Special 7: Hollywood on Trial
Air Date: May 5, 2005
Bullets will spark when ricocheting off other objects.
partly confirmed
After several tries and mistakes, they manage to make it work. With a photo of Adam and Jamie as target, Kari shot a bullet at it, while Grant shoots the paint balls and Tory watches them spark. Extremely improbable, but it can be done.
The aluminum paint used on actor Jack Haley while portraying the Tin Man in the 1939 movie version of The Wizard of Oz caused an adverse reaction that hospitalized him.
busted
Kari survived her aluminum paint session just like Jamie survived his gold paint session when testing the Goldfinger myth. The myth is true, but not as told. Actor Buddy Ebsen (better known later from The Beverly Hillbillies) was originally cast in the role of the Tin Man. Ebsen suffered a near-fatal allergic reaction and was hospitalized for two weeks after inhaling aluminum powder from an experimental aluminum makeup. After the aluminum makeup incident, Ebsen was replaced by actor Jack Haley and the makeup was replaced by an aluminum paint. Haley went on to complete his role as the Tin Man without suffering any serious health issues.
It is possible for a medium-to-large build man to bust through a wooden doorframe on his own power.
plausible
Using only his shoulder, Jamie was able to break through three of the four locks installed on the doorframe the Build Team constructed that met the American Building Code standards. The only reason the fourth lock did not break was because the Build Team used stronger screws to anchor it into the frame than what came with the actual lock. Adam attempted to break the fourth lock but slipped on a mat in front of the door and fell on his back instead. Still, considering that Jamie got so far by simply shoulder-ramming, a determined individual could easily break through.
It is possible to be thrown through a glass window and walk away without a scratch just like in Hollywood movies.
partly busted
While it is possible to fly through an 1/8th inch glass pane with little or no injuries, ¼ inch glass is thick enough to inflict significant lacerations on a body, should one be thrown through it. In Hollywood, a breakaway faux-glass substance called sugar glass is used in stunts requiring an actor to be thrown through a window. Sugar glass does not fracture into sharp fragments like real glass does and does not injure stunt performers.
It is possible to ignite a pool of gasoline using only a cigarette.
partly plausible
A cigarette has the potential to light a pool of gasoline but just doesn’t have enough sustained heat. Gas ignites between 500 °F and 540 °F, the cigarette at its hottest was between 450 °F and 500 °F but only when it was actually being smoked. An ignition is very improbable.
Newer: Episode 31: Breaking Glass
Do bullets also really go “Pa-choing-choing-choinnnnggggg” when ricochetting?
Sometimes.
I’ve heard that sound before and a bullet (or even a firearm, for that matter) was not needed to create it.
This is an effect of acoustics and is really an echo being reflected back at you in such a way, so as to enhance certain sonic frequencies.
However, to answer your question, yes, a bullet fired from a gun can sometimes create that sound.
re: do bullets go pa-choing. I thought that the noise was more of a peeeowwwwn but i may be wrong but i think this is one that should be tackled.
Bullets make a zzzing noise even when they don’t hit anything, just from flying through the air. If a bullet hits a rock or something it will make a ricocheting noise that trails off in a random direction and almost always makes everyone flinch.
It is impossible to light gasoline with a cigarette. Its a good party trick and people will freak out when you sit down with a glass of gas and a lit cigarette, but it just doesn’t light.
an anti climactic hisss is produced
gasoline itself doesnt have a low flashpoint, but the Vapor/fumes from gasoline Can and Will ignite from an open heat source such as a cigarette, hence the no smoking signs at gas stations.
My thoughts exactly.
When I was a young child I once ran through a sliding glass door at a tavern with out a scratch or bump on me
To test if someone can be thrown through glass with out getting hurt, your dummy should have been waring clothes. Maby the clothes would provide some protection agenst the sharp glass.
To test if someone can be thrown through glass with out getting hurt, your dummy should have been waring clothes. Maby the clothes would provide some protection.
No rick cramer, the gasoline vapour will only be lit by a naked flame – the only reason for the no smoking sign is to stop people from lighting their cigarettes and hence providing the naked flame.
Ok Lewis before we say that naked flame is the only thing that can ignite gas how does your car run. You think that you built in lighters in your cylinder? No you have a SPARK plug that does nothing more than cause an eletric spark which causes combustion. Rick is indeed correct if a cigarette lands in a pool than more than likley the cigarrete will go out because when the cigarrete is completly submerged you take away the air which is one of the three ingridients required to create fire. Do not fool yourself gasoline is very dangerous. It is possible to smoke a cigarrete at the pump even light it but you stick the cigarrete in the fumes or the lighter in the fumes all you need is the right amount of oxygen and you have fire. Remember you can not start a fire without fuel, heat and air. (Basic high school level chemistry:)
The cylinder has a lot of compression so that affects the flashpoint.
And a PS to the above – gasoline is actually quite hard to light without matches! An angle grinder and a stream of hot metal sparks wont, a glowing (no flame) coal or wood ember straight out of the fire wont, a red hot metal bar wont – but a ‘roll your own’ cigarette will reasonably easily!! This is because the paper flares (ie naked flame) where the tobacco is not packed uniformly tightly as in ‘taylor mades’
Gasoline CAN indeed be lit with a store bought lit cigarette. I was in Auto/diesel shop in college and we had a truck up on a lift and there was a pool of gas down around the lift cylinder in front. Well our instructor threw his lit cigarette on the floor into it and “POOF” it lit right up. Took 2 fire extinguishers to put it out.
To Lewis Cross, gas fumes WILL ignite from the sparks of an angle grinder. Do you have any actual shop experience? Think about it for a second. a single spark ignites gas (and fumes) in lawnmowers and cars.
The “sparking bullet” problem is a real problem in fire-prone areas, with dry brush. But it is only a problem with steel-cased bullets. I believe they only used lead bullets for the test. If they had used steel-cased bullets, they would have seen sparks for sure. So steel-cased bullets are banned during fire season in outdoor ranges here in Ventura County, CA, for this very reason.
Does the calibre of the bullet determine the pitch at which the ricochetting bullet makes the choing-choing-ping-choingggg noise?? If a 22 calibre bullet ricochetted at say, 2.5kHz, would a 9mm bullet ricochet at 1.5 – 2kHz?
Smooey:
The sound of a ricochetting bullet is due to some amount of end over end spinning, so the pitch is from the rate of spin. I would imagine that a long heavy bullet would spin slower than a short fat lightweight one after identical impacts.
Doppler effect also plays a huge role.
@ Steve Blevins:
Some types of diesel fuel ignite at a lower temperature than regular gasoline. That’s why there’s so much variation in people’s anecdotal references.
As a shooter I have heard lots of warnings about shooting firearms at water. That the bullet can ricochet back to the shooter. I have a hard time imagining that scenario. Although I can see it bouncing off the water back up into the air. Can you do some tests with different bullets and different angles of attack? Thanks!
Thanks.
My wife went through a plate glass window head first and only got a little scratch on her cheek and one on her hand, not even enough for a band-aid. So it is possible to go through a plate glass window and have almost no injuries.
Since Utah is discouraging mikosng with the tax hike, Salt Lake City International Airport needs to follow the lead and close the mikosng rooms on all of their concourses. It is a terrible example to children who I observed standing in front of mikosng room with no doors and supports special concessions to people who smoke that are unacceptable other places in Utaha and around the nation.
Dramatically unsatisfactory testing of the plate glass window myth. Dummy had no clothes and had to slide through the glass head first with no protection. All round shoddy work; not up to the usual calibre of this show.
Yes please do a test to determine whether or not bullets can ricochet back at the shooter from water.
Thank you!
I, too, was disappointed with the testing of the plate glass myth. The dummy definitely should have been clothed. Plus, I’m pretty sure most people going through plate glass would not be going in at that awkward angle. This myth definitely deserves a re-visit under real-world conditions.
So when does an actor in hollywood get thrown through a plate glass window naked ? Ofcourse your gonna get scratches with absolute zero protection. All of the movies I have seen, the actors are wearing cloths most of the time fairly thick coats. I would be willing to bet if you put cloths and a denim jacket on the test dummy you wouldn’t have nearly as many cuts.
The truth is (nail in the coffin please) a cigarette WILL NOT ignite gasoline, nor the vapours. Do the literature review. I have a lecturer who demonstrated by smoking a cigarette above a pool of gasoline, puting a lit cigarette into a bottle of gasoline. Babrauskas, DeHaan, Holleyhead and Jewel have all been unable to recreate the Hollywood cigarette and gasoline fire.
Doors aren’t that strong. I can’t open a door with my shoulder, but I can by striking near the lock with a palm-hand blow. A friend of mine kicked open a door with a steel reinforcement plate over the lock (the frame split and splintered). Well, not so much a friend, as he then stole everything in my room.
How about a car cigarette lighter can that possibley ignite gasoline like in supernatural season2 episode5??
Tin man/Aluminum paint myth:
Try it out on someone with a metal allergy to see if it’s plausible. It would make a huge difference. I’m allergic to all metals except titanium, white gold and sterling silver. I bet if I was covered in it, I would have a huge reaction!
can roll-your-own cigarette paper hurt gas motors? I’ve heard they do.
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I knew a kid in high school who would love to shock newbies by tossing his lit cigarette butts into the pans of gas we used to clean our engines. Hollywood props need to use a spark devise to ignite their “cigarette ignition” scenes.Why they (hollywood) perpetuate this myth is for drama and relies on an ignorant public perception to carry it off.