Air Date: November 21, 2007
A person can easily shoot a fish in a barrel.
confirmed
Because they didn’t want to use a live fish to test this myth, the Mythbusters obtained a dead fish and inserted a motor inside of it to simulate swimming. They then placed the fish in a wooden barrel filled with water and fired at the fish with a 9 mm pistol. However, their first attempt failed, so Adam painted the interior of the barrel white and added transparent windows to improve visibility. With these improvements, both Adam and Jamie were easily able to hit the fish. They then decided to use a multitude of smaller fish and upgraded their weapon to a shotgun. The buckshot managed to hit some of the fish, but only three out of the total of thirty fish. To put the myth to bed, the Mythbusters obtained a M134 minigun that could fire 50 bullets a second. They then set up a water filled barrel and placed a dead 3-foot (0.91 m) sea bass in it. They then fired the minigun at the barrel, tearing it to pieces along with the fish. Because of the vagueness of the conditions of the myth, the Mythbusters declared that shooting fish in a barrel is easy.
The pressure shockwave from a bullet being fired into a barrel is enough to kill a fish.
confirmed
The Mythbusters calculated that the lethal amount of force required to kill a fish is 8.15 pounds per square inch. However, the instrument that measured PSI was not fast enough to register the impact of the bullet, so the Mythbusters instead opted to use special stickers that measure G force. After firing a single 9 mm bullet into the barrel, the Mythbusters found that the shockwave from the bullet was enough to trip even their highest pressure sensor. This means that the shooter does not necessarily have to hit the fish in order to kill it.
Pain from eating hot peppers can be cured by milk.
confirmed
The milk was used as a control, because it is already proven to reduce discomfort due to the fats it contains. Grant and Tory used the milk as a measuring stick for the rest of the supposed cures.
Pain from eating hot peppers can be cured by water.
busted
The water did not perform as well as the milk; the discomfort immediately returned once the water left the mouth.
Pain from eating hot peppers can be cured by beer.
busted
The beer helped slightly but was not effective enough to be called a cure.
Pain from eating hot peppers can be cured by tequila.
busted
The tequila initially intensified the discomfort, then the numbness induced by it slightly lessened the pain. However, it was not effective enough to be called a cure.
Pain from eating hot peppers can be cured by toothpaste.
busted
The toothpaste had no effect at all.
Pain from eating hot peppers can be cured by petroleum jelly.
busted
The petroleum failed to work, and also disgusted the Mythbusters who had to put it in their mouths.
Pain from eating hot peppers can be cured by wasabi.
busted
Grant reacted violently to the wasabi, stating that it only made his discomfort worse, but Tory stated that he actually felt some relief. Regardless, it wasn’t effective as milk.
Elephants are scared of mice.
plausible
The Mythbusters traveled to a wildlife preserve in Africa to find wild elephants to test the myth on. They hid a mouse under a ball of elephant dung, planning to flip the dung over and reveal the mouse when the elephants approach it. When they flipped the dung and revealed the mouse, the approaching elephant was startled and quickly moved away from the mouse. The Mythbusters then flipped dung without the mouse under it, but the elephants did not react at all. They then retried their first experiment to confirm their results, and the elephant noticed the mouse and actively avoided it. Even though the elephants didn’t panic at the sight of the mouse, the fact that they acted cautiously around it was enough to label this myth plausible.
[...] reminded me of the Mythbusters episode where they shoot fish in a barrel, and it’s found that the bullet doesn’t necessarily have to hit the fish - the blast [...]
March 3, 2008 at 12:23 PM
I’ve been brooding about the “plausible” regarding the elephants and mice. It oversimplifies.
If I saw mice jump out of my poop, I would react with caution too and I am not afraid of mice.
January 28, 2008 at 6:20 PMYeah I think plausible is good enough, it’s certainly interesting.
January 30, 2008 at 8:39 AMFor such a difficult to test myth, you really managed it well. Hey, if humans can be terrified of bees and spiders, why not elephants of mice?
February 3, 2008 at 4:23 PMThey tested just flipping the poo. The elephant ignored it.
That was my first reaction. “Woah, what the heck! My poo jumped! Everything I know is wrong!”
February 9, 2008 at 12:52 AMI think it was so cool when you fired that M134 gun. I was shocked to see only the head of the fish was left. Another shocking thing was when the gun vaporized the barrel.
February 9, 2008 at 5:44 PMI always thought that “Shooting fish in a barrel” meant you through the fish in, like in a fish cleaning company
February 10, 2008 at 10:11 PMPain from eating hot peppers can be cured by You forgot to try Honey and Icecream (both milk based and soy based).
February 11, 2008 at 12:18 AMAny type of sweetness will kill the heat … I usually use a teaspoon of sugar or a combination of sweet and milk (chocolate milk) and just swirl it around in my mouth.
February 15, 2008 at 12:00 PMI have just got into the habit of shooting fish at the hatchery were I study. I am using a 780 fps pellet gun with flat target type pellets. It does the trick. I will have a video up on YouTube withen a couple days.
March 2, 2008 at 2:13 AMI’ve heard that it’s commonplace to find lemon wedges on the dinner table in Mexico to deal with spicy food. Not sure if you suck on it or squirt the juice on the food. But, it’s supposed to mute the hotness.
March 19, 2008 at 8:26 PMActually they should have used a bow and arrow to shoot the fish. It is common to shoot fish with arrows..doesnt disturb the water with pressure. With fish in a barrel, they cannot move away from the break of water like when in a pond.
March 30, 2008 at 2:10 PMTo counteract the pain of spicy food either don’t eat the stuff or eat a banana. That will negate even the hottest chile.
April 5, 2008 at 6:43 PMI think it would have been nice with another “control” experiment with regard to the fear of elephants for mice. Like testing other animal insetad of the mouse. Would the elephant be as scared/cautios when a spider, for instance, would appear when flipping the poop?
April 13, 2008 at 2:56 PMAbout the elephant and mice.
April 13, 2008 at 2:57 PMI´dont belive that the elephant is terrified by mice. I just think that it didn´t wanted to step on it and perhaps kill it. And that´s why she moved away and went another way
Hi,
This is about the hot peppers.
I always thought that if you drink something it washes the burning further down into your body. I eat bread or a dinner roll, to absorb what’s burning so it keeps from touching my mouth…
May 11, 2008 at 9:29 PMdid anyone notice that the mouse they used in the myth was WHITE? i think they should have tried using a brown or grey mouse cause i think something white would stand out more than a grey or brown mouse…think about it if you were walking in the woods you would see a white mouse easier than a brown or grey one…hence they should use a grey or brown mouse
May 11, 2008 at 10:00 PMThe wasahi they used is not the proper jap wassabi they used the store export wasabi which is not as hot as the origanal……
June 6, 2008 at 11:58 PMRegarding the peppers.
June 29, 2008 at 1:40 AMI have found that lemonade cures it…dont know why, maybe the acid dissolves the capsaisin
Did they test celery? They always serve celery with hot wings…
July 3, 2008 at 5:29 AM