Comments on: Episode 56: Killer Whirlpool

By: Lawrie

Lawrie — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 12:35:57 +0000

I don’t know if any of you have been to northern Westen Australia. There is a very norrow enterance to an inlet there called “the horzonal Waterfall”. this area creates very powerful whirlpools. that can suck small size boats(48ft)under in no time. As for the speed of these whirlpools is yet to be measured.

By: Matthew Lobdell

Matthew Lobdell — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 02:24:54 +0000

Does anyone know what car they used in the snow plow part?

By: Matthew Lobdell

Matthew Lobdell — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 02:22:04 +0000

I agree with you. They do need to rethink how they did the experiment. And get it all the way it should be.

By: Kint Verbal

Kint Verbal — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:25:03 +0000

See my above comment regarding relationship between speed and volume of air dislocated.

That said I would not expect a snowplow would never drive 115km/h, especially against a 100km/h wind! It most likely simply doesn’t have enough power.

By: Kint Verbal

Kint Verbal — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:13:13 +0000

Very much depends on speed, as air displacement increases by the third power vs. the speed increase. So if their highway speed X generated only 1/6 of the force, this means 1.8X speed would generate something close to the full force required.

By: TJ

TJ — Tue, 03 May 2011 13:01:46 +0000

hmm… if you multiply (c) by (FL) you have enough force to sink (R) the fishing boat. bad research boys

By: Robert Godfrey

Robert Godfrey — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 19:51:53 +0000

I measured one Old Sow Whirlpool vortex by using an aerial photograph, extrapolating the diameter by comparing it to the 6-foot diameter beacon tower at the shoreline. That individual vortex was approximately 250-feet/76 metres in diameter.

There was a larger, less-well-defined vortex near the one I measured.

Old Sow Whirlpool is generally considered to be the second-largest in the world, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere; however, I have not seen dimensions of any other of the five major whirlpools in the world. Whirlpool size can also refer to the general area of disturbance, rather than of an individual vortex, so nailing down size can be largely subjective.

Robert Godfrey
President
Old Sow Whirlpool Survivors Association
Eastport, Maine, USA
http://www.oldsowwhirlpool.com/

By: Justin S

Justin S — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 19:11:52 +0000

Mythbusters should redo the Snow plow with car myth
I live in wisconsin and during are winter session we get 60 to 90 mile per hr winds, if you add wind to the factor with going 70 miles per hr on the road you will flip another vehicle, with all that wind being forested against the blade of the snow plow angel towards the car the force will tip a light weight car over.

By: Oslofyr

Oslofyr — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 18:22:00 +0000

The worlds largest tidal worldpool is not in Canada, but Saltstraumen in Norway.

Bad research, boys.

By: Tristan

Tristan — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 05:48:09 +0000

I would love Mythbusters to bring back the Whirlpools. As a whitewater kayaker I am around moving water all the time. I think it has to do more with volume of the water and a bit of geography, what the water is being forced through or around, as we know this and gradient is what forms rapids and other features such as whirlpools. The ocean is a bit of a different story since the gradient, more or less, is the tide going in and out. But Tidal rapids are still formed by compression, all that water between a few islands at 14 knots…something is going to happen.

A whirlpool can definitely drown a person, one river I work on this has happened. On this same river I have gone for a few rides for a number of seconds underwater in a 70 gallon kayak. The best example I have seen to illustrate a “Killer Whirlpool” would be Skookumchuck Narrows near Vancouver Island in Canada. Here I have seen people in their kayaks disappear for 40-50 seconds!(they lived but didn’t get back on the water) Yes, still no ship but definitely impressive and scary.

There are rarely whirlpools that will sustain their shape or position…they usually come and go. But it is possible to go from one whirlpool to the next. This I have experienced in smaller whirlpools on another river I work on, a fun little spot to voluntarily jump into the whirlpools for a 10-30 second ride ( underwater with a PFD on). These whirlpools are only about 3-4 feet in diameter and I wouldn’t doubt this could drown someone without a PFD or Lifejacket on. There is also a crazy sport out there called squirt boating. Where you are in a kayak that has extremely low volume and they are designed to be pulled down by an eddy line or whirlpool. I have seen these kayakers disappear for 10-40 seconds on purpose and apparently the longer you are underwater the better.

In the end could whirlpools sink a ship? A tanker well highly improbable but a fishing boat, sink yes, pull the boat underwater instantly, very unlikely. I would love to see the dust blown off this myth for another go.