MythBusters Episode 25: "Brown Note, Water Torture"
Air Date: February 16, 2005
A person will be propelled violently backwards if hit by a bullet.
busted
A bullet fired by a gun cannot hold enough momentum. According to Newton’s third law, if the bullet were to knock the target 20 feet (6 metres) back, the shooter would have to be knocked back 20 feet (6 metres), as well.
(This myth was revisited in episode 38 and it was busted again.)
The infrasonic brown note can cause a human to lose control of their bowels.
busted
Even after testing a wide range of sub-audible and near-sub-audible noises on him, not once did Adam lose control of his bowels. Some discomfort was reported however, due to the effects of low-frequency sound on the lungs.
Chinese water torture can cause one to become insane.
confirmed
The required torture equipment (and involuntary movement restrictions) is highly effective even without adding the discomfort of the water drip. The water drip itself, without the equipment, is almost negligible.
Although they brought in some experts to assist with the Brown Note experiementation, they would have learned more if they brought in a real scientist that understood sound waves and shockwaves better. Sound waves are smooth waves of different frequency and amplitude. Shock waves can cause spasms, nausea and loosening of the bowels. Even epileptic seizures have been reported. Shock waves are violent in nature and the effect of being in proximity to a supersonic turbo-prop blade (tip speed) is like being shaken to death. They should have considered more than just the frequency and amplitude of a common sound wave - they should have looked at a variety of wave types. I have experienced this horrible feeling before around turbo-props - I felt dizzy and almost threw up. Losing bowel control would not have been beyond reason if exposure had been longer. The is documented stuff - how did the MB guys fail so poorly in their research?
June 22, 2007 at 10:55 PMThey set out to bust the myth, and thats what they did. The Brown Note myth involves infrasonic sound waves, more-or-less generated through normal speaker means. Like at concerts and stuff. It isn’t talking about waves generated by a turbo prop, or weaponized methods. I’m sure a significant enough shockwave could kill a person, which would effectively make them lose control of their bowels.
Although it would have been interesting for them to take it to the next level with shockwaves, that is outside of their actual goals, and thats why they didn’t do it.
June 24, 2007 at 5:33 PMIf you watch the segment again, you will see that they start with a simple premise, a subsonic tone can be played that will loosen one’s bowels. Played by what and by whom? They mention military research in this area, but then ignore it - pursuing a very limited experiment. I wouldn’t have minded, but they mentioned the military and the use of such technology as a weapon, but fail to pursue that idea. If they would have researched the use of sound waves as a weapon, they would have quickly found a wealth of information about shock waves. They oversimplify the whole idea of waves, suggesting that frequency and amplitude are the only factors that matter.
June 24, 2007 at 7:22 PMthe brown note works after and an hour later i had head achs and i said in the bathroom for about 50 min. please try it again
July 11, 2007 at 12:19 PMa friend JR installed 6 15″ PPI flat piston subs in a 1985 honda civic,the SPL and vibration was so intense with 6000 watts I was unable to breath,its not the note, its the vibration,you will not be able to feel weather or not your squeasing or pushing,
July 11, 2007 at 6:49 PMthe vibration can cause the muscles to relax, exactly what happens when you die. shawn hit the nail on the head, it is all about the vibration.
July 16, 2007 at 7:02 PMas a side note, has any one seen the howard sten movie, he uses vibration to give a girl an orgasm over the radio, after all sound is vibrations.
I just have a simple question: if it is said that the “brown note” makes your bowels loose, BUT all of the involved used some type of ear protections. So, how can the body sense the actual note, if the ears were protected? ok, thats counting with safety precautions, BUT, why did they tested the note so near the speakers, and why are the effects of the note considered to be instantaneous???
December 3, 2007 at 6:33 AMAs far as I read on the Meyer website regarding the brown note test, they used not only pure sinewaves, but tightly banded noise. What they didn’t use was music. They call it the disco dump, but no disco was used. No high powered ribcage thumping kick drum. Personally, I think they missed out by not attempting dance music.
December 14, 2007 at 2:46 PMre: a fired bullet’s effect on subject, you have determined that ‘No’ that a body would not ‘fly’ through the air when hit by a bullet. However, regardless of Newton’s Law (which you have incorrectly applied) I would challenge your findings and your ‘re-findings’ as you continue to miss a vital point. This point is that bullets are engineered to penetrate and the amount of ’shock’ to a target body is determined by the penetration or lack of penetration of the bullet. A steel-jacketed bullet passes through the body with the least amount of shock but a bullet with great expansion capabilities, ‘mushrooms’ and may infact stop within the target body. If it does totally stop, then the entire shock is delivered and if it calculates out to be greater than the weight of the target, then it will indeed ‘fly’ like Dirty Harry. Ask any big game hunter whether prey reacts to the shock of the bullet or not. The closer a bullet gets to entirely stopping within the target, the greater the chance that it will exhibit the shock externally. If the bullet passes entirely through the target as yours did, then ‘yes’ there will be little if any exhibited effect such as the movies show. Test the same pig carcass with a 1/2″ steel plate just under the first layer of skin of the animal and see then if the carcass moves or not!
Thanks.
January 8, 2008 at 4:59 PMA simpler way to refute your busting of the bullet with the Dirty Harry effect is just to shoot a b-b gun at a tin can. The b-b cannot penetrate the can and thus THE CAN FLIES! Similarly, if a bullet is stopped within the cavity of the man (target, pig, etc.) it too would fly.
January 8, 2008 at 5:10 PMFor the bullet making a man fly back test it seems they have missed a key factor. That of the reaction of the person getting shot. It is natural instinct to recoil from pain. Thus if a live person is shot they will add to the blow back by automatically recoiling from the impact. Go online and look at any “shock factor” websites and watch someone acually get shot. Most do fall backwards, however I will admit that hollywood will inhance such things to make the effect “cooler” for the movies.
January 19, 2008 at 12:24 PMLow velocity bullets such as a 45 cal 1911 semiauto will indeed lift a man off his feet. Low velocity bullets expend ALL of thier energy by not passing through the body.
March 2, 2008 at 10:28 PMI have personally witnessed this several times
The infrasonic brown note can cause a human to lose control of their bowels the israel military thve playing with u.l.f.freq using dish R.F very dangerous
June 26, 2008 at 2:17 AMyou need a sub transmitter ask the navy
In each test the “body” was supported in some way which completly negates the test a supported body will not react correctly
November 3, 2008 at 8:01 PMI have seen a Kangaroo do a complete backflip when shot with a .222