07x08 - Thermite vs. Ice

[bunniefuu]

Do not try what you're
about to see at home.

We consult with experts.
We take every precaution.

And we have years of experience
in dangerous situations.

NARRATOR: On this episode
of "Mythbusters"...

I am gobsmacked.

NARRATOR: Adam and Jamie
re-stage a backyard bonfire

of ice and thermite
that still baffles the experts.

Next, Tory, Grant, and Kari
pump up the volume

to try to trigger
a car full of r*fles

with a thumping car stereo.

- GRANT: Go off!
- Fire off!

NARRATOR:
From sound waves to shock waves,

the hits just keep on coming.

GRANT:
You know how to wreck a party.

NARRATOR:
And then there's the myth

of the g*n with a gas problem...

TABOR: Oh!

NARRATOR:
...where an awkward grip

could cost you
your favorite finger.

JAMIE:
That g*n has a heck of a kick.

NARRATOR:
It's not for the fainthearted,

but there's always room
for a chicken.

Who are the Mythbusters?

Adam Savage...

Today's forecast...


NARRATOR:
...and Jamie Hyneman.

It's fun yet deadly.
[Laughs]

NARRATOR:
Between them, more than 30 years

of special-effects experience.

- Joining them...
- [Elevator bell dings]

...Tory Belleci...

Aah!

- NARRATOR: Grant lmahara...
- Aaaaah!

NARRATOR:
And Kari Byron.

That was a rush!

NARRATOR:
They don't just tell the myths.

They put them to the test.

Myth number one
is a tale of two extremes.

All right, dude, time
to fire up that dial-up modem.

We're going back to the Internet
for this story.

Oh, well, if it's from
the Internet, it must be true.

You don't have to be
sarcastic.

This one's about thermite,
and I think you'll like it.

- What is it?
- All right.

These two guys...
They take a bucket of thermite,

put it on a bunch
of blocks of ice,

and light it with a fuse.

And it doesn't just burn
like we've seen thermite burn.

The whole friggin' thing
explodes!

Watch this clip, man. I think
it's actually pretty credible.

NARRATOR: Thermite itself
shouldn't explode,

though it burns at
ferociously high temperatures.

And you'd figure
that ice would just melt, right?

But this clip seems to show
that when ice meets fire,

the least of your worries
is getting your socks wet.

YOUNG MAN:
Oh, sweet.

Well, they sure made
our job easier.

They showed us everything
we need to set this up.

Absolutely.




And a fuse and a pack of matches
to set the whole thing off.

I love it. Let's head out to
the b*mb range and try it out.

Okay.

NARRATOR: Now, these two know
their thermite.

Who could forget
the racing stripe they burned

through the roof of a car

for the "Better to End
with a Bang" myth?

But now, before trying
to replicate the ice expl*si*n,

Jamie wants to warm up
with a trial by fire.

JAMIE:
Now I'd like to fine-tune

what you might call
the thermite delivery system,

but we can also have
some fun here.

So what we're building first
is a kind of pagoda from bricks

and steel plates.

The idea is to see
how many plates

the thermite burns through
once it's ignited.

NARRATOR: Thermite's a mix
of fine metallic powders,

but the ideal ratio
is debatable.

Of course, we want the best burn
for our buck,

so this penetration test
should be a great way

to try out
Jamie's special blend.

From here,
it's all quite simple.

Jamie sets two matchbooks in
the bucket, hooked up to a fuse.

Okay, this is
thermite penetration test

in 3, 2, 1...

NARRATOR: If all goes well,
we'll see a cascade of fire

burning through
a bunch of steel plates,

and the thermal-imaging camera
should enhance the experience.

ADAM: I've always wanted
to see this thing in action

just like this.

As far as I know,
it's never been done before.

I mean, you see what happens
after the fact,

but we're gonna see
the whole thing all at once.

NARRATOR: So this
little pre-myth appetizer

could go anywhere.

ADAM:
There we go.

- JAMIE: 1, 2, 3.
- ADAM: Nice!

- Ohh.
- [Laughs]

JAMIE:
Four plates.

Right, right.
The top one and three down.

- That was pretty cool.
- It was.

NARRATOR:
"Cool" isn't the word.

At 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit,

the burn is too bright to view
at close quarters.

It's a major meltdown.

We could hang these up
in a gallery.

We'll make like
a million dollars!

NARRATOR: So Jamie's special
thermite blend is hot to trot.

Now to see if 11 pounds of it

is enough to actually explode


ADAM:
Well, look, let's clean this up,

get some ice blocks out here,
and replicate that video.

That's what we're here for.

All right. So, this myth
comes from a viewer.

It's called "Woofer Weaponry."

Try saying that
three times fast.

Okay, besides being
a tongue twister,

what are we talking about here?

This is that a subwoofer
can actually set off a weapon.

GRANT:
But not just any weapon.

A very specific type
of combat r*fle called an SKS.

Cool!
Tell me more.

The story is that
these Russian gangsters

are driving around
with these weapons

in the back of their car.

Let's face it. They're
gangsters. That's what you do.

And their car has this
crazy booming stereo system.

They pull up
next to these girls,

and they try to impress them,
so they crank up the volume.

The stereo system's so loud,
the g*ns begin to vibrate,

and suddenly... bang, bang,
bang... all the g*ns go off.

g*nf*re not being
the best pickup line,

I'm assuming
it scared off the girls.

Talk about embarrassing.

Yeah. Awkward!

NARRATOR: This viewer myth
is simple and terrifying.

If and when the bass
gets the car bouncing,

the vibration is supposed to
set off the SKS r*fles.

And they could potentially
keep firing b*ll*ts

till the clips run out.

Well, I guess
we need to get a car,

install a super-loud stereo
system, crank it all the way up,

throw some of these r*fles
in the back, and stand back.

Well, if that doesn't work,
there are these cars

that are used
for these sound-offs.

They're not really practical.

A gangster might not have
one of these.

They're basically
giant speakers on wheels.

Okay, but first up, I think
we need to talk to an expert.

I mean, we need to find out more
about this SKS r*fle.

I mean, the myth is so specific.
It's really strange.

Definitely.

NARRATOR:
So it's "get acquainted" time

with the r*fles renowned
for their fickle firing habits.

GRANT: Any of you ever shot
an SKS before?

- KARI: Nope.
- TORY: Nope.

But I'm looking forward to it.

NARRATOR: Gunsmith Ben Murray
knows exactly why these weapons

occasionally sh**t themselves.

So, what is it about
the SKS r*fle in particular

that makes it so key
to this myth?

It has
a free-floating firing pin,

as opposed
to a spring-loaded firing pin.

And I can show you that.

I can disassemble it
right quick.

This is the bolt assembly
that houses the firing pin,

and, as you can see,
it moves forward and backwards.

TORY: So that just slides around
in there.

That's correct.

So if there is no spring and
that pin does vibrate enough,

could it potentially
set a round off?

I suppose it could.

So there might be some truth
to this myth.

Maybe.

NARRATOR:
In most semiautomatic r*fles,

the spring simply holds
the firing pin

at the rear of the housing
until the hammer strikes it,

driving the pin onto the primer
and firing the b*llet.

But the SKS, with no spring,

has a firing pin that floats
free and could bounce around,

potentially causing
an accidental discharge.

There's plenty of verified
incidents to support the claim.

But we want to know if something
as simple as sound waves

could really dislodge
those springless pins.

So, that kind of
looks like a problem.

Yes, there's quite a few
in our country

that have this
free-floating-style firing pin.

In fact, that's why we came up

with a spring-loaded firing pin
to replace it.

NARRATOR:
So Ben's fixed the problem,

but to properly test the myth,

we're using g*ns
without the springs.

Now, before we start testing
to see whether or not subwoofers

will set one of these off
without using the trigger,

we need to make sure ours work.

So that's all we're doing today.
We're just sh**ting g*ns.

This day can't suck.

NARRATOR:
Tory and Grant figure five g*ns

should make a mythical carful.

So, on with the testing.

And when the b*ll*ts run out,

they can justify
their jubilation.

Now, remember when I said
we're not sh**ting these g*ns

just for our own enjoyment,

but it's actual
scientific research?

Well, it turns out it's true.

I mean, we have
several of these g*ns,

but the g*n I was using
jammed twice during the test.

Ready for the next?

I've had a jam.

So, that means
we can't use that g*n

for when we do the experiment
with the subwoofer,

because if it does jam
during our subwoofer test,

it makes it an invalid test.

See?

We're not just out here
sh**ting g*ns for the fun of it.

This is serious
scientific experimentation!

NARRATOR: With six g*ns tested
and five selected...

...it's time to fit a car
we call the Great White

with a thumping sound system.

KARI: So, what size stereo you
think we can get in this thing?

I don't know, but we want
this thing to vibrate a lot.

Well, we've got
no shortage of space.

You could probably fit
like four bodies

- in the back of this trunk.
- GRANT: Yeah.

NARRATOR:
Naturally, they source the best

and the bassiest system in town.

[Tires screech]

TORY: I'm a little embarrassed
about this car.

I think
they're gonna laugh at us.

GRANT:
Dude, I'm laughing at us.

TORY: Oh!

- That is sick!
- GRANT: Wow.

Hey, Kenny, Paul.
How are you guys?

Hey.
Welcome to Auto Sound.

The myth that we're working on

involves a guy
with a really big car stereo

and a special type of g*n
in the backseat called an SKS.

Car stereo was so loud
that when he turned it up,

it set the g*n off.

You think it could happen?

I've seen everything
from nosebleeds

to cracked windshields,
so it's possible.

NARRATOR: Not quite
your standard sales pitch,

but those cracked windshields
sound promising.

TORY: Ooh!
What is that?

SCHLEIPFER: This is a 12-inch
square driver from MTX.

It's the 8500 series.

It's gonna handle
about 750 watts rms,

and it's square because
it has more surface area,

which means it's naturally
gonna have more output.

More speaker, more output.

And I think it's gonna do
what you guys need it to do

for your application.

You got to see our car first,
and then you can make that call.

- Okay.
- [Laughter]

NARRATOR: One thing's for
certain... A stereo like this

way outclasses
the car they drove up in.

TORY:
This is perfect!

[Laughter,
stereo system blasting]

NARRATOR:
Not for the first time

the Mythbusters are playing
with fire.

ADAM:
There we go.

- JAMIE: 1, 2, 3.
- ADAM: Nice!

NARRATOR:
They're set to test

a dubious and dangerous
Internet video

that seems to show
exploding ice.

JAMIE:
The clip shows

what is purportedly 11 pounds
of thermite in a metal bucket,

sitting on top
of 10 blocks of ice.

They light the thermite, it does
what we expect thermite to do,

but then all of a sudden...
poof...

out it goes in a big expl*si*n,

flinging bits of metal
everywhere.

Now, we're gonna do
exactly what they did

and see if we get
the same result.

NARRATOR: It's hard to believe
that mixing fire and ice

could ever end in a boom.

Retired FBI man Frank Doyle
thinks that concealed gunpowder

might be the cause
of the conflagration.

Well, I'm a little skeptical.

And I think they've done
something a little iffy.

All right. Well, there's
only one way to find out.

NARRATOR:
Frank sets the fuse.

Adam sets the scene.

Let's get behind the barrier

and replicate a couple
of Internet pyromaniacs.

NARRATOR:
And Jamie lights the wick.

JAMIE:
This is thermite and ice.

In 3, 2, 1...

We're good.

NARRATOR: Needless to say,
never try this yourself.

We've got all the safety gear,

the expertise,
and the blast screen.

ADAM:
This is k*lling me.

Don't tell me.

What the heck?

NARRATOR: This is close
to a worst-case scenario,

when the expl*si*n you're
expecting to happen doesn't.

ADAM:
I think it's a dud.

NARRATOR: So Jamie slips into
something less comfortable,

but way more fireproof.

He and Frank fashion a new fuse.

Then Jamie takes a furtive walk,

knowing the old fuse could catch
at any time.

ADAM: So, Jamie's put on
the full fire suit

to protect himself to replace
another fuse and matches,

because, well, we don't know.

He could touch that bucket,
and it could all go off.

So it's a little bit
touch and go right now.

NARRATOR: Jamie wastes no time
setting the new spark.

ADAM:
He's lit it.

NARRATOR:
Let's hope it stays lit.

This experiment
should confirm or bust

the myth of exploding ice.

ADAM: Well, looks like
the match is going off.

- There it goes.
- There we go.

I'd say that was an expl*si*n.

[Laughing]
I'm pretty sure that qualifies.

NARRATOR: And Adam's found
the source of that thunk

that shook the blast screen.

[Laughs]

In the popular parlance,

we call this piece of ice
a "hunter-k*ller"

because it went all the way
from ground zero

to our blast chamber!

Luckily, it is...

...ice-proof.

NARRATOR: Some chunks of ice
flew as far as 150 feet.

The brick pallet
is a smoldering ruin,

and there's no trace at all
of the galvanized steel bucket.

ADAM: [Laughing]
Look at that.

That tells the whole story
right there.

I am a believer!

NARRATOR: But what actually
made the ice go boom?

The truth is,
no one really knows.

JAMIE:
Experts I've talked to

are speculating that heat
from the burning thermite

is decomposing the water
into hydrogen and oxygen,

which, in the presence
of a source of ignition,

namely hot thermite,
is exploding.

Now, I sort of have a problem
with that,

because that requires

that a whole bunch
of hydrogen and oxygen

be instantaneously created,

and I don't know
that that's possible.

There is another explanation...
I'm just speculating...

and that is that something
in this reaction

is aerosolizing
all the thermite.

You know, the steam or something
is throwing all this powder up

into a cloud of thermite,
and that's exploding.

We don't know.
It's a mystery.

But one way or another,
that was a heck of a bang.

NARRATOR: Here's their video,
and here's ours.

So it's myth confirmed.

No black powder,
no hidden fireworks.

Just fire and ice.

They've got the g*ns, the car,

and a sound system that could
shake loose your fillings.

- All right. You ready?
- Yes.

- KARI: Think so.
- Ohh!

GRANT:
Oh, yeah!

So unassuming, and then bang!

You filled up the whole trunk!

That's bass, baby!

[Laughs]

Oh, my eardrums!

Look at the rust coming off
the top of the roof!

Oh, my God!

We're gonna tear this car apart.

NARRATOR: But first,
they want to spiff it up

with a high-speed,
pimped-out paint job.

TORY: There's gonna be all
these hot-rod enthusiasts going,

"That's not how you paint flames
on cars!

What are you doing?!"

You know what I got to say
to that?

So what?

NARRATOR:
Just like a tattoo,

it's more about the bad-boy
attitude than the art...

...until you get inside.

You know, some people
have a hula girl

or a Chihuahua bobblehead
on their dashboard.

We have us.

NARRATOR: Yeah,
not quite the gangster image,

but they should be
good indicators

of the turbulence caused
by that thumping bass.

[Up-tempo music plays]

Pimped, prepped, and pumped

with a trunk full
of high-grade hardware,

the Shark rolls up for
its first-ever r*fle recital.

If all goes to plan,
there won't be an encore.

KARI:
Tory and Grant were kind enough

to test all of the SKS r*fles
for us

and make sure
that they all work properly.

[g*nshots]

Now we're at the Alameda County
sheriff's b*mb range.

We love this place
because it's a wide-open space

where we don't have neighbors
to complain about the noise

and we can sh**t all the g*ns
we want.

All right, so we've amassed
our gangster arsenal.

We have our blanks,

but, as we know, we need to
treat this like live ammunition.

Let's load up our g*ns
and get 'em in that vehicle.

Sounds good to me.

NARRATOR:
So the r*fles

get spread from the backseat
to the front,

some close up to the speakers
and others at a distance.

This is gonna serve as mission
control for our experiment.

We have a portable music player

with all
our test tones preloaded.

We've also got a frequency
generator and an oscilloscope

so we can dial in any specific
frequencies we want to test.

Inside the car,
there's a microphone

that's connected to the spectrum
analyzer and dB SPL meter.

And that will tell us
not only the frequency

but also how loud it is.

And finally,
and perhaps most importantly,

there's a live video feed

to tell us if any of the g*ns
have gone off

as a result of our sound.

NARRATOR: The sound won't be
music as we know it,

but a series of tones
designed to test and push

the acoustic limits
of the system

and maybe fire those g*ns.

All right. This is gonna be
a low-frequency sweep

starting at 20 hertz
at 95 dB SPL.

- Ready?
- Oh, yeah.

Here we go.

[Whirring]

NARRATOR:
To keep it simple,

hertz indicates the pitch
of a note,

and decibels measure the volume.



as a motorcycle
revving its engine.

So far, not one round
has fired off.

GRANT: We're not all the way
through the sweep yet.

[Frequencies alternating]

NARRATOR:
But the signs aren't good.

The bobbleheads are barely
bobbling, so we'll change tack.

All right, next I got a tone
that alternates...

wee, woo, wee, woo.

Yeah, we want to see that pin
fire off one of these b*ll*ts.

- All right, you guys ready?
- KARI: Ready.

Crank it up, Grant.

NARRATOR:
If this works,

they can expect to hear
multiple g*nshots at any moment.

Is that it?

You see anything?

[Pulsating tone]

Okay.

Come on.
Let's make that car vibrate.

Not one round has gone off yet.

KARI:
Not one wiggle.

TORY: I mean,
the g*n's not even shaking.

Okay, so that didn't work.
What would be the next step?

- Louder.
- TORY: Louder. I like that.

Let's go louder.

NARRATOR:
It's time to raise the stakes.

Grant cranks the decibels
up to an ear-shattering 130.

That's close to the level
of a jet engine

as heard
from just 100 feet away.

GRANT:
There you go.

- Whoa!
- That's what I'm talking about.

Look at those speakers.
Uh-uh-uh-uh!

Look, the g*n
is actually vibrating.

GRANT: Well, no, no. It's
the camera that's vibrating.

- Whoa!
- Oh!

There's dust and everything
getting knocked all around!

It's crazy!

Whoa!

Oh, my God.
The camera cut out!

- We lost image.
- Oh, no!

NARRATOR:
Seems like everything's busted

but the g*ns.

Still, Grant sees
a little room to maneuver.

For all these tests,
the g*ns have been horizontal,

on the various parts of the car.

Now what we're gonna do
is change their orientation,

so instead of being horizontal,
they'll be vertical,

and that way,
we hope that the pins

will be in a better position

to set off these blanks
and, hopefully, get a result.

NARRATOR: Grant's enlisting
the force of gravity

to help dislodge those pins.

It might not help,
but it sure won't hurt.

[Vibrating]

TORY: You know, if this doesn't
do it, I don't know what will.

Well, it's definitely working.

You can see that speaker
just vibrating.

TORY: Wow, look at that g*n.
The g*n looks...

The g*n's shaking!

Yeah, I think it...

Heck, yeah!
[Laughs]

Come on.
Go off!

Fire off!
sh**t that g*n.

There's a lot happening
in there.

Gosh!

TORY:
Still not firing.

NARRATOR:
But once again,

none of the SKS shooters
go bang.

Mind you, there was
some collateral damage.

TORY: And this stereo system
was crazy.

I mean, it was vibrating
the entire car,

so much that it actually
bust the gas line.

It's now leaking fuel.

So this car is done.

But that doesn't mean
the myth is done.

It just means we got to find out
if this is even possible.

NARRATOR:
Now to investigate one more way

you can hurt yourself
with a handgun.

[g*nsh*t]

What you got there?

[Chuckles]
This?

This is
a pretty grisly depiction

of the dangers
of mishandling a firearm.

You mean like
when you sh**t yourself?

No.
Merely by having a poor grip.

Check this out.

That's nasty.

NARRATOR:
The severed thumb is so nasty,

we can't show it on TV.

It's a graphic myth, so
here's the tale in graphic form.

This beast of a sidearm
is a hunting p*stol

designed to bring down big game,

and some of the gas that propels
the b*llet also escapes

between the back of the barrel
and the front of the cylinder.

And therein lies the myth.

If you have a digit in the wrong
place at the right time,

the force of the blast
could blow your thumb clean off.

I'm having a hard time believing

that this could happen
just from misfingering a g*n.

Well, that is
what we have to figure out.

Okay.

NARRATOR:
Out on the range,

gunsmith Frank Tabor has brought
along the cannon in question.

So, Frank,
according to the myth,

the guy lost his thumb
'cause he held it like this.

Do you see any immediate
problems with that?

Oh, yeah. You have that gap
between the cylinder and barrel.

When you've got a


there's a lot of gases,
and it comes out that

just like a cutting torch.

So you think there could be
some real damage.

Oh, yes.

NARRATOR:
Adam sets Jamie a tasty target

to test out the weapon
on high-speed video.

Frank slips one in the chamber,

and Dirty Jamie
lines up a clean shot.

[Laughs]

TABOR: Wow.
That was something!

ADAM: That takes care
of your watermelon problem.

[g*nsh*t]

NARRATOR: It's another notch
on Jamie's belt

of dead fruit and vegetables,

but he did get a feel
for the firearm.

JAMIE:
That g*n has a heck of a kick.

Now, I have to be honest, I was
a little afraid of it at first,

thinking that it was gonna,

like, hit me in the head
afterwards.

So, I can kind of see how
somebody might want to grab it

in an unusual way to make sure
they had ahold of it.

NARRATOR: Now it's Adam's turn
to take a shot,

feel the force,
and maybe make a prediction.

ADAM: It's not
that I'm lactose-intolerant,

but if milk gets in my way, I'm
gonna take care of the problem.

c*ck.

NARRATOR: That's one expiration
date that was way off the mark.

ADAM:
The high-speed camera remains

one of my favorite tools
on the show.

If you look really closely at
the close-up of the g*n firing,

you can clearly see gases
sh**ting out of the space

between the cylinder
and the barrel.

This is where we'll be looking
for damaging amounts of energy.

NARRATOR: If the story behind
the gruesome photo is true,

the man's left thumb went south

due to a clumsy grip
across the cylinder.

But after handling the hardware,

Adam's best bet
is a thumbs-down.

ADAM: While it's
an impressive amount of gas

you can see coming out
of the g*n on the high speed,

I still don't feel like
it's gonna sever a finger.

NARRATOR: Well, they've got the
g*n, the b*ll*ts, and the venue.

All they need now
is a disposable digit.

All efforts to fire five r*fles
via the vibrations

from an upscale car stereo

have failed to end
in a single g*nsh*t.

You know, if this doesn't do it,
I don't know what will.

NARRATOR:
So the next-to-last resort

is a visit to Meyer Sound.

These audio experts
already helped us prove

that sound alone can't make you
lose your bowel control...

...just be like "Pbht!"
All over myself.

NARRATOR: And that
the human voice can break glass.

[Screeching]

Yay!
I did it!

GRANT: But today, we've brought
our r*fles to them

to see if they can help us
figure out a sweet spot,

a special frequency,

that will cause the SKS r*fle
to discharge.

SKS.

NARRATOR:
Here to help is Roger Schwenke,

and once he knows
what the myth entails...

Well, if it's the firing pin
that's unique about this g*n,

then let's isolate that
and see what happens to it.

- Okay.
- Great.

NARRATOR:
So Tory strips out the pin,

and Roger opens
the test chamber.

GRANT: So, resonant frequency
is the frequency

at which an object
will begin to vibrate

in excess of the energy
that you put into it.

For example, with our

"trying to break a wineglass
with your voice" experiment.

At many different frequencies,
a wineglass vibrates,

but at one specific frequency,
it begins to vibrate a lot

and eventually shatters.

That is what we're looking for
in our firing pin,

and if we find that,

then there's a chance
this g*n just might go off.

Do it.
Do it now.

NARRATOR: So Roger fills
the chamber with pink noise.

That's a whole range
of different frequencies

blasted out together.

TORY:
It's like an earthquake.

NARRATOR: And the volume's
cranked way up to 150 decibels.

KARI:
And you see the speaker moving,

and it looks like
it's vibrating,

but the pin doesn't
look like it's separate.

Yeah, it looks like
the whole mechanism's moving,

but the pin is not
going up and down.

Yeah.
Still a little hard to tell.

What is
the accelerometer reading?

It's responding about
the same at all frequencies.

What does that mean for us?

Well, it's not resonating.

It's moving,
but it's not resonating

at any one particular frequency.

NARRATOR: The pin hasn't moved
inside the housing.

That's good news
for the Russian mob

and a kick in the pants
for the myth.

But maybe testing the pin alone
wasn't the best plan.

So...

TORY:
I put the g*n back together.

We've loaded it with the blank.

I have the g*n pointing
nose down with the safety off.

That way, it gives us
the best possible chance

for this g*n to go off
accidentally.

Okay, hit it, Roger.

Bring on the noise.

That is menacing.

TORY:
And this is with the safety off,

so it's giving it
the best possible chance.

But still, it's not firing.

GRANT:
Yeah, if this happens at all,

it should happen fairly quickly,
and it's not happening.

NARRATOR:
So Roger pulls the plug.

The resonant frequency theory
fails to fire.

But if you think it's over,

if you truly believe
we'll end this myth

with a shameful shudder,
you so don't know this show.

This myth is
all about escaping gases,

some of which propel the b*llet
out of the barrel.

But some that escape right here,
from this tiny little space

between the cylinder
and the barrel...

It's those that could cut
your finger off, man!

NARRATOR:
Or so the story goes.

Despite the high-speed gas shots

and a shocking photo
of a severed thumb,

Adam thinks this myth
is, well, a myth.

But Jamie begs to differ.

JAMIE: When I first heard
about this story,

I wasn't so sure that a revolver
would be capable

of blowing your thumb off
through the side like that.

But having reviewed
the high-speed footage,

I kind of think it will.

NARRATOR: The g*n is
firmly secured in a clamp

that's screwed down tight
to the benchtop.

Now all they need
is a stunt thumb.

ADAM: [Laughs]

If you think
these look gruesome,

you don't know the half of it.

But the best way to tell you
how these are made

is to show you
how they were made.

I remember it
like it was yesterday.

NARRATOR:
Faced with the task

of replicating that miracle
of evolution, the human hand,

the Mythbusters' first thoughts
naturally turned

to dead chickens.

ADAM: I touched this chicken
before I touched anything else.

You want to take the meat home?

NARRATOR: Adam's stripped
a whole cooked bird...

not for the meat,
but for the bones.

He traces a template
over his left hand

and even marks the three joints
in each finger.

ADAM: I managed to get
almost all the bones I need

out of a single
rotisserie chicken.

NARRATOR: Jamie's building
his own version of a stunt hand,

also made
entirely from poultry pieces.

And while Adam sutures
a carefully crafted left thumb,

Dr. Hynenstein shows he's lost
all sense of proportion.

JAMIE:
It's actually the left hand.

You know, that's the thumb
and the four fingers,

and I've picked them so that
they're the correct lengths

and everything.

Shall we have a show of hands?

JAMIE: [Laughs]

Oh, no.

High five!

[Both laugh]

NARRATOR:
As the dominant hand,

Jamie's massive mitt
of chicken meat

gets to take the first shot.

It's wired securely
onto the g*n butt,

with care taken
to place the thumb

in precisely the right...
or, rather, the wrong position.

- I love it.
- All right, let's do it.

NARRATOR: Frank loads the g*n
and c*ck it.

With the trigger
tied to a string,

all Jamie has to do
is [Chuckles] pull it.

The g*n is hot.
You're good to go.

"Handgun Horror" in 3, 2, 1!

[g*nsh*t]

- [Chuckles]
- Ah.

No decapitation.

Definitely damage,
but, yeah, it's still there.

I think that your drumstick bone
is way too robust

for a human hand.

What I see on the chicken hand
and what I see on the high speed

is that the gases
are coming out,

and they're definitely
having an effect.

I have no doubt
you'd be burned by this,

but I don't see
any decapitation.

NARRATOR: Lucky Jamie's skin
is thicker than the chicken's.

He's even prepared
to offer some... sage advice.

The major amount of gas is right
out through the middle there.

Okay.

So if you want to be sure
it cuts it off,

- that's where to put it.
- All right.

Here we go!

Adam's anatomically accurate
avian appendage

in 3, 2, 1!

[g*nsh*t]

NARRATOR: To the naked eye,
this looks like real damage.

Now for the expert analysis.

Oh!

Ohh!

Ohh!

Ohh!!

NARRATOR: O-kay!

ADAM: Wow!

NARRATOR:
What Adam means to say is,

they've shredded
one chicken finger

and shattered another.

ADAM:
This one is torn to shreds.

And what about that one?

That is cut
almost clean through.

Wow!

NARRATOR:
There's no doubt about it.

Adam's carefully constructed
chicken hand

had the right-sized bones
to simulate human fingers.

They even had three joints,
right where they're meant to be.

ADAM:
That is totally clear.

Those gases have cut
through that finger absolutely.

That is one
of the more gruesome things

we've ever filmed on high speed.

Well, it doesn't get any more
definitive than that.

Nope.
It's confirmed.

Totally confirmed.

JAMIE: Well, let that be
a lesson to you.

If you've got to have
a handgun,

make sure you know
how to use it.

ADAM: I can't believe
you can eat buffalo wings

so quickly after that.

What do you mean? I'm gonna
cook up Frankenhand for dinner.

ADAM: [Laughs]

[Chickens clucking]

NARRATOR:
After failing to trigger

these unstable Russian r*fles
with a red-hot car stereo...

Not one round has gone off yet.

NARRATOR:
...Kari, Tory, and Grant

take one last shot at this myth

with a truck that's tailor-made
to pump up the volume.

Now I know this car didn't do
what we needed,

but I think I have some renewed
confidence in our back-up plan.

TORY:
Oh, my God!

That is loud out here!
How's it inside?

- Ridiculous.
- What?!

NARRATOR: So far, they've pushed
the decibels way up to 150,

but this car peaks at 160.

That's actually louder than
the g*nshots they hope to hear.

GRANT: Now, handling
the mid-bass frequencies,

we've got four 10-inch
Thunder8500 subwoofers

in a custom fiberglass
enclosure.

But that's not all,
because the real meat

are these two 22-inch
JackHammer subwoofers.

Each subwoofer
has two amplifiers,

for a total of 17,200 watts.

If you're talking about
sound-pressure level in a car,

this is it.

NARRATOR: Once again, the g*ns
are armed with blank cartridges

and spread around the car.

TORY: We're ready to go.
The g*ns are loaded.

The safeties are off to give us

the best possible chance
for this to work.

NARRATOR:
But Kari seems a little g*n-shy.

KARI:
I'm having some serious doubts

that something even as powerful
as the SPL car's gonna do it.

But I would really, really like
to be proven wrong here.

NARRATOR: The sound system's
been preloaded

with three different
test tracks.

The first is a bass sweep,

and, remember,
this is 30 decibels higher

than anything they tried
in the Great White.

GRANT:
Starting the sweep.

[Vibrating]

Wow. That thing is shaking
like nuts.

Oh, my God.

NARRATOR: But the one sound
they're not hearing is g*nf*re.

Time to try
the alternating tones.

- [Frequency alternates]
- Whoa.

- That's it.
- [Frequency alternating]

Look what it's doing
to the camera.

Things are really moving,
but no discharge yet.

TORY: No.


[Laughing] Yeah!

And this is way crazier than
a gangster vehicle would have.

There's no way a person
could be sitting in there

and listening comfortably.

Absolutely.

NARRATOR: The last track
is loosely called "Music."

It's unlikely to top the charts,
but it's seriously loud.

Still no g*nshots.

But you can see the speakers
moving like crazy,

and all the dust in the car
is blowing, as if it's just air.

I hope that's dust.
That's not smoke, is it?

TORY:
It looks like smoke.

Do you think...

No, we would have heard
a g*nsh*t.

- You think?
- I don't know.

You know what?
It's starting to smoke.

Is that normal?

NARRATOR:
No, it's not.

This is the last
and loudest of the tests,

and everyone's hoping
a g*n's gone off.

KARI:
So, we thought maybe...

Maybe there's a possibility
we didn't hear the discharge,

maybe a g*n went off, and it's
just filling the car with smoke.

GRANT: Oh.

TORY: No, that smells
like electrical smoke.

That doesn't smell like g*nf*re.

NARRATOR: In fact, the smoke
came from quickly heated resin

in the woofers.

It normally cures
in the first few months,

but we've pushed a brand-new
speaker way too hard.

The system's fine,
but the myth has run its course.

All that remains
is to check the weapons.

TORY: All right,
this is the last g*n.

Didn't discharge.

GRANT: This is why we can
never have anything nice.

I'm calling this one busted.

Yeah, I mean, we threw
a massive amount of sound at it,

and the g*n still didn't go off.

- Busted.
- Yeah, busted.

Dang, I wanted this one to work!

Ah, it's beautiful!

[Chain saw revs]

NARRATOR:
They're using 10 times the ice

and 10 times the thermite.

JAMIE:
'Cause this thing right here

is a little bit
more macho going on here,

I'm not gonna use a torch
to ignite it.

I'm gonna use these things,
which are fuse igniters,

and they work kind of like so.

And then I'm gonna leave.

Quickly.

All right, Jamie. We are all
in place in the bunker.

You may fire when ready, sir.

Supersized thermite
in 3, 2, 1...

[Scratch]

NARRATOR: Now, here's the thing
about thermite.

Being volatile means
it's also unpredictable.

And this tub full of red powder
is taking its own sweet time.

Thermite's kind of, uh...

I hate thermite.

NARRATOR:
But when it works...

ADAM: Whoa! Whoa!
Whoa!! Whoa!!

NARRATOR:
...there's nothing like it.

ADAM: Wow!

[Laughs]

I'm glad
we didn't approach that.

ADAM: Wow!

There is nothing left.

JAMIE: No.

That was a thunk.

ADAM: Wow!

It's like
somebody blew up an igloo.

ADAM:
Look at this debris field.

expl*sives
that move really quickly

tend to rip and tear things.

expl*sives that move slowly
move things.

And that's what this did.

It moved slowly
but very powerfully,

and it just spread all this ice
all over the field here.

ADAM: I think we're working
on a pretty good formula here.

You see something crazy
on the Internet

and want to know if it's true.

So you send it to us,
we try it out and find out,

yes, it's true!

This is what we do
on "Mythbusters."

We blow it up
so you don't have to.

NARRATOR: Tory, Grant, and Kari
have busted the myth

that vibrations
from a souped-up car stereo

triggered
a bunch of dodgy r*fles.

But Tory's found a related myth
that's easy to test

and guaranteed to end
with a bang.

Well, we've come a long way

accidentally setting off
one of these SKS r*fles,

but we're not done yet.

There's one other thing
I want to try.

What's that?

Apparently,
during this turf w*r,

a b*mb goes off
in a gangster's house

and wipes out his entire g*ng.

Now, after the expl*si*n,
the police go through the debris

and find these SKS r*fles
with empty shells next to them.

However, nobody in
the neighborhood heard g*nshots

before or after the expl*si*n.

So the idea is that the
shock wave set off the weapons.

Apparently so.

NARRATOR: The guys know
that a springless SKS

could be seen as an accident
waiting to happen.

But where sound waves failed
to set the firing pin aquiver,

a high-expl*sive shock wave
might do the trick.

To find out, they build
a mock living room

and carefully place
four loaded r*fles

just where
you'd expect to find them.

Now we're going to
deliver a special package of C-4

to this scene.

We're gonna be safely down
in the bunker when it goes off,

and after a big expl*si*n,

we're gonna see if
the percussive force from a b*mb

can actually set off
any of our firearms.

Either way,
we're getting destruction.

We're all pretty happy
about that.

Special delivery for Mr. Buster.

NARRATOR: If sound waves
can set a speaker cone

dancing like this, just imagine
the percussive force

of a high-expl*sive shock wave.

TORY: You know the thing that's
bumming me out about this?

Is we're probably gonna damage
these g*ns.

But I guess if you want
to make omelets,

you got to break a few eggs.

NARRATOR: Let's hope
they finally break something.

J. D. Saunters back to the bunker
as our guys weigh the odds.

TORY:
All right, quick predictions.

Okay, I think if any of the g*ns
are gonna go off,

it's the one in Buster's hand

'cause I've got his finger
on the trigger.

I don't think that any
of the g*ns are gonna go off.

I don't think that this is even

enough energy
to make them go off.

All right, this is expl*si*n
setting off SKS r*fles.

All right, Kari.
Take it away.

In 3, 2, 1!

Whoo!

GRANT: Nice!

KARI:
Nice one, J. D.

TORY:
That never gets old.

NARRATOR: It's the blast
we were begging for,

but did it trigger
even one of the g*ns?

GRANT: Wow.
You know how to wreck a party.

TORY: Now, the easy part...
finding the g*ns.

KARI: Look, there's a hole
right where the package was.

- All right, should we check 'em?
- Yeah.

TORY:
That one didn't go off.

Let's check Buster.

All right.
Show us what you got.

- Okay.
- TORY: Look at that one.

The safety
actually went back on.

KARI: Nope.

Didn't fire off.
All right.

That was the one
that was in his hands

with the finger on the trigger.

NARRATOR:
Two g*ns down, and two to go.

- Ohh!
- Ohh!

The round went off!
Oh, my God!

Yay!

NARRATOR: It's no surprise that
a C-4 shock wave has the edge

on one of the world's best
and loudest car sound systems.

But at least we've got a result.

GRANT:
Last one.

- Didn't go off.
- But you know what?

One did, and one out of four,
I say this is plausible.

Yeah, I mean, the g*n fired
as a result of the expl*si*n.

Plausible.

I'd buy that.
Plausible.

That is crazy.
I can't believe it worked!

NARRATOR:
After days of disappointment,

this should at least
send them home happy,

and the message
couldn't be clearer...

It's unsafe to leave loaded g*ns
in exploding rooms.