Air Date: January 16, 2008
In this episode the MythBusters began testing various myths inspired by James Bond movies.
An electromagnet hidden in a wristwatch can deflect bullets.
busted
Jamie built an electromagnet that could fit inside a wristwatch and mounted it near a target. Next they fired bullets at the target, making sure that the bullets passed close by the electromagnet. However, the wristwatch-sized electromagnet was not powerful enough to change the bullet’s trajectory. The Mythbuster then upgraded to a larger and more powerful electromagnet, but it still couldn’t deflect the bullet. Finally, the Mythbusters resorted to using a series of thirteen super powerful permanent rare earth magnets, which only deflected the bullet by a minor amount. The Mythbusters explained that a magnet’s energy decreased exponentially the farther away you are from the magnet. Plus, in order to be powerful enough to stop a bullet, an electromagnet would need an enormous amount of energy that couldn’t possible be contained within a wristwatch, which makes most of the magnet scenes in Bond films impossible.
(Based on Bond’s wristwatch in Live and Let Die.)
A person can shoot a propane tank and make it explode.
busted
First, the Build Team decided to test whether it was possible to breach a propane tank with Bond’s 9mm handgun. They found that 9mm rounds were not powerful enough to breach the tank, but shotgun shells and .30 caliber rifle rounds were more than enough to pierce the tank. They then fired armor piercing rifle rounds at a tank filled with propane, but could not get the tank to explode. Not even tracer rounds were successful. Finally, the Build Team resorted to extreme measures. They found that the only sure way to make a propane tank explode was to use high explosive or a high powered Gatling gun firing incendiary rounds. The Build Team concluded that Bond (and most people) would not normally have access to such weaponry, busting the myth.
(Based on a scene in Casino Royale.)
A speedboat jumping off a ramp and flying through the air can survive the landing and continue driving.
plausible
The Mythbusters obtained a boat which was identical to the model Bond used in the movie. They then converted it so that it could be remote controlled and built a makeshift ramp in Yosemite Lake. They even put a barge with a car under the ramp to simulate the exact scene from the movie. Adam drove the boat at the ramp at a speed of 45 miles per hour, but lost control of the boat at the last second. As a result, the boat managed to clear the car, but flipped in the process. However, seeing that there was no visible damage to the boat, the Mythbusters decided that the myth was plausible.
(Based on a scene in Live and Let Die.)
Newer: Episode 96: "Lead Balloon"
Older: Episode 94: "Air Plane Hour"
Just watched the Spy Myths episode and think I can answer the question of whether the James Bond boat can survive that jump. Yes. We jump our boats and yet they live…… and, one of our boats is quite a lot larger than the subject boat in that episode (12,000 pounds, 30 feet long). To see our 7.8 meter RIB jumping over an ocean swell: http://www.oceanrescue.tv/video.html
January 19, 2008 at 8:13 PMMy 7-year-old son loved this episode and wants to know where he can get the remote control boat used as the model. Does anyone have ideas?
January 20, 2008 at 9:47 AMConcerning the 9 MM round in the propane tank. 100 % agree no explosion, because no ignition with the propane in liquid state in tank. However, curious as to type of 9 MM round used. I think 9 MM with Jacketed HP in the 158 Gr. range would puncture one side, which in my mind is ideal situaton for penetration, heat for ignition, and liquid to gas at site for possible explosive end. Any comments. Just curious. Love the show and especially love Kari.
January 20, 2008 at 3:32 PMI watched the Bond episode for a class. I thought it was going to be real.. Little I know!
January 20, 2008 at 8:00 PMWow… After so many years of just believing 007 was a load of bull.. It’s now proved. But I loved it still. XD
January 21, 2008 at 2:32 AMOh, erm.. A suggestion on that.
In Live and Let Die, Bond uses the buzz-saw watch gadget. Is it possible to make something similar or is that just a load of it as well?
January 21, 2008 at 2:35 AMDo your eyes bug out if you sneeze with your eyes open.
January 21, 2008 at 10:57 AMYou cannot deflect a bullet with a magnet because ther are virtually no bullets made with ferrous metals. They are made of mostly lead with a thin copper jacket to keep from erroding the barrel. Everybody (except Jamie and Adam) knows that you must have iron to be attracted to a magnet
January 22, 2008 at 9:12 PMUsing a 9 MM with Jacketed HP in the 158 Gr will get even less penetration in the propane tank test. The (HP) stands for hollow point which is designed to cause large destruction in soft skinned objects such as humans and game animals.
January 22, 2008 at 9:20 PMthey do make a 9mm incendary round that burn at 3000 degrees also a hand load will also increase power on the small bore round
January 23, 2008 at 8:18 PMthey also make a 30-06 and 308 incendary round for a rifle there is no need for a mini gun there is also a “rufus ” round which is also and incendary round that burns at 5000 degrees so i really don’t think this ia BUSTED
just watched your james bond episode, you negelected to test the bullet for magnetic pull, you cannot get ferrous metals to stick to a magnet no matter how big or how many i busted this myth 30 years ago in high school science class
January 24, 2008 at 12:20 PMcopper and lead have no magnetic attraction when it hit the tape it was do to a “wild” bullet it happens
January 25, 2008 at 7:17 PMbullets are made of lead and magnets only work on metel and you need to shoot from farther away because the bullet was going
January 25, 2008 at 7:19 PMto fast for the magnet to have a chance of stoping the bullet.
it won’t matter if you are10 feet or 100 yards no maganet will stop a lead or a jacketed bullet NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO
January 26, 2008 at 7:17 PMas the bullet travel through a changing magnetic field (due to the difference in the proximity to the magnet) it generates a current, which will interact with the original field. This would cause some of the kinetic energy to be transformed into electrical, which would then be disipated as heat. (just think of the bullet as a 1 turn coil)
January 28, 2008 at 12:50 AMThe shotgun should have worked.
January 30, 2008 at 2:28 PMhow many nig nugs do u smell?
January 30, 2008 at 6:28 PMThere are several video’s on YouTube.com of people shooting propane tanks. And none of them explode on the first shot. They all puncture the tank, then a spark from a later shot causes them to explode.
January 31, 2008 at 10:32 AMLots of people here claiming that bullets are invariably made of lead, not steel.
This is not true. Lots of bullets have steel in them, in both the jacket and the core. There are various reasons for this. Sometimes it’s because of environmental regulations (lead is toxic). More commonly, it depends on the purpose of the bullet. Armor piercing bullets often contain steel, because lead is too soft. Usually the core will be steel, but often the jacket as well.
A very common example of a steel jacket + steel core bullet is the Soviet 7.62×39mm cartridge (big steel core, copper plated steel jacket, bit of lead between core and jacket), which you can read about here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7.62×39mm
January 31, 2008 at 10:46 AMThe show is great to get rid of an afternoon but it is still great. For your test of the “bullet deflecting watch”, “copper and lead have no magnetic attraction when it hit the tape it was do to a “wild” bullet it happens” posted by glen j. if you watch the slow mo of the last shot, it shows the bullet was wild right out of the barrel. This is maybe due to how the mythbusters care for their firearms unlike many gun owners. One thought on how they can stop the bullet with a magnetron, pull it up in front of the target. haha.
February 3, 2008 at 3:41 PMthank you colt i am glad i wasn’t the only one that seen that and dave a lot of rifle bullet have steel inside them as far as i can find there is no 9mm that has a steel core i load the little round if there is asteel core for the round i would love to know about it
February 3, 2008 at 10:26 PMActually, anything that conducts electricity will be affected by a moving magnet (or by moving next to a magnet, such as flying by). The reason is something called ‘eddy currents’. the principle is that moving magnetic fields create electricity and moving electric charge creates magnetism. so the conductive bullet moves by the magnets, the magnets cause electric current to flow around in a circle in the bullet, the electric current creates a magnetic field that pushes against the initial field.
The math works out such that eddy currents always resist motion, for a great example, find a non magnetic pipe such as an aluminum one and drop a magnet down it. it will fall more slowly than it would not inside the pipe.
February 4, 2008 at 2:40 AMI love your show. my favrite episode was the superhero special I want to see you pick a lock.
February 6, 2008 at 7:12 PMhow fast you can trash a mansion
February 6, 2008 at 7:16 PMOH i really like your show id watch it but my parents wont pay the dish bill
I was a bit disappointed in the bullet/electromagnet segment. Why would 007 want to *ATTRACT* a bullet? As others have mentioned, a more plausible theory of operation for this device would be to use an EMP to deflect the bullet. I would have loved to see the segment done with silver bullets (for high electrical conductivity, so the bullet deflects more and melts less). I would have liked to see the electromagnet hooked up to a bank of capacitors charged to a high voltage, with an EMP discharge triggered by the bullet itself disrupting the field of a separate prox probe.
Any chance of re-visiting this one?
I’m a big fan of the show!
February 11, 2008 at 4:33 AMI am a fan of the show. The only way I see the watch deflecting bullets, actually working is if you had two of them and the bullet was made entirely out of aluminum. It will slow down the bullet due to Lenz’s Law. However other than that the idea of this working as in the 007 movies, although cool, is high unlikely and is purely science fiction. Good job though guys.
February 14, 2008 at 2:55 PMTed watched the filming of the James Bond episode in the bayous of LA. The problem with the MB reproduction was the ramp construction. It was all wrong. The stunt is real and worked. The MB ramp lacked the plywood supported structure and conveyor belt like rollers.
February 18, 2008 at 9:37 PMc’mmon men I like the show but put coupple interesting myths . your show will be more than great
March 7, 2008 at 12:43 PMLoved the exploding propane tank. If I remember correctly, they mentioned the pressure in the tank was 240 psi. Unless they covered the tank in black plastic and parked it in the sun…. Tables show 240 psi occurring at 124.1 F.
April 7, 2008 at 2:19 PMC&T: Oh, no doubt the movie stunt worked. But was the boat sailable afterwards? It’s acceptable for movie makers to write off stunt vehicles. For instance, the bus jump in Speed, which was ‘real’ - they did a jump on flat ground and edited it to appear over the freeway gap - wrote off the bus afterwards.
May 21, 2008 at 3:04 PMPropane tank
The first test should contain some fluid because propane will be a liquid in the tank. (water?)
Higher velocity rounds need to be used to penetrate a metal skin of that thickness with a pistol or revolver. (.357 or .44 Mag)
The type of bullet (projectile) is important some other bullets, other than copper jacketed ball may have better results.
Then there are “special” bullets… ok, dangerous but one needn’t be near the handgun for this test. These could possibly be manufactured by a spy gadgetteer.
Electromagnet wristwatch
May 26, 2008 at 4:44 AMThe effect on a ballistic gel target with all the tests would be interesting.
Using a copper jacketed ball would also have been an interesting test. What effect would the eddy effect have on the jacketed ball?
When Bond shoots the propane tank in the movie, he hits the valve on the top of the tank. In the Mythbusters episode, they just shot the side of the tank with the Walther P99. I hope that they will revist this so that we can see what will happen. Please revist this!
June 26, 2008 at 2:10 PM