Premier Date: November 12, 2008
busted
The MythBusters tested this idiom in a literal sense by applying it to running, bicycling, and driving. They wanted to see if you can be faster when your legs or wheels are already moving at the start of a time trial. For running, Kari, Tory, and Grant each ran 30 feet from a standstill, then after dropping from a trapeze bar while running in the air, and finally after riding a zipline to the starting line. All of them were faster when running from a standstill. For the bicycle, Tory made a rig that allowed him to elevate the rear wheel and drop it, spinning, onto the ground. This made the bike unstable and was slower than a dead start. Finally, the team raised the front wheels of a car off the ground while Kari revved the engine. The front end was then dropped, but once again, a dead start proved to be faster.
busted
Adam and Jamie visited a zoo to obtain a variety of feces to try to polish. They tried to pick the most polishable candidates and baked them to remove the moisture. Adam tried to shine his poop with a buffing wheel, while Jamie reasoned that using a wax polish would result in a shine. Adam eventually sought the advice of an outside expert, who showed him that it was possible to apply a shine to dirt with a tedious technique. Applying this technique, Adam and Jamie were able to obtain very polished poop without using any foreign materials like polish.
up to the fans
To test this myth, Adam and Jamie tried different ways of ending the episode: first with a bang, then with a slow burn. For the bang, detonating cord was wrapped around Jamie’s moped, and Adam added bottles of gasoline. The explosion utterly destroyed the moped. For a burn, Jamie mixed over 1000 lbs of thermite, intending to use it to cut an SUV in half. While the SUV was not completely severed, the thermite burned through most of the vehicle, and both Adam and Jamie enjoyed the destruction. Adam preferred the bang, but Jamie liked the burn more. They decided to leave the verdict of the myth/idiom to the fans.
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