Premier Date: September 5, 2007
busted
The Build Team first set up a small scale test by firing paint balls at Tory and seeing if he could slap the paint balls away. During the test, Tory proved that human reflexes were fast enough to flap away a paint ball. They then constructed a rig that would mimic a human hand making a slapping motion and used it to try and slap bullets fired from a 9mm handgun. The Build Team quickly discovered that human speed was nowhere near fast enough to slap the bullet so they powered up the rig to slap at superhuman speed. The hand managed to slap the bullet, but it wasn’t powerful enough to change the bullet’s trajectory.
busted
The Build Team obtained an old car with a working airbag and created a pair of ballistics gel hands that would simulate a driver holding the steering wheel at the 10-2 position. When the airbag deployed, it knocked the arms off of the steering wheel, but did not cause any visible damage to the thumbs. Then, following a fan suggestion, the Build Team then tested the myth under the assumption that the driver was holding the wheel with his hands in a fashion similar to the Vulcan Salute. The deploying airbag caused serious damage to the thumbs, which would have meant broken thumbs if an actual person were holding the steering wheel. However, because the myth was based around the commonly used 10-2 position, the myth was busted.
busted
The Build Team inserted an RFID tag into pig flesh and placed it inside the MRI scanner but failed to get any results. Kari then had an RFID tag placed inside her arm and was placed inside the MRI. The RFID tag remained unaffected and left Kari unharmed.
busted
Once again, Adam volunteered to sit inside a sinking car. Once the car sank, Adam exited the vehicle and cut a hole in the tire and attempted to breathe the air leaking from it. However, he could not breathe in enough air from the tire and was forced to breathe from an emergency air tank.
The following myths were originally tested in Speed Cameras. Viewers complained that the speed camera was mounted too low. For this episode the camera was mounted at 10 feet (3 m) instead of the original 5 feet (1.5 m).
re-busted
The magnified cover failed to obscure the license plate.
re-busted
The reflective cover failed to obscure the license plate.
re-busted
The commercial spray failed to obscure the license plate.
confirmed
The MythBusters obtained a race car dubbed “The Beast”, which used a jet engine that could propel it to speeds of up to 300 miles per hour. In the first run, The Beast hit 245 miles per hour and managed to pass the camera so fast that it never took a picture. In the second run, the speed camera was slightly modified to account for the increased speed, but still failed to take a picture of The Beast, which traveled faster than the first run. Even though the speed camera was beaten, the MythBusters pointed out that only specialized cars like The Beast could achieve those kinds of speeds and would therefore be very easy to find by the authorities.
Previous: Episode 86: Superhero Hour