Mythbusters: Ancient Torpedo

[Trekker4747]

Christopher usually starts these threads but guess he was otherwise busy last-night to do it -or I missed the thread.

Interesting episode and I've really got nothing really to say. It was nice to see the Jr. Mythbusters do a "real" myth rather than a movie myth or a web myth.

I also sort-of wish that Discovery would release decent season sets of this series that include the "Aftershow" segments.

 

[UssGlenn]

I really think they need a new category of myth rulings. the exploding bottle myth fulfilled all the requirements of the myth except distance. Busted is a little too harsh.

 

[Dac]

I really think they need a new category of myth rulings. the exploding bottle myth fulfilled all the requirements of the myth except distance. Busted is a little too harsh.

I thought the same thing. That was one of the very few times when I said "what the fuck?!?" out loud at this show.

They basically copied the description of the myth exactly. 50 ft, so what? What's to say a journalist wasn't just a bit sensationalist with his words?

Having said that, i was amazed at how well the Anicent Torpedo took off, crashed beneath the water, took off again, crashed and and then took off once more. And I always love Adam and Jamie coming at things two different ways. I wish they went back to the older days of the show and showed more of them building stuff. I always found that more entertaining.

 

[Trekker4747]

I really think they need a new category of myth rulings. the exploding bottle myth fulfilled all the requirements of the myth except distance. Busted is a little too harsh.

Yeah, this has happened a couple of times before where they were able to duplicate everything but the stated distances which unless actually measured by something and is otherwise concrete is just hearsay. The last time this happened dealt with over-heated cooktop oil making x-foot flames Jamie and Adam were only able to accomplish such high flames by stepping a bit outside of the bounds myth to get such high flames but, otherwise, the myth was true.

So "True, but did not meet the same data" seems like another category that's needed or they need to stop being such sticklers to the distances being said when those distances come from rumor and are not otherwise documented. Someone standing at that scene probably would exclaim, "Man! Those corks must have flow a hundred feet!" when, really, he was far from the truth but his statements were extreme enough to catch on.

And I know I say this every week but damn everytime I see Kari I'm just mesmerized by her and her "girls" are looking damn good these days,

 

[ThunderAeroI]

As for your last point; I'm actually finding her uglier. Not sure why, could be make-up, hair style, dunno. I'd say for at least the last year or so i've been turned off for some reason. Could be that I know she is married and ive just phased her out who knows.... the point is I dont care anymore.

For the myths I had to watch the episode twice and the after show segments to get it all, too many distractions at the house. Overall I liked the story of the torpedo and its implementation and found their way of building it really interesting. One of their problems is that there is no keel in the hull to keep centered and they relied on tailing stability for directional control.

I didn't find the bottle myth all that interesting and from what I could see and hear about it in the aftershow, they didn''t take it too seriously either.

 

[Trekker4747]

As for your last point; I'm actually finding her uglier.

:gasp:

Blasphemy! Hersey!

She's impossibly cute, not to be beaten. If anything motherhood has made her blossom that much more into gorgeousness!

 

[ThunderAeroI]

I'm not going to be drawn into debating the quality of her 'girls' with you. I agree with her on a number of her own personnel feelings and issues but she is no longer in the bag it category - can't explain it. Perhaps with a bag over it.... oh thats mean.

 

[Trekker4747]

To each his own, but for me she just gets better and better looking and there were some real nice shots of her in this most recent episode where her jacket/overshirt was tucked behind the "girls" in such a way that it really showed them off and... ohhhh.

Plus she's spunky, a bit geeky, smart and just off the straight-and-arrow path enough that any physical features she may have that are outside of the norm are more than made-up for.

 

[Christopher]

I didn't start the thread because I was sleeping. I took a redeye flight back from Seattle Tuesday night/Wednesday morning and needed to go to bed early Wednesday night. I DVRed the episode, since I can do that now.

And in talking about Ms. Byron, can we please remember that this is a public forum and Kari herself is active on the Internet? I doubt she'd pay attention to this forum in particular, but you never know. In any case, she deserves to be spoken of with respect.

Ancient Torpedo: This was a cool one. I wish there were more information about the origins of this torpedo. The background Adam gave was kind of vague, and it seemed as if the information came mostly from modern sources.

I loved the water-pressure rig Jamie came up with to bend the steel into the desired shape. That's just brilliant. Water is powerful stuff.

I think they were too quick to go for modern rockets over black powder. Their problem throughout was that the rockets were just too powerful. I have to question whether the rockets they were using really were "equivalent" to black powder in the ways that mattered. At least I would've liked to see some small-scale tests comparing the different technologies. (I haven't checked out the aftershow or deleted scenes yet.)

It was wild watching the torpedoes fly around the way they did, though. And it was a good point that accuracy wasn't as important in a real battle situation where there were multiple ships to shoot at, and probably multiple torpedoes to fire off.


Wine bottles: I agree that they sometimes define the myths too strictly. The important part of the myth is that the popping corks did sound like machine-gun fire and the corks flew a fair distance. At least they should've said that most of the myth was confirmed even if one component was busted. Or they should've called the whole thing plausible. Who knows? Maybe the truck was on a slope and some of the corks rolled downhill after landing, thus ending up over 100 feet away.

Otherwise, the whole thing's pretty straightforward. Heating a pressurized vessel = kaboom. And it's no surprise that it'd be quiet at first and then make a lot of pops in quick succession. Popcorn behaves the same way, and pretty much the same operating principle applies -- heat expanding gases in a group of near-identical pressurized chambers until a rupture point is reached.

 

[Trekker4747]

I thought the type of bottle it was make a difference in how far the cork would pop was interesting.

 

[Roger Wilco]

The Mythbusters should get their own bomb range already, they seem to be permanently camped up out there anyway.

 

[Gepard]

Wonderful episode. The half with the wine was entirely forgettable, but the torpedo myth was brilliant. It felt like one of the old school Myhtbusters episodes, with them doing seat-of-the-pants invention based on broad historical data, and having every little thing go wrong once they built it. There's been a lot less of that as they've spent more time doing movie and YouTube myths.

(I haven't checked out the aftershow or deleted scenes yet.)

They didn't address the rocket power issue, but there were enough questions that they did two Aftershows about the torpedo. Worth watching.

 

[Carpe Occasio]

The torpedo made me think of a Vorlon Fighter or Cruiser from Babylon 5, or Moya from Farscape.

 

[Forbin]

The ancient torp myth was fasnicating! I was cheering when they finally got the last one to go straight. And when the two failures were airborn and flopping around the sky in totally random directions, I bet everybody on the crew was experienced a pucker factor nearing ten.

 

[Carpe Occasio]

The ancient torp myth was fasnicating! I was cheering when they finally got the last one to go straight. And when the two failures were airborn and flopping around the sky in totally random directions, I bet everybody on the crew was experienced a pucker factor nearing ten.

Sphincter Factor!