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MYTHBUSTERS 3/24/10: "Soda Cup Killer"

Christopher

Writer
Admiral
Cup vs. Car: Interesting myth. It seems possible that such a projectile could do some harm at highway speeds. Anyway, it's always fun when they get an excuse to fire weird stuff out of a really big air cannon. I liked the Large Hadron Collider nod.

The driving/windshield test was pretty straightforward, though I am a bit surprised at how easily the cup shattered the windshield.

"Pop gun," Jamie? Ouch.


Ledge dangling: I'm glad to see this one tested, since it's something that often bugs me in action shows/movies. The one thing that really bugs me, though, is something they aren't testing: the bit where the hero is falling off a building at high speed, catches a ledge, and stops falling. Of course, I'm sure that's a physical impossibility, but it would be nice to test with Buster just how thoroughly it would break your fingers or arms to try it.

In fact, the whole ledge-hanging test overlooked that issue, because the Mythbusters were able to ease themselves into position, whereas the action hero would have to catch the ledge and hang on while slipping or falling. That would be far, far harder to achieve in the first place.

Dang, Tory hurting his shin like that was disturbing. I don't believe they didn't figure out in advance that it was dangerous to hang him over an open window like that. But it is a graphic demonstration of the forces involved in falling even a single story.

I'm surprised the downdraft from a chopper isn't more forceful. I guess the key is that it's over a fairly small surface area. Add that up over the full ground area underneath the rotors and it's a lot more force.

Also surprising how well the climb into the chopper worked. The problem is, a lot of action movies show the hero hanging for a much longer period of time, and I guess that has the same problem as the ledge myth. Unless it's the kind of stunt where the hero is hanging from a ladder dangling from the chopper -- then you can wrap your arms around the ropes or whatever and hang on much longer.

And darn it, why couldn't the fan have blown Jessi's shirt up higher?
 
And darn it, why couldn't the fan have blown Jessi's shirt up higher?

:lol: It looked like they cut away at a strategic moment.


Pretty fun show, the cup of slush is suprisingly potent! I loved the pop gun too. The secondary crew had a decent outing as well. I didn't notice any real lulls.
 
I'm surprised the downdraft from a chopper isn't more forceful. I guess the key is that it's over a fairly small surface area. Add that up over the full ground area underneath the rotors and it's a lot more force.
It probably *is* a lot more forceful. They were trying to measure right next to the ground, where the air is getting stopped (vertically) and redirected outward. They really needed to measure that in the open air, where there wouldn't be any ground effect.
 
The helicopter was a pretty small one too, sometimes in these movies they have bigger helicopters, with more than 2 blades, surely that would change the down force. Also, in the movies the person is usually trying to climb in with the helicopter in motion, flying away, against gravity. I wish they had hired some kind of stunt person to at least try a real climb into helicopter while moving bit, cause they got most of it right, but the darn thing was stationary, which is not true in the movies.

I too was surprised how powerful a slushi is, wow, even the lesser one with ice and soda would have probably cracked the windshield. Dangerous stuff when tossed out the window on the highway!
 
Windshield Impact:

I sort of wished they didn't go with the "slush drink" direction because, honestly, what is more likely to come flying out of the average car a "slush drink" or an iced soda? Hell, it's far more likely to simply just be a cup with ice in it and no drink.

Anyway, the results didn't surprise me much, I expected the "safety glass" to protect the driver for the most part and even if it did get through I couldn't see the cup or drink or ice killing the driver. The secondary effects from (over)reaction to the impact is more likely to cause a crash and death than the drink itself and even then not likely if the driver is competent enough. Er, maybe a crash is more likely than not.

The hanging on to a ledge thing did surprise me a bit but I guess holding on a flat ledge is hard to do, would've been nice to see how their stunt-man would've done on a wider ledger (as a gripe, I did notice the stunt-man on the narrow ledge has chalk/powder on his hands to enhance his grip.)

The helicopter thing was kind of neat but again the results weren't greatly surprising. If you're able to a single chin-up then you should be able to pull yourself up on a landing-skid (I know chin-up bars and landing skids are different thicknesses but the principle is sound). Testing the downforce of the helicopter taking off/hovering struck me as a waste of time. Grant's and madskilz at math should've been able to calculate the force of the blades over a given area. I didn't expect the downforce of the blades to be anything significant considering rescue helcopters have people climbing in-and-out of them when hovering over bodies of water without much ill-effect or struggle. And, well, because I suspect physics and force doesn't work that way. I guess they "had" to test it to shut-up their detracors on the interwebs but it still struck me as a bit of a waste of time.
 
Testing the downforce of the helicopter taking off/hovering struck me as a waste of time. Grant's and madskilz at math should've been able to calculate the force of the blades over a given area.

And if they were just scientific researchers, that what they would've done. But they're television presenters, so they have to make it visual. Heck, they didn't actually have to be hanging from a ledge four stories up; they could've set the whole thing up in the lab and had their feet just six inches above a mat. But they went to the tall tower because it's more visual.
 
^In terms of episodes already recorded, Kari already is back.

And speaking from a purely platonic, respectful point of view ( :shifty: ), she looks like motherhood agrees with her.
 
Heh, Grant Imahara has invented "Jamie Myths" on Twitter.

"Jamie has an airplane mode that allows him to fly on commercial airlines without affecting their instruments. #JamieMyths"

"They say Jamie's beret contains the most Vibranium outside of Wakanda. #JamieMyths"

"You DO know Jamie was created in a laboratory during the Cold War as a part of a secret government experiment, right? #JamieMyths"

\:€
 
^In terms of episodes already recorded, Kari already is back.

And speaking from a purely platonic, respectful point of view ( :shifty: ), she looks like motherhood agrees with her.


like when does it air? and do you have pictures to back up said comments?
 
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