Comments on: Episode 114: Demolition Derby

By: Daisy

Daisy — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 20:07:49 +0000

The History of : information hoirsty An automobile powered by a Otto gasoline engine was built in Germany by in 1885 and granted a patent in the following year. Although several other engineers (including Gottlieb Daimler, Wilhelm Maybach and Siegfried Marcus) were working on the problem at about the same time, Benz is generally credited with the invention of the modern automobile.The large-scale, production-line manufacturing of affordable automobiles was debuted by Ransom Eli Olds at his Oldsmobile factory in 1902. This assembly line concept was then greatly expanded by Henry Ford in the 1910s. Development of automotive technology was rapid, due in part to the hundreds of small manufacturers competing to gain the world’s attention. Key developments included electric ignition and the electric self-starter (both by Charles Kettering, for the Cadillac Motor Company in 1910-1911), independent suspension, and four-wheel brakes.Although various pistonless rotary engine designs have attempted to compete with the conventional piston and crankshaft design, only Mazda’s version of the Wankel engine has had more than very limited success.Since the 1920s, nearly all cars have been mass-produced to meet market needs, so marketing plans have often heavily influenced automobile design. It was Alfred P. Sloan who established the idea of different makes of cars produced by one company, so that buyers could move up as their fortunes improved. The makes shared parts with one another so that the larger production volume resulted in lower costs for each price range. For example, in the 1950s, Chevrolet shared hood, doors, roof, and windows with Pontiac; the LaSalle of the 1930s, sold by Cadillac, used the cheaper mechanical parts made by the Oldsmobile divisionSource:

By: Darwin

Darwin — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 11:15:07 +0000

Yes I do remember the case, I chose to remove him from humanity before he did something really stupid.

Regards

Darwin

By: orestria

orestria — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 09:00:35 +0000

In speed, you have to remember these were average people without a great pedigree in physics/adequate mythbusters intake. Since they did move to the side and the bus did not flip, the movie isn’t necessarily saying that the bus would flip over, just that the people would be worried it might, which seems a legitimate, uninformed worry.

By: grandpa

grandpa — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 20:05:09 +0000

flipping the bus- maybe they just did not turn the steering wheels “fast” enough;with lower air pressure in the front tire on the outside of the turn. Fruit stand-probably they built the fruit stand too “strong”. crashing semis-”older” tractors where built stronger; if fully loaded at a high rate of speed they would have an enormous amount of energy, probably enough to “fuse” a car between them. you have to think of the collison zone also ie they height of the points of contact, make and models of the vechicles involed and use the term “fuse” loosely ie parts intermingled enough that you would need a cutting torch to seperate them. dropped car race- need the math guy again to figure the terminal velocity of the car used in the commerical, it may not have been 142 mph and 4000ftit chould have been different.

By: Shelly Depp

Shelly Depp — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 22:11:31 +0000

In the little footage I got, watching the 2 semis and the compact car, I analyzed it and I got the impression that the two trucks were not perfectly aligned with the compact, resulting in the car being pushed out sideways. if they were perfectly aligned, the car would either go up or down. part of the car would have been fused with the trucks.

By: GetStopGo

GetStopGo — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 04:24:44 +0000

My dad drove under a semi that cut him off the day he got his liscense, if my aunt hadn’t seen it coming and passed out in the back seat she would have died. It totally took the top of the car off, like a convertible. Because of the angle he hit it at, acute rather than perpendicular he did not go all the way through.
I would also like to thank mr. Frye up there for his valuable insights that well nigh guarantee no one will ever read this comment.

By: Peterbilt Driver

Peterbilt Driver — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:59:40 +0000

As a professional driver I have seen my share of car/car, car/truck, and truck/truck accidents to last me a lifetime. Never have i seen one fuse together. I would like however for the mythbusters to test if a car door can be ripped off by another car passing it hits the door as it is being opened as we so often see in the movies.

By: Paul Malley

Paul Malley — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 08:36:15 +0000

Re City Bus

You were always too rich in America, but in the Uk
up until the fifties, that’s 1950 Yank, a motor cycle and side car was common transport.
Naturally they used to race them.
The “passenger” was a ” trapeze artist” who used
his body weight to keep the outfit on the road.
Rather than following the rules for the prevention
of collision at sea( pass port to port) in the UK
and in various Successful ex Colonies and Japan they pass “strong side to strong side”.
That means the side car is on the left so turning
right is okay,but turning left the side car lifts.
The passenger has to get a much weight as possible to that side, his head usually end up only a couple of inches above the road.

By: Craig

Craig — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 01:40:23 +0000

There was an instance just outside Walden Ontario Canada where a transport truck carrying 18,000 Kg’s of High power mining explosives had caught fire and exploded leaving a creator 50 feet deep and 100 feet across. It obliterated the entire west bound side of the divided highway and took out the bed rock dividing the two roads and still managed to take half of the second road away. Just wondering if this would be enough explosives to fuse metal like in the episode of the two transport trucks crashing head on? If anyone wants to search it look for “Walden Transport Truck Explosion” on Aug 5th of 1998 and you’ll see the official release of report.

By: SG

SG — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 20:06:39 +0000

the myth with the semis is no longer a myth. A similiar event actually took place with two semis and a compact car, and the driver of the compact escaped unharmed while his car was crushed (but not accordioned). So MB got it right.