MythBusters Episode 137: Mini Myth Mayhem
Air Date: December 28, 2009
A person can wet his hand and briefly dip it into molten lead without injury.
confirmed
Adam and Jamie did some research on the Leidenfrost effect, in which cool water vaporizing on a very hot surface generates a layer of vapor that temporarily insulates against high temperature. They melted some lead in a crucible and heated it to 700 degrees Fahrenheit, then dipped a raw, wetted sausage; it emerged partially cooked and with some particles of lead adhering to it. After they raised the temperature to 850 degrees Fahrenheit, the sausage could be dipped and removed unscathed, since the lead was now hot enough not to solidify on contact. Finally, Adam and Jamie dipped their own fingers into the liquid – a pinky and an index for Jamie, four fingers at once for Adam – and brought them out unscathed.
It is possible to make a usable candle out of earwax.
busted
The Build Team collected wax from Tory’s ears and ignited it alongside paraffin and beeswax, two common materials used for candles. The earwax burned with some sparking and sputtering, whereupon the entire MythBusters crew and other volunteers were called in to provide more wax. When the team made this into a candle and lit it alongside a paraffin candle, the earwax candle burned very poorly and soon went out. They attributed this result to the fact that the material did not melt smoothly as did the paraffin, which could then easily travel up the wick to burn in the flame.
(This myth is based on a scene in the movie Shrek.)
Dipping a sleeping person’s hand in a bowl of warm water will cause him to “wet the bed” (urinate involuntarily).
busted
At the California Center for Sleep Disorders, Adam and Jamie set up a bed with a moisture-sensitive alarm. Each took a turn as a test subject, with the other ready to place the sleeper’s hand in the water once he had achieved a deep enough sleep. Jamie never reached that point, while Adam kept waking up due to his sleep apnea and ended up with his hands in an awkward position. Jamie was only able to pour the water over Adam’s hand, which soon woke him up without triggering the alarm. Crew member Matt Cordova was brought in for a third trial; five minutes after his hand was placed in the water, the alarm went off, but this was due only to water spilling out of the bowl.
It is possible to create impromptu gunpowder and use it to effectively fire a cannon made from a bamboo stalk.
busted
Grant and Tory collected the ingredients for gunpowder and began to mix them by hand in various ratios, testing them against industrial powder to find the best formulation. Meanwhile, Jessi bored out a thick bamboo stalk to use as a cannon barrel, which the Build Team wrapped with ropes to duplicate the episode more closely. They set up the cannon, with a Gorn target in front and Buster at the breech, and loaded it with ammunition and homemade powder. When they set the cannon off, the powder only burned without exploding; they achieved the same result with an actual cannon and the same powder. When they loaded the bamboo cannon with industrial powder and set it off, the resulting explosion destroyed the barrel and wrecked Buster, but the Gorn was undamaged. Finally, they built a second barrel out of bamboo, reinforced it, and fired it with the same charge, injuring Buster far worse than the Gorn and leading the team to declare the myth busted.
(This myth is based on the Star Trek episode Arena.)
A whole coconut can be sent by mail (USPS) without any packaging and arrive at its destination intact.
confirmed
Adam and Jamie addressed a coconut to themselves, stamped it, and put it in the mail. It later came back to the M5 workshop with no visible damage.
A strike-anywhere match can be lit by a bullet fired from a gun.
confirmed
Adam and Jamie set up a .45 caliber pistol and aimed it at a match head. After several shots that either missed the match or destroyed the head entirely, they were able to make the bullet lightly graze the match head and ignite it. They commented on the high degree of accuracy needed to make this shot.
Newer: Episode 138: Boomerang Bullet
Older: Episode 136: Hidden Nasties
at the end of the episopde of 137 who was the show in memory of — it was cut off to quick to read
December 28, 2009 at 10:45 PMI think it was to Erick Gates.
December 29, 2009 at 12:35 AMIn episode 137 they tested the myth that if you put a sleeping person’s hand in a bowl of warm water, they will wet the bed… they BUSTED it because they tested it on themselves and couldn’t get the results, however, while growing up, my friends and I did this a few different times at slumber parties or at camp and it worked every time. So it made me question their tests…It works on unsuspecting little kids, maybe not on grown men who are anticipating it.
December 29, 2009 at 2:52 AMJames – you are correct. This is what it said:
In Memory of
December 29, 2009 at 7:47 AMErik Gates
A true, honorary mythbuster
1962 – 2009
I think it’s time to add Jesse to the cast list on the site. Don’t you?
Finally, a woman with engineering and mechanical skills on Mythbusters, not an art major who had to learn it on the show.
December 29, 2009 at 12:03 PMYou should do this thing it is with 2 flat buses both of the buses going at each other but they are not going to hit each other they are going to hit a car and see if it splits
December 29, 2009 at 1:28 PMIn episode 137 they tested the myth that if you put a sleeping person’s hand in a bowl of warm water, they will wet the bed… they BUSTED it my friends and i use to do this prank as well. We also did is as a form of hazing in the military. it worked for us as well. Ahh the fun times…
December 29, 2009 at 11:38 PMI have done the hand in water prank and it has worked many times.. I did it when I was a kid on other kids.. Does age have anything to do with bladder control?? I also did it with cold water on a 12yr old friend of mine when I was young.
December 30, 2009 at 1:23 PMHearnessing the power of burning ear wax… Ewww!!!
December 30, 2009 at 9:14 PMso when will kari be back? hope her baby is cute =P
January 3, 2010 at 5:43 PMI am a big fan of the Mythbusters but now i am seriously doubting them. Last week my brother went to a sleepover and his friends dip his hand in warm water and it worked!!!! he had truoble with it at school but he moved on. The mythbusters BUSTED it!!!!!
January 3, 2010 at 6:51 PMI grow ever more wary of how the mythbusters choose to test a theory, and more importantly how they bust them. If there’s a claim that someone can do something, they assume they can do it too. They fail to properly test the ‘hand in water’ myth, and yet they still bust it. Why can’t they admit that their test sample was amazingly small and at minimum say ‘plausible for now’? They couldn’t try it on 2/3 of their subjects, so their valid test size was ONE adult male. Their refusal to keep trying until they got it to work (or they reach a fair sample size) indicates their over-eagerness to bust a myth. If they can’t manage to build a rocket to get to the moon, does that mean it’s impossible?
January 5, 2010 at 3:42 PMShow BUSTED again!
Wetting bed used by my youngest son on my oldest and a tied unsuspecting 14 year old WET the bed! Go to a Scout or Cadet camp and ask the seniors for names of who they’ve done this one to.
Adam and Jamie professionals, just two guys with their own show!
Wish they would just read what people say!
January 7, 2010 at 11:58 PMWith all due respect SuperSparky, though I like Jesse, I don’t see how she has done anything MORE than Kari has done. She, Kari, has built things from the ground up and explained the science of things perfectly, so what’s the problem? They both could be on the show as far as I’m concerned, but I like Kari better …..
January 9, 2010 at 3:28 AMJust curious. Every one seems to have made someone wet the bed, but has anyone had it done to them? It never happened to me.
January 11, 2010 at 10:39 PMI’m surprised all the comments are about the bedwetting myth…
for me, one of the biggest “wtf” moments ever was when they dipped their fingers in molten lead. I could not believe they were actually doing it, or that it’s possible at all to do that safey. You could not have paid me enough to do that one…
January 13, 2010 at 4:14 AMthe show is scientific so just shut up and dont watch it you think its “just some guys with their own show” so shut up HR!
January 20, 2010 at 8:50 AMi think i know y all the comments r about the bedwetting myth its because we.ve all been kids some of us still are i mean Im twelve and about to get off the computer to watch mythbusters
January 21, 2010 at 11:15 PMThe reason I commented on the bedwetting thing is that although it never happened to me and I never did it, a bunch of people said they have done it to other kids, but could never prove it, even with me watching when I was in boy scouts. I have yet to find one case where it actually happened.
January 27, 2010 at 9:21 PMMaybe the people who say they did it spilled the water too….
p.s. If you did something like this to someone without their knowledge, they could sue you and take everything you own. Maybe that’s why Mythbusters didn’t do that. Remember, most people can talk the talk, very few can walk the walk.
And to those who put down Mythbusters I say, spend your money and do it yourself. If you prove them wrong, I’d bet they’d air it.
Have you EVER heard of the hand in water myth working on anybody other than a young teenager or child? Just think about it… And who really cares if it works on them, they probably piss the bed anyway.
February 1, 2010 at 5:50 AMI looked here to see more comments on the Leidenfrost effect. 850 degree F. molten lead and the ability to quickly submerge a finger or hand unscathed! They both looked pretty nervous to me, as they should.
February 9, 2010 at 1:46 AMA whole coconut can be sent by mail (USPS) without any packaging and arrive at its destination intact.
1 can even be mailed from Hawaii to Canada.
February 13, 2010 at 7:42 AMThe warm water myth works fine for kids under 15.
February 18, 2010 at 3:42 AMBut i think Jamie is a little bit too old for this “myth”.
I “tested” this a lot of times with my “volunteer” (little brother)
greets from GERMANY
hey what are you doing
February 24, 2010 at 6:09 PMCold water works better than warm water to get someone to wet the bed.
February 24, 2010 at 8:34 PMOn the “Dipping a sleeping person’s hand in a bowl of warm water will cause him to “wet the bed” (urinate involuntarily).” myth, you confirmed it as busted. I saw this happen whilst at university. It happened in about 5 seconds flat. The person was passed out drunk though after drinking all afternoon and evening to celebrate the last day of exams. It was very funny!
March 1, 2010 at 5:37 PMCan a strong gust of wind blow a cat away? If so how strong dose it have to be?
March 6, 2010 at 5:16 PMIn the show about thermite and ice, what you were seeing was the results of what’s called the saturation temperature. This when water as a solid is transformed directly into a gas without turning into a liquid. The thermite burns hot enough to do this. I’m,among other things, a power engineer and work on boilers and I was taught about this in collage.
March 12, 2010 at 5:32 PM