Mythbusters - "Bottle Bash"

[Trekker4747]

From Wikipedia:

What's worse, having an empty beer bottle smashed over your head, or a full one?
Could ancient armies have used animal hides to build their cannons?

 

[WeAreTheBorg]

I can't imagine an empty bottle being less damaging than a full one... the weight difference is immense.

 

[Trekker4747]

Unimpressive and unsurprising episode on all fronts. It seemed obvious that the full beer bottle would cause more damage (that whole pesky mass times acceleration thing) and with limited exception it seems whenever a cannon is made of anything other than metals it's not going to do well.

Meh episode all around.

 

[Christopher]

Beer bottle bash: The result of the tests was unsurprising; at the same velocity, a full bottle will impart more force simply because it's more massive. But I wonder if that greater mass means it would be harder to swing as fast. Would the greater speed you could achieve with the lighter bottle cancel out the lower mass? Kinetic energy is mass times velocity squared, so an increase of velocity would make a greater difference than an increase in mass. So maybe they're making a mistake by trying to get the same speed with both full and empty bottles. Maybe they should be assessing the maximum speed with which a typical barroom drunk could swing each.

It's kind of disturbing to know that the human brain has the consistency of Jell-O. Makes it seem pretty flimsy.

"Meatbuster." Heh.


Leather cannon: Pretty straightforward. I can't think of much to comment on. Interesting that the copper-and-leather cannon got higher muzzle velocity, but that could've just been due to variations in the tightness of the wadding or whatever you call that newspaper they packed around the cannonball.

I guess it's understandable that the pure leather cannon didn't work; just too soft and flexible a material, I guess. But it got me wondering... I'd like to see them try to make a cannon out of paper. I doubt such a myth exists, but it would be an interesting challenge to see them tackle.

 

[backstept]

for a paper cannon, the barrel could be made out of one of those paper rolls for newspaper . . . I think they call them webs or something
it would be pretty much like the log cannon

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I'm kind of over any more cannon myths at this time.

The bottle thing was rather underwhelming as well.

I'd have to rate this episode "Busted".

 

[Roger Wilco]

The swedish cannon was cool imo, definitely an improvement over the "traditional" cannon, proabably cheaper too; the "irish" and the mythbusters full leather cannon both weren't very impressive. It probably simpler to just build a conventional cannon than what they did with all the leather, so what's the point?

The bottle myth was only surprising to me insofar as I would thought the damage it can do is much greater. Especially the empty bottle wasn't that bad; I thought it would be more like getting hit with a baseball bat or so.

 

[firehawk12]

So they really just retconned ever having a new co-host... even though they showed her in the cannon montage? Oh well, I guess this isn't a reality TV show after all.

 

[Christopher]

Mythbusters has never made a big deal out of its cast departures. I don't remember any acknowledgment of Scottie's or Christine's departure; they just stopped being there after a while. Heck, it was a while before I even realized that Scottie had left the show for good. And similarly with Jess, the new "mythtern;" she first appeared as one of the guest Mythbusters in the Archimedes mirror episode, and that was briefly acknowledged when she showed up later as a mythtern, but now she seems to have vanished without ceremony. Kari's departure for maternity leave was acknowledged, but in kind of an understated way. And I don't think Jessi Combs was given any big introduction; she was just kind of there all of a sudden.

 

[Marc]

Mythbusters has never made a big deal out of its cast departures. I don't remember any acknowledgment of Scottie's or Christine's departure; they just stopped being there after a while. Heck, it was a while before I even realized that Scottie had left the show for good. And similarly with Jess, the new "mythtern;" she first appeared as one of the guest Mythbusters in the Archimedes mirror episode, and that was briefly acknowledged when she showed up later as a mythtern, but now she seems to have vanished without ceremony. Kari's departure for maternity leave was acknowledged, but in kind of an understated way. And I don't think Jessi Combs was given any big introduction; she was just kind of there all of a sudden.

Isn't Jess's normal roll as a P.A or something for Adam and has basically been roped in on a couple of occasions when they've needed a bit of extra help. Think Jamie's P.A has also been roped in at least once.

 

[LitmusDragon]

Above average. I'm just happy to have Kari back.

I enjoyed the cannons and the jello head was a lot of fun.

 

[BenRoethig]

Mythbusters has never made a big deal out of its cast departures. I don't remember any acknowledgment of Scottie's or Christine's departure; they just stopped being there after a while. Heck, it was a while before I even realized that Scottie had left the show for good. And similarly with Jess, the new "mythtern;" she first appeared as one of the guest Mythbusters in the Archimedes mirror episode, and that was briefly acknowledged when she showed up later as a mythtern, but now she seems to have vanished without ceremony. Kari's departure for maternity leave was acknowledged, but in kind of an understated way. And I don't think Jessi Combs was given any big introduction; she was just kind of there all of a sudden.

The role and scope of the build team is a lot different now than the first couple seasons. Plus from what's gotten out, Jess and Scottie left on less than amicable terms.

 

[Christopher]

Plus from what's gotten out, Jess and Scottie left on less than amicable terms.

Oh? I hadn't heard that. And Scottie did come back for the Supersize special, so it can't have been too, err, inamicable.

 

[Marc]

Mythbusters has never made a big deal out of its cast departures. I don't remember any acknowledgment of Scottie's or Christine's departure; they just stopped being there after a while. Heck, it was a while before I even realized that Scottie had left the show for good. And similarly with Jess, the new "mythtern;" she first appeared as one of the guest Mythbusters in the Archimedes mirror episode, and that was briefly acknowledged when she showed up later as a mythtern, but now she seems to have vanished without ceremony. Kari's departure for maternity leave was acknowledged, but in kind of an understated way. And I don't think Jessi Combs was given any big introduction; she was just kind of there all of a sudden.

The role and scope of the build team is a lot different now than the first couple seasons. Plus from what's gotten out, Jess and Scottie left on less than amicable terms.

So what has gotten out?

 

[Trekker4747]

It was my understanding that Scottie left on good terms, she just wanted to do something else with her career.

And the show did make a "production" of Kari's departure and Jessi's arrival. Kari, before leaving during one of the host segments, says she's found someone to watch and help the guys while she's away and then Jessi popped up behind them.

 

[Christopher]

It was my understanding that Scottie left on good terms, she just wanted to do something else with her career.

That's my understanding too.

And the show did make a "production" of Kari's departure and Jessi's arrival. Kari, before leaving during one of the host segments, says she's found someone to watch and help the guys while she's away and then Jessi popped up behind them.

Yes, but my point was that it was more understated than it could've been. They just made a quick gag of it and moved on. This show avoids making an issue of the team's personal lives, which is probably a blessing, given what I've seen on some other Discovery Channel shows that focused more on personal soap opera than on the science/engineering/etc.

 

[Trekker4747]

FYI: The next episode seems to be in two weeks and here's the synopsis I found on-line:

Plot: Jamie and Adam take on Newton's third law of motion thanks to an eagle-eyed physicist fan who spotted a flaw in a previous episode's experiment. The team sets out to test the theory of two cars crashing into one another or another inanimate object at the same speeds. In a cacophony of car carnage, the MythBusters drive this myth up the wall, not once but 3 times, as they crash, bash, and smash to put the Hyneman Hypothesis to the ultimate test. Meanwhile Kari, Grant and Tory are back in the school of hard knocks, as they retest 'Knock your Socks Off.' The last time they tested this myth, nothing they tried could separate Buster's toasty socks from his feet and the myth was down for the count. Or was it? Fans say 'no way' with hundreds of emails telling the team exactly what was wrong (wrong socks, wrong legs, incorrect punch, etc.). So, armed with an arsenal of suggestions, the team puts Buster to the test again.

Also: THIS THREAD from the offical fansite says that Scottie left on "good terms" to "pursue her own artistic interests."

 

[dru]

Source of the empty vs. full beer bottle "myth" is a study by Stephan Bolliger, forensic pathologist, who found empties were sturdier.

http://www.nytimes.com/projects/magazine/ideas/2009/#e