MythBusters Special 8: JAWS Special

If a pressurized scuba tank is shot, it will explode.

busted

When the tank was punctured by a bullet it simply decompressed quickly, causing it to fly around like a compressed-air rocket. The team was only able to make the tank explode in the end by using explosives.

(This myth was revisited and re-busted in MythBusters vs. Jaws.)

A Great White Shark can pull barrels underwater.

plausible

A shark’s maximum striking force is great enough to pull the barrels under.

A Great White Shark can pull barrels underwater and hold them there.

busted

The force a shark can generate in a continuous pull is insufficient to keep the barrels under water for a significant amount of time.

A Great White Shark can ram a dive cage with enough force to damage or destroy it.

confirmed

The “ShaRammer”, a machine designed to simulate the force of a Great White Shark, penetrated the cage with enough force to rip a significant part of it loose and carry it away on its body. The cage was completely destroyed.

A Great White Shark can ram a boat with enough force to punch a hole in it.

plausible

A Great White has enough power to punch a hole in the side of a wooden boat under the right circumstances, but an example of this happening has never been documented.

A Great White Shark can pull a boat backwards with great enough speed that waves break over the rear end.

busted

The same reason why the shark cannot hold the barrels underwater continuously.

Punching a shark in the nose, eyes, or gills will cause it flee or at least back off briefly.

plausible

The sharks punched by both a specially modified Buster and Jamie were driven off briefly and were hesitant about making repeated approaches. Strikes to the gills were noted to be more effective than strikes to the nose.

Sharks can be caught using a special piano wire. (from a deleted scene in Jaws)

busted

Piano wire doesn’t have the tensile strength needed to be used as an adequate shark-catching lure.