Comments on: Episode 56: Killer Whirlpool

By: Allen Pidwell

Allen Pidwell — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 08:44:53 +0000

French Pass. new Zealand Near to the pass are deep holes where strong vertical flows can occur.[10] In 2000, student divers taking part in a drift dive during the local ebb flow were separated from their surface float and caught in a whirlpool. This dragged them into “Jacob’s Hole”, a 105-metre (344 ft) deep depression south west of the pass. The depth of this descent resulted in multiple fatalities. The group appears to have been drawn deep into the hole and then returned to the surface again. A dive computer record of one of the survivors show a depth of up to 89-metre (292 ft) According to the coroner’s report, the accident occurred on a falling tide, so the current was flowing from the south west to the north east

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.