MythBusters Episode 11: “Sinking Titanic, Goldfish Memory, Trombone Explosion”
Air Date: January 25, 2004
A goldfish’s memory lasts only three seconds.
busted
Jamie trained his goldfish to recognize color patterns and complete an obstacle course under water. They remembered what Jamie had taught them over a month later and easily completed the same course without Jamie’s prompting.
A trombonist had put a firecracker into his mute, and at the final note of the 1812 Overture, launched the mute, striking the conductor and knocking him back into the audience. In addition, the bell of the trombone was blown wide open and the slide was launched.
busted
Using a firecracker, the mute hit the conductor (Buster), but did not knock him over. When the equivalent of six model rocket engines were used, he fell forwards after being hit. When even more was used, the trombone was practically destroyed, but the bell still did not peel back, nor did the slide launch. Being completely unable to duplicate even the first part of the myth, the rest could not have followed.
(This myth was revisited in episode 75 and it was re-busted.)
A sinking ship creates enough suction to pull you under, if you’re too close, as was rumored to occur when the RMS Titanic sank.
busted
Though using a small ship, neither Adam nor Jamie were sucked under when it sank, even when they were riding directly on top of it.
*This result has been debated because the myth was not tested at full scale.
Newer: Episode 12: “Break Step Bridge, Toothbrush Surprise, Rowing Water Skier”
Older: Episode 10: “Explosive Decompression, Frog Giggin’, Rear Axle”
Sinking vessels cannot drag a man under, since the displacement of the vessel sinking is like droppping a large solid chunk of iron. Escaping gases, though, from compartments crushing under pressure can release enough air to reduce bouancy and cause a sustained subsurface experience.
June 23, 2007 at 6:46 PMSink a canoe and you wouldn’t be brought down under.
I’ve had to sink a barge which capsized. I shot the hull several times with a gun, until it sank. A poor duck decided to land on the water close to the sinking barge. The duck got sucked under, and I never saw him after that.
July 8, 2007 at 3:30 PMGoing back once again to the myth sinking ship. I think its all down to the size of vessel and the positioning of the ill fated sailor, it seems to me that anyone stood on deck would be ok ,but stand near a doorway or hatch cover of any ship with large cargo holds surely the ingress of a large amount of water would infact suck you down or into its interior never to be seen again.
July 30, 2007 at 5:15 PMwhile the myth was busted, i had the thought that you did not have the trombonests end of the trombone blocked as if it would have been. purhaps this would change the result( the slide not mooveng)
November 13, 2007 at 12:02 AMalso your poor volenteer does not have reflexes which the conductor would most definately had( causing him to react at being hit by the propeled ‘mute’. please reply if you think any of this sounds ‘plausable’!!! from CRYSTIN, big fan!!!
Your swimming pool experiment with the weights proved the effect.
November 13, 2007 at 4:39 AMThe boat experiment didn’t work as the boat did not sink fast enough.
1) Do the swimming pool experiment again but use a pallett size deck, as the balast weight is increased so your man will get
dragged deeper. The system is that of a pison pump and the balast weight is the HP
input.
2) Fill the boat with concrete and try again.
I have to agree with comment 4. If the mouth piece was blocked, it would prob cause back pressure resulting in the slide flying off. Also the conductor would react, firstly because off fright, then flight as the mute is propelled towards him. So not that the mute hit backwards, rather the conductor’s reaction causing him to fall back????
December 7, 2007 at 10:44 AMWhat might you think??? Great show guys!!
hey i got a science fair project over the smartness of goldfish and i would like to know if about 3 or 4 gold fish will make it throgh 2 screens with a hole at the top of one the screens and a hole at the bottem of the screen?
December 10, 2007 at 8:11 AMI think the density of the water being reduced due to bubbles is more probable. I have heard that a gas blow out under a floating storage and offloading ship used in the LNG gas fields can reduce the density of the water to the point the ship sinks instantly with no chance of escape. I would like to see Jamie try to stay afloat in a large diving chamber as they release a huge amount of gas from below him for a period of 30 seconds. I think you know the chambers im on about, they are about 100ft tall but narrow.
December 12, 2007 at 12:48 AMMy son would feed goldfish to his pirhana. Even after the first bite (that would often remove a sizable chuck of skull and other body parts) the goldfish “seemed to forget” they had been bitten or not realize the source of their injury as the continued to casually paddle around the tank unphased
January 2, 2008 at 1:44 PMby the injury. They did not strike me as being able to make the most basic connections in matters of survival, learn any skills based on experience, or retain information for any longer than 3 seconds. Therefore, I really enjoyed seeing Jamie’s fish run the maze for food and proved that a goldfish is not just a pretty face framed with fins. Adam seem to get the same “dumb cluck” types my son used for feeder fish – it was comical watching him struggle with dismay in teaching his school of fish to do anything.
i was woundering will a goldfish turn white if kept in the dark? i am doing this for a science project and i have looked online and there is so many differnt oppions and none of them have what im looking for and i just wounderd if you guys could help me out. =)
-ashley
January 3, 2008 at 6:58 PMyeah, it’ll turn white but I don’t know how long it would take. About half of my 9 goldfish have changed colors since I first got them. The ones that turn the most are yellowish copper or solid orange that are in the feeder tanks. The red and white ones or “fancy” don’t seem to change much.
January 9, 2008 at 6:18 PMOne of the accounts from the Titanic sinking told of a man who almost got washed into an open hatch as it was filling up.
I knew an operations manager for a drilling company who researched whether a drilling rig could sink from lack of buoyancy during a blowout. His conclusion was that the incident that everybody referred to was caused by bubbling water entering an open hatch. The vessel might have lost a little buoyancy but not enough to cause any problems. He did some calculations that showed that the water depth would have to be very shallow with a tremendous amount of gas flow and yet there would hardly be any difference in buoyancy.
January 16, 2008 at 12:32 AMI’m not sure if it’s true, but as a student of history I’m made aware of the chef of the Titanic who rode the ship down until the very end. Supposedly, he stepped off and didn’t even get his hair wet. I’m not sure how confirmed this is, but it would certainly support the findings.
May 31, 2008 at 2:36 PMObviously there are not many musicians around. Mutes do not completely block the flow of air. A mouth would give away before the bell would splinter and shoot the slide across the room.
December 4, 2008 at 4:16 AMI thought it was a good myth but i am in a band and i think it wouldnt work myself
March 12, 2009 at 12:22 AM