MythBusters Episode 24: Ming Dynasty Astronaut
Air Date: December 5, 2004
A 15th Century astrologer from China made it into space on a throne powered by 47 bamboo rockets.
busted
The combined heat from all 47 bamboo rockets caused them to explode, nearly destroying the throne and doing significant damage to the stand-in astrologer (Buster) before it ever got off the ground. A throne powered by 47 modern rockets shot violently to one side, due to uneven firing, but would not have had the thrust to lift the chair very far at all, let alone all the way into space.
A free energy device can be made to harness enough energy to power a house.
busted
Free energy itself is a scientific fantasy. Almost all of the free energy devices the MythBusters built consumed more energy than they produced and the one ’successful’ device only produced enough electricity to power half a wrist watch, and was ridiculously large for such a small amount of energy. One test, cut for time and shown on "MythBusters Outtakes" involves coils of baling wire being used to siphon off electricity from nearby PG&E power lines in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
A regular house fan can cause decapitation.
busted
Normal household fans do not have the power to even inflict serious injury while spinning at top speed – they are more likely to break first. An industrial fan is capable of inflicting a fatal injury, but is not powerful enough to take a head off. Even a purpose-built razor-sharp, stainless steel fan powered by a lawn mower engine could not completely sever a head from the neck.
Not along with the myth of fans, but there is a video online of a man stopping the blades of a fan with his tongue.
June 25, 2007 at 3:59 PMI am tall enough to have hit my head on many fans. I know my head is different than my neck, but the ceiling fans have never drawn blood, and I only got a slight bruise once.
June 26, 2007 at 9:54 AMthere is a video of a man catching a bullet with his teeth, (shown and busted in mythbusters)
and house fans have got dull, soft blades(compared to the industrial fan)
July 9, 2007 at 9:06 AMi thought the mythbusters decided that the term free was applied to cost instead of perpetual motion?
July 16, 2007 at 7:05 PMNinga, those videos could have been fakes, e.g., an electric motor that was using low current, or the fan could have been turned off just before the man put his tongue into the spinning blades.
August 18, 2007 at 11:11 PMsome years ago while removing my shirt i stuck my hand into a ceiling fan and slit my wrist resulting in severed tendons. it didn’t take my hand completely off. i think this is because i hit the outside tip of the blades as opposed to getting between them. if the blades were moving slow enough to get between them they wouldn’t really do any damage
November 13, 2007 at 12:21 PMAbout “Free Fuel”-There is an engine called a Paulson (SP?) engine that runs off of differences in temperature. Once started they will run prepetually even in -0′F as long as there is some temp. differences, the greater the diff. in temp, the more load the engine will pull. So, “Free Energy” is there, but lack of common knowledge and the initial expense deter most folks. Interestingly enough, I could find little to no help from the internet for more information. Perhaps I misunderstood the name of the engine or if you personally (any of you) might have more info.
February 9, 2008 at 10:38 AMAlso about “free power” the one thing that will always work is the one you cut for time. You can run regular #12 electrical wire paralell (and very close) to high tension lines and no more than about 50 ft.
February 9, 2008 at 11:04 AMwould power your house by the process of induction-There is no way for them to detect a paralell line because you are simply catching the excess juice and harnessing it.BUT- one of 2 things will happen before you get your free power hooked up- 1.-YYOU WILL BE ARRESTED FOR TERRORIST ACTIVITIES for messing with the power grid or you will cook yourself messing with the high-tension wires. So -choose wisely, grasshopper.
iam 6ft9, house fans hurt but not even enough to cause bloody nose, yea been there.
January 25, 2009 at 9:04 PMTesla build a genator that produced free enery but it never got put into production. Take the time to look up facts before doing a show next time.
March 26, 2009 at 10:55 AMRocket chair.
August 24, 2009 at 1:50 PMI would like to see it redone with 2 modifications to make it fly straight.
A. use a guide pole similar to model rockets.
B. use some kind of ‘tail / fletch’ to keep it
straight. I was thinking about a weight on a
cable. Using a formula something like 1/10 the
weight of the chair on 10′ of cable or 1/20 the
weight of the chair on 20′ of cable. Idealy the
guide pole would be longer than the cable so that
the weight was engaged before leaving the guide pole.
My cousin’s cousin (2 and 1/2 year old baby back then ) stuck her finger in the fan and it was sliced off (top 3rd )… it was an old style house fan with metal blades (and those metal grills) – not a ceiling fan…
February 2, 2010 at 12:18 PM(finger was successfully reattached).
I GIVE HEAD
February 2, 2010 at 7:51 PM