatin dummy placed directly in front of the hand, the bullet struck the chest, but embedded itself very shallowly. Based on the long time and high heat needed to set the cartridge off and the minimal injury inflicted, they declared the myth busted. ==Episode 234 – "Unfinished Business"==

• Original air date: August 22, 2015 Adam and Jamie revisit four past episodes to address viewers' disputes over myth results and suggestions for additional testing. Video Game Skills Spy Car Tacks Get a Grip Super Fast Reload ==Episode 235 – "MythBusters vs. Jaws"==

• Original air date: August 29, 2015 Adam and Jamie revisit a myth based on the film Jaws and test two new shark-based myths. This episode is part of Discovery's new two-day shark-themed weekend called "Shweekend". Jaws Finale Revisit } of air at in its mouth. The bottom of the tank faced outward, and Adam shot it with a .30-06 rifle from , to match the movie scene. Although the bullet punctured the tank, the air release drove it only a few feet down the gullet; it did not enter the esophagus, and Adam and Jamie reasoned that the shark might be able to expel it. For their second test, they investigated the effect of a grazing impact, thinking that it could create a weak spot in the tank wall and lead to an explosion. Adam fired six shots at the side of the tank, all of which ricocheted away without effect; a seventh shot, with a .30-06 armor-piercing round, gave the same result. When Jamie shot the tank bottom with a .50 sniper rifle, it punctured and was propelled into Brewster's body, bursting out near the tail. Another shot, to the side of the tank, also failed to burst it. Declaring the myth busted, they fitted a tank with a small charge of C-4 and set it off in Brewster's mouth; the tank exploded with enough force to tear the head off and shred the body with shrapnel. Orca Shark Repellent Dead Shark Repellent ==Episode 236 – "Star Wars 2"==

• Original air date: September 5, 2015 For the second time, the MythBusters explore sagas related to the Star Wars universe with two more myths. Blaster Dodge }. Jamie built a pneumatic cannon to launch projectiles at this speed, testing various materials for safety and behavior in flight. Polyethylene foam slugs and standard Ping-Pong balls did not fly straight or reach the required speed, but foam balls with dart-like shafts and feathers performed satisfactorily. They set up a replica of a Rebel ship passageway, long, with the launcher mounted in a stand and firing from one end to the other. When they test-fired on a Stormtrooper mannequin, they found the shots hitting far off target, suggesting a problem with the mass-produced shafts and feathers. Jamie replaced these with two wooden ice cream spoons, crossed to make the ball spin in flight, and was able to hit the mannequin consistently. Each man fired three shots at the other and hit him every time. In a second trial, the shooter held the launcher in a "carry" position, with the barrel lowered, and had to raise it to firing position before each shot. Even with this change, neither Adam nor Jamie was able to dodge any of the shots. They classified the myth as busted, but watched as fencing expert Colby Boothman successfully deflected some shots with a bamboo sword, noting that a Jedi knight could possibly protect himself with his lightsaber. High Ground ==Notes==