07x20 - Antacid Jail Break

[bunniefuu]

Do not try
any of the experiments

you are about to see
at home.

You heard him.
Don't do it.

Narrator: On this bone-breaking
episode of "Mythbusters"...

I fell down I was so excited.

Narrator: Can a pile
of antacid pills

really help blast a man
out of jail?

Prison can do funny things
to a guy.

Narrator:
The fizz packs a punch.

But is it enough
to crack solid concrete?

This is the big one.

Whoa!

Narrator:
Then we turn out the lights

on the struggle to smuggle.

Let's go blind some drivers.

Narrator: Can an outlaw cash in
by crashing the border

at night without headlights?

[Groans] That sucked.

Narrator:
And assuming it works...
- What?

Would anyone live
to tell the tale?

[Tires screech]

Narrator:
Who are the Mythbusters?

Adam Savage...
- I feel perfectly normal.

...and Jamie Hyneman.
- Pain is your friend.

Between them, more than 30 years
of special-effects experience.

Joining them...
Grant Imahara...

Burn!

...Kari Byron...

I'm starting
to get the idea

that this shouldn't
be done inside.

...Tory Belleci...

[groans]

...and featuring Jessi Combs.

That was awesome!

They don't just tell
the myths.

They put them to the test.

Big night last night?

No.
This is a brain teaser.

What can you do
with these items?

- You mean besides
cure a hangover?
- Yeah.

I don't know.
I'll bite.

What can you do?

You can
break out of jail.

No!

Yeah.

The myth is
that an industrious inmate

lined the inside of his
cell wall with sheet plastic,

and he had collected

something like 10 years worth
of antacid tablets,

which he exposed to water,

creating enough CO2
to pressurize the cell

and break the cell walls,
and he escaped.

I love it.

Narrator: What's not to love?

For instant freedom,
just add water.

But can the massive amount
of CO2 produced

from a pile of bubbling tablets

really budge bricks and mortar?

We'll need to capture
every ounce of energy

from a giant chemical belch.

Well, I reckon
the best place to start

is to figure out
what kind of pressures

we can get out of antacid
tablets here in the shop.

I think you're right.

Maybe we should start out
on small scale

and see what we're dealing with
with the pressures,

the physics, the chemistry,
that kind of thing.

Yeah, we're definitely gonna
need all of that information

before we go
full-scale.

Before anyone
breaks out the beakers,

they'll need to start building
a full-scale cell,

which should be as tough
as its tenant.

While normally
people go to great lengths

to avoid a prison cell,

we've actually
had to go to great lengths

to get up and cozy with one.

Narrator: In fact,
it's far and away

the sturdiest shack we've built.

It's a cozy 10-feet long
by 7-feet wide

by 61/2-feet high...
maximum security cell.

Jamie: He's got a lot better
technique than I do.

Adam:
That's pretty clear.

You're all like throwing it
and stuff.

I'm kind of impressed.

It is pretty to watch.

And, hey, these guys are fast.

This professional help thing
is pretty good.

This morning we had a yellow
rectangle on the floor.

This afternoon,
most of a prison cell.

Narrator: But the day is only
half done for Adam and Jamie.

It's back to M5 to find out

how much
potentially expl*sive pressure

they can hope to wrangle
from the humble antacid tablet.

Jamie starts
with a volumetric test

to see how much gas is produced

by measuring
the water it displaces.

So, you release the antacid
into here. It expands.

That expansion of gas pushes
water out of this one into here,

and whatever volume
we get in here

is how much gas was produced
by the antacid.

Ain't it great?

I love it.
Let's do it.

There's more than enough water
to make this work.

Jamie pulls
the quick release magnet,

and they're off and bubbling.

Look at that.
It works!

And they've got
a result in seconds.

So it looks like one pill

produces about 75 milliliters
of gas.

Yeah. About 80.

Well, now my question
would be,

do 2 pills
displace 160 milliliters?

Does it scale perfectly
linearly?

Double the gas from double
the pills would make sense,

but science
is rarely so simple.

Wow.

The volume of gas produced
scoots past the 160 mark

and continues to climb.

This one's looking
like 275.

To see if the trend continues,

the next logical step
is to try four pills.

Double the two-pill result would
be 550 mills of displaced water.

And before long, Jamie's wishing
he brought a bigger beaker.

- It's actually going
more than...
- More than double.

It's clear
there's CO2 aplenty.

But the myth depends
specifically

on the pressure
the gas generates,

so that's what
they'll measure next.

Testing pressure
in 3, 2, 1.

Look at that.

They start over
with one tablet.

And again,
the results come quickly.

What do we get there?


Yeah, it's about 1.9.
Just a hair under 2.

Narrator: Now for a mini
moment of truth

to see if pressure, like volume,
increases exponentially.

All right,
two-tablet pressure test.

If the pressure just doubles,

the two tabs will fizzle
at 4 psi.

Both pills are still going,
both tablets are still bubbling.




by both tablets.

And now rounding up on 3 psi.


Will we get 3.5 psi?


Yes, both pills seem to want
to go to 3.5 psi

on our way to 4.




Passing 4 psi,

the expected linear expansion
rate of the two tablets,

and it seems that
their expansion rate

is, in fact, exponential.

In practical terms,

that means they might be able
to crack the jail cell

with relatively few
antacid tablets.

- Shall we go up to
three tablets?
- Let's.

Adam: I got to say,
when we started this out,

I didn't have high hopes that
there would be a lot of pressure

being generated
by antacid tablets.

But so far, what we're finding
is actually kind of thrilling.

Look at those puppies go.

We're finding that if you double
the amount of antacid tablets,

you get more than double
the pressure.


Okay, I'm calling it.

- I'm gonna release
pressure, okay?
- Okay.

It seems to increase
exponentially.

This could be a gargantuan
amount of pressure

we can create
in this prison cell.

I'm pretty excited.

Narrator:
But to make doubly sure,

Jamie wants to run a last set
of tests in a bigger container.

I feel like
I'm defusing a nuclear b*mb.

All right,
place the core very carefully.

Don't let the two substances
react with each other.

They christen the chamber
with 20 antacid pills,

hoping it's tough enough
to handle the pressure.

All right, it's holding steady
at 10 psi.

Shall we next
go to double?

Okay.

Narrator: If past results
hold true,

the pressure from 40 tablets
should comfortably pass 20 psi.

Only this time it doesn't.

Seems to be settling in
at 18 psi.

So, we're not getting that
exponential leap we were getting

in the small scale.

Narrator:
The increase was 80%.

That's not exponential
or even linear.

So what do you say?

- Should we double it
one more time, try 80 tablets?
- Yeah.

Cool.

Seems the size of the container
does effect the pressure.

Here we go.

Narrator: With 80 tablets,

the gauge climbs to 20
then slows down.

We might absolutely be at the
pressure limit of this stuff.

Yeah,
you may be right,

but keep in mind that 25 psi
is a lot in any building.

In fact, I don't think
most buildings

would be able
to withstand that.

No, I think
you're totally right.

I think if we can get 10 psi
in this prison cell,

we're gonna bring it
crumbling to the ground.

Narrator:
Well, that's the dream.

Again, doubling the dose
only raises the pressure by 80%.

At least there's a pattern,
but what's the direction?

Sure, there's a lot
of fizzy goodness,

but does it mean anything?

Well, I graphed it out.

I think it does mean something.
Let me explain.

Follow me.

Right, so the first test on top
was volume displacement...

how much gas the tablets put out

when we combined them
with water.

We tested it three times,

doubling the number of tablets
for each test.

Now, we had an expectation

that when we doubled the number
of tablets,

we'd get double
the volume of gas,

but this was not so.

In fact, the improvement
was much greater...


time we doubled the tablets.

That's an exponential
growth rate.

But what about the pressure?

That was the next test we did.

Again, testing it three times,

doubling the number of tablets
each time,

and in this, we still saw an
exponential growth,

although a little less than what
we saw in the volumetric test...

about 150% improvement

each time we doubled
the number of tablets.

Is it contingent upon the volume
we were working with?

Well, we wondered that, too,

so we went up to
a 10-liter container here,

doubling the number
of tablets each time,

and now we're seeing
much more of a linear growth...

about an 80% improvement
every time.

But the fact that this
is slowly dropping concerns us.

What does this mean for the
full-size cell?

Does this mean
that when we get that big,

the volume won't mean anything

and that and we won't get
the pressure we're looking for?

We don't know.

Narrator:
There will be an answer
unless Adam explodes first.

Well, this is a first.

What's that?
Doing a blueprint in the dark?

Yes, but also a myth
about smuggling in the dark.

And we're not talking about your
old-timey Barbary Coast pirates.

We're talking about
modern-day smuggling.

Well,
tell me about it.

Well, according to the viewers,
what people are doing

is trying to get, let's say,
maple syrup

across the Canadian border
to the United States.

And what they'll do

is they'll pick
a very low-key border crossing,

and they'll wait
till nightfall.

Not just any night... a very
cold, dark, wintry night

where it's almost
pitch black.

They go through the border,

and they do their entire journey
in complete darkness.

And bam,
you're a smuggler.

All right, so the myth
that we're testing here

is can you drive in the dark
without your headlights

at speeds
and still not hit anything?

Sounds like fun to me.

Narrator: It's a technique
that's been said

to be used by smugglers.

Turn off the headlights,
hit the gas,

race past the border,
and no one the wiser.

But can it be done
in the near pitch dark

without coming up proper?

I don't know about this one,
you guys.

I mean,
I have my doubts.

It's like, yeah,

your eyes can adjust to the dark
in 20 minutes,

but, I mean, are they gonna be
able to process images

just as fast and accurately as
if you had your headlights on?

- Well, that's what we
got to find out, right?
- Why don't we do this?

We'll do our experiment
in an indoor go-cart track.

That way we'll have control over
the light levels at all times.

And we can do one run
with headlights

and compare it to a run
in complete darkness.

Go-karts,
high speeds in the dark?

Sounds like a recipe
for disaster to me.

Let's do it.

Narrator: As always, there's
work do before the fun starts.

These guys are actors,
producers, and stage hands

in their own
drive-in movie.

The trees are strictly scenery,

but wild animals
could be a deadly hazard

to anyone crazy enough
to cruise the 49th parallel

with the lights off, eh.

Now, if you were smuggling
maple syrup

across the Canadian border,

one obstacle you might encounter
would be a moose.

Now, I've made a moose before.

However that one
was made out of solid rubber

and it was designed to withstand
an impact from a real car

going 60 miles an hour.

Wow! Did you see how high
the moose got on that hit?

Narrator: For the record,

that's what happens
when a car plays chicken

with a giant rubber moose.

It's a result Tory's not anxious
to replicate.

I'm going with a material

that is gonna break away
when we hit them with the car...

so I'm gonna make the moose
out of styrofoam.

Hurry up.
We need those done by lunch.

Narrator: In fact,
the team has till nightfall

to ready the props for the great
syrup smuggle.

The moose.
[Moose cries]

Narrator: Grant's found a venue
that's willing to stay up late.

Grant: So, to put this myth
to the test,

we couldn't just
go out on city streets

and drive around
with no headlights.

That'd be way too dangerous.

To test this out,

we need a venue that's
controlled and repeatable.

We're gonna drive this course
in the dark.

Once with the headlights on,
and then with them off.

We're gonna be racing
against the clock,

not against each other!

And we're gonna try to go as
fast as we can without crashing.

Yeah,
because if you crash,

that means
you got caught by the cops.

And to make sure
we don't remember the course,

we're gonna drive the
first round in one direction...

And then the second time around,
we'll go completely backwards

because there's no way
we can remember that.

Narrator: Sounds like a plan,

but let's not put the cart
before the moose.

They still need
to litter the track

with some natural impediments.

Hiding somewhere
around a corner,

our surprise moose will test
the driver's reaction time.

Have to get another one. This
one's not trained very well.

Yeah, that's good.

Narrator: And dropped randomly
at the end of a straight bit...

Perfect.

Narrator: This log will test
their long-range visual acuity.

But that's not all.

Now, our third
and final obstacle

tests whether you can read a
sign and make a snap decision.

Both signs have four-letter
words that begin with "C."

Obviously, you want
to go towards the café

and not the cops.

Narrator: And here's
a timely thought...

if they can't see
in the dark...

Now, I know
what you're asking yourself...

wait a minute, if you guys
are driving in the dark,

how are we gonna see?

I'll tell you how.
k*ll the lights.

We have special infrared cameras
and infrared lights

that will allow you
to see what we're doing.

But just because
you can see what we're doing

doesn't mean we can
see what we're doing.

To us, it's still pitch black.

[Groans]

Narrator: Ultimate success
depends on not getting caught

and not crashing.

But a good smuggling trip
is also a fast one,

so each of our would-be felons
takes one hot lap

to see just how fast they are
with the headlights on.

Grant: Here I go.

[Rick music plays]

Narrator: The track is tight,
and the moose is lurking.

But Grant's not holding back.

Moose.

Misses the moose.

Jessi:
Wait for the log.

Gets around the log.

Narrator: Approaching the
finish without a scratch,

it's Grant in provisional
pole position.

And he's going down
the right path.

[Tires screech]

Grant: That was pretty cool.
[Laughs]

Narrator: So, first Tory
then Jessi take their turns,

anxious to beat Grant's time

without bouncing the cars
off the scenery.

Unseen by the drivers,

the obstacles
are all repositioned

from one lap to the next.

They were all fast
and faultless,

no mean feat on a twisting track
without street lights.

Tory: Yeah.

Lights. Oh.

That was so much different
than just regular daylight.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

It's way scarier.

All right,
let's go check the leaderboard.

What?

Narrator: It's glory for Tory,
but just by a whisker.

All right, well, at least
you've got a control now.

Now the hard part... it's time
to drive in complete darkness.

No headlights.

Have I told you guys
that I'm afraid of the dark?

Perfect.

This is gonna be funny.

Adam: Stage one of our test cell
is complete.

The walls are up,
but they are hollow.

And in a prison,
they're not hollow.

Soon, we will fill them with
rebar and concrete

and cap it off with
a cast concrete roof.

Jamie: We decided to make
the roof as strong as we can

because what
we're really testing here

is the strength of the walls,

and we can't do that
if the roof breaks first,

so we've done
a proper job of it.

We've brought in a cement truck,

and the whole thing is gonna be
steel-reinforced with rebar,

and again, we're relying
on the skills of people

who normally do this kind of
thing for a living.

Narrator:
When quick-set sets,

Adam ups the realism by adding
some basic amenities.

It's not every day
a toilet's installed

just for the ambience.

Then Jamie brings in
that most crucial of fittings...

a custom-built door
that's as strong as the cell.

Jamie: I built this door
out of a solid piece

of 11/4-inch
b*llet-resistant plastic.

That's exactly the same material

we use for the panels
in our blast screens.

It's set inside a heavy steel
frame with very solid hinges.

In fact,
I bet this is actually stronger

than a normal jail door.

Look at that...
it's actually fitting.

They're not getting out.
Let's go.

Okay.

Narrator:
With the cell now complete,

that just leaves
the giant plastic bag,

and that's something they'll
first test back in the shop.

Previous tests showed
that doubling the tablets

won't quite
double the pressure.

We might absolutely be at the
pressure limit of this stuff.

But the boys are aware
that the psi needed

to breach those jail walls
could be as low as 5 or 10.

Jamie: All right then.



Narrator: It's a gamble they're
betting will break the tank,

as Adam supplies
the wannabe escapees.

Jamie:
So, our prisoner lined the
inside of his cell with plastic

to seal it, and we've replicated
that here in this small scale.

We've got 100 tablets,
we've got some water,

and we've got the plastic bag,

and we're looking to see

how that plastic
interacts with this box.

Narrator: So, with a shimmy
and a shake...

Adam: There you go.

...they're set to pop.

[Bang]

[Jamie laughs]

- That was fast!
Are you okay?
- Yeah.

Jamie: Turns out it was a little
harder to dump over

a cup of water inside this thing
than we anticipated,

and that made me hold on
to it a couple seconds too long.

Narrator: Ah, the joys
of practical science.

On a happier note, while
the underside panel is busted,

the myth is far from it.

Adam: This tells me exactly what
I knew about the pressures,

which is they can get quite high
in an enclosed space.

And that speaks very well for us
going full-scale.

Narrator: But first up,

that last test
is well worth repeating,

this time with thicker glass.

- You ready?
- Do it!

With a flick of the wrist,
the process begins.

Now, for all you who think
that dogs can sense danger,

let's freeze it right here.

That's Jamie's dog Zero

who just changed her mind
about coming downstairs.

I can see it bowing up
on top.

There it goes!

[Both laugh]

Oh, look...
they actually escaped.

They did!

Okay, a glass tank
is not a concrete cell,

but the figures
are all adding up.

Adam: This is good.
I'm psyched.

The pressures are real.

I don't think
there's anything to do now

but go whole hog
on this puppy.

Narrator: As if smuggling
wasn't risky enough,

Tory, Grant, and Jessi
have found a way

to double the danger.

[expl*si*n]

They've clocked their times
with headlights on.

Now it's time for lights out.

My prediction for what
it's gonna be like

without headlights?

Impossible.

It's gonna be really,
really crazy.

Tory: Considering that I can't
even walk around this course

in the dark, Grant's chances of
making it through the course

in the go-kart, I think,
are not gonna be good.

Narrator: But Grant can
improve his odds of survival

by sitting in solitary.

In a few minutes,
his pupil will dilate,

allowing more light
to pass through to the retina.

But there's more to it
than that,

as the guys found out
on the Pirate Special.

Ow!

Tory:
All right, so we were trying
to see if a pirate's eye patch

could have been a kind of tool
to get instant night vision

by swapping it from one good eye
to the other,

and it really seemed to work.

That's amazing.

Apparently, one of the key
factors in human night vision

is a chemical in the rod cells
of the eye called rhodopsin.

It's actually bleached out
in normal light,

and it takes about 20 minutes
of darkness to regenerate.

So that's how long we'll spend
sitting in the dark.

Narrator: At the track,

it's as black
as a yard up the chimney.

Tory: How does that look?
You tell me. I can't see.

Narrator:
To counter the possibility

that he's memorized the track
from his last run,

Grant will set off
in the opposite direction.

[Tires screech]

Grant: This is one of those
things that is just so crazy,

if it wasn't
for the sound of the engine

and the squealing of the wheels,

it would be
just like a nightmare,

just these blurry shapes
rushing past you.

And then wham!
Something is right in your face.

I mean, it is
a totally surreal experience.

I hate to tell you,
from the get-go,

you went down the wrong path,
and you got caught by the cops.

Narrator: In other words,
Grant flunked the test.

But can Jessi do any better?

At the very least
she's confident.

Jessi: I'm not afraid one bit.
Kind of excited, actually.

I don't know.
I'm praying for the best.

Narrator: One problem with
those sensitive rod cells

is they mostly help
with peripheral vision.

The fovea,
which is used to focus,

has very few.

[Jessi laughs]

It was fairly close
to what I had expected.

I knew I was gonna be hesitant
stepping on the gas.

Narrator: She missed the
moose but latched on to the log,

so if this was the real world,

she, too,
would have crashed and burned.

I think I still have the log
attached to me.

Narrator: And now, for the man

voted most likely to burn rubber
in a drive through.

All right, so I have been
sitting in the dark

for 20 minutes.

My eyes are completely adjusted.

And you know what?

I'm actually surprised at how
well I can see right now.

Narrator: With nary a trip
nor a stumble,

Tory makes his way to the kart.

The flag drops, he's off to a
start that's more like a stall.

Tory: That was so hard.
I couldn't see anything.

I had to get like six feet
away from the sign

before I could even tell
which way to go.

Narrator: Jessi, of course,
had the same problem.

But it's what happens next
that shocks the fans.

The lethal lack of light
has turned Tory timid.

Tory:
You cannot see anything.

I mean, you see shapes
here and there.

You have no idea.

You're gonna crash into
something at any moment.

The fact I didn't
hit the moose or the log,

I think I just got lucky.

Narrator: Tory was
far and away the slowest.

Then again, he's the only one
who didn't crash

or drive straight to the cops.

I'm the only one
that made the delivery,

but, I mean,
look how long it took me.

With a lap that was
four times longer

than his effort with headlights,
this myth is veering off course.

Then Jessi decides to steer
straight for the cliff.

We're missing
one huge thing here.

What's that?

What happens when a car comes
in oncoming direction

and shines their headlights
right in our face?

You know,
that's a good point.

That would totally ruin
your night vision.

Narrator: It sure would.

And in the interest
of proper procedure,

we're about to put that
to the test.

Narrator: Over the years, we've
tried several ingenious methods

to break loose
from the calaboose.

I'm busting out of here,
see?

Narrator:
We've used human hair...
- [bleep]

Horses...
[neighs]

Cannons...

Even salsa
in a generally futile attempt

to release a man
on his own recognizance.

Freedom.

Narrator: An antacid expl*si*n
might just be the craziest,

but if someone stashed 2 pills
per meal over 10 years,

that's 22,000 tabs
ready to blow.

What makes us imagine that


has any chance
of breaking us out

of a steel-reinforced,
poured-concrete jail cell?

After all, in the shop, we got
pressures up to 42 psi,

and how is 42 pounds of anything
gonna break out of this wall?

I'll tell you.

It's all about a little thing we
like to call a distributed load.

Allow me to demonstrate.

Narrator: And, yes,
you can try this at home.

Now, when I blow against a
surface area of one square inch,

I'm able to lift a maximum
of 1.1 pounds with my breath.

Narrator: But expelled inside
of a plastic bag

with a vast surface area,

that lung full of air
can work miracles.

Now, over an area
of 100 square inches,

all of a sudden
I can lift 125 pounds.

Narrator: And that's probably
more than Adam can bench press.

[Laughs]

I fell down I was so excited!

Narrator: And so, back to work.

While Jamie tapes over
the bumps and sharp edges,

Adam gets technical.

Right about now,
I bet you're wondering

how we're gonna monitor
what kind of pressures

we might be getting
from our antacid tablets

during the experiment.

This is how.

One of the most sensitive
gauge clusters

we've ever put together
for the show,

it measures everything
from the lowly sensitive


all the way up to 200 pounds.

Now, if we get anywhere close
to this, I'm running.

Narrator: And now, with the help
of some double-sided tape,

Jamie and Adam start piecing
together that vital component...

the big plastic bubble.

This is working great.

So far.

Narrator:
It looks less and less likely

that one desperate jailbird
could manage all this...

building the bubble or even
devising a way

to get the water
from the sink to the stack,

but this is a case
of not letting a good story

get in the way of the facts.

I don't know, man.

You know how you think about
something like this for ages,

but when you finally start to
do it it becomes really real?

I mean, in addition
to actually real,

but real in your head.

I'm starting to feel like
this may work.

Yeah, well, prison can do
funny things to a guy.

Adam: What is Buster doing
outside this bag?

There's actually a very good
reason for it.

The fact is that when antacid
tablets react with water,

one of the by-products
is carbon dioxide.

And if you're in a bag

with the carbon dioxide
by-product

of 22,000 tablets of antacid,

there's very high risk
of suffocation,

so Buster is up against
the doorjamb

to try and breathe
some fresh air

while his cell
crumbles around him.

Narrator: But now for the real
star of the show...

antacid by the bucketful.

Okay, here you go, Adam.

Thank you.

Narrator: The tablets are heaped
'round the toilet and basin,

right under the hose

that's been pushed
through a hole in the wall.

Don't ask me how he hid these
from the guards.

I haven't the slightest idea.
We're here to test the physics.

I think we're good to go.

All right.
Let's seal it up.

All right.

Jamie: Will it work?
Well, the math says it could.

Honestly, I have no idea,
but I tell you one thing...

I'm not gonna be standing
near it when it goes off.

That guy
must be crazy.

Narrator: Jessi's decided
that driving in darkness

means facing the dazzle
of oncoming headlights.

[Screams]

Grant's stand-in
for an oncoming car

takes him back
to his robot roots.

Grant: It's a combat robot
that I built.

Mount a pair
of headlights to it,

and we should be able to
remotely turn them on

as well as drive around
in the oncoming lane of traffic,

then finally find out the effect
that headlights have

on your eyes.

Good boy.
Let's go blind some drivers.

Narrator:
Actually, just one driver.

Tory volunteers to be
the deer in the headlights.

Hey there, little buddy.
What's your name?

Say hello to Blinky.

Narrator:
The obstacles are reset,

and Grant puts Blinky behind
the wall of the first turn.

This lap could be
all over in a flash.

There goes Tory.

And here comes the other guy.

[Tires screech]

[Laughter]

Jessi:
Turn on the lights!

Dude, that was so crazy.

Oh, that sucked.

All of a sudden,
the lights went on,

and it was like an instant black
wall with two little headlights.

As soon as the car
was coming towards you

with the headlights on,

you would be completely blinded,
and you would crash.

Done for.

Narrator: So technically,
this myth is busted.

They simply couldn't drive fast
enough with any control.

The concept still has a chance,

assuming the crims have access
to some high-tech headwear.

Narrator: After days
of exertion and experimentation,

it's finally time to appraise
the legend

of antacid jailbreak.

So with our guys hopefully
out of harm's way...

All right, antacid jailbreak,
circumstances of the myth,

start the water flowing.

And start
the hearts pumping.

Jamie: How much water
are we putting in there?

We have about


We're not putting
that much in, though.

We'll run it
as long as it takes.

Fighting words from a man
in a tangerine jumpsuit.

But the nostrils soon confirm
their worst fears.

I'm smelling
antacid tablets.

- That means we got
a leak somewhere.
- Yeah.

With the pressure at 0... at
least, according to the gauges,

Adam ventures forth.

This felonious fable
looks dead in the water.

Well, I guess that means
myth busted, huh?

No.

I think
it's entirely feasible

that we got a leak
around the sink or toilet.

I think we need to remove
the sink, remove the toilet,

make a really nice, pristine bag
in there, and try it again.

Eliminate the variables.

- Exactly.
- Okay.

And eliminate they do.

Out goes the old plastic bubble.

There's no choice but
to build another from scratch.

And Adam un-installs
the fixtures.

It's decided no matter what

this next attempt
will be their last.

But we badly want a result, and
that means going the extra mile.

Jamie: What we're doing here
is preparing for phase two,

where we can hopefully deliver
a lot more water a lot faster.

So to install
a bigger pipe in the roof,

we need to cut
a nice round hole.

And the tool for this job

is the incredible
carbide tipped hole saw.

This is the one
Adam bought for his wife

on their last anniversary.

[Laughs]

Narrator: The new plan
has three steps...

first, more water.

Second, build a tighter
and better bubble.

I'm ready to go.
Should we bring the tub in?

Yeah.

And third,
up the medication.

This tub will be filled with
enough raw ingredients...

citric acid and baking soda...

to approximate


Add 28,000 store-bought tablets,

and the magic number is 100,000.

Looking at this building
and how well it's built,

it actually terrifies me.

I mean, with pressure vessels,
it's not like an expl*sive.

You don't know
when it's gonna go off

or if it's gonna go off.

It's just... it's nasty.

It's either gonna do it
or it's not.

This is the big one.

This is for real.

Turn the engine on
and go to phase one.

Release the water.

Jessi, Grant, and Tory have
all but busted the myth

that smugglers could drive
on a moonless night

without headlights.

All right,
so it looks like the naked eye

just isn't up to the demands
of this smuggling mission,

which means it's time
to deploy some technology.

Check this out...
night-vision goggles.

That's right.

These babies are
state-of-the-art,

third generation
from B.E. Meyers.

They take available light
and amplify it

into an image we can see.

This is the kind of technology
I've been talking about.

Yeah, so I'm gonna do a run in
the dark using nothing but these

and see how I do.

Okay, but this time, no
lollygagging around the track

at a snail's pace.

Let's make it realistic.

I'll be chasing after you
like I'm the cop.

Narrator:
These night-vision goggles

are legal in the U.S.
But not in Canada.

Still, I don't suppose

that would deter
a depraved syrup smuggler.

- You ready?
- I'm ready.

All right. Here we go.

Okay, lights out!

Narrator: So, can technology
work where the human eye failed?

Tory's first few laps
are fast and bouncy.

[Tires screech]

Tory:
Seeing is not a problem.

Being able to judge
how far you are from objects

or seeing around you...
that is the problem.

I mean,
it is truly tunnel vision.

You have no depth appeal.
You have no peripheral vision.

I mean, I must have banged into
the walls a half dozen times.

Narrator: Now officer Jessi
gives chase.

And you get the feeling
it won't be long

before justice catches up
with our scoundrel.

Tory: And then you have the cop
chasing you,

and, you know,
that's a whole new game

where it's like now you have the
stress of somebody catching you,

and you're having
to react quickly.

[Jessi laughs]

Narrator: But what's
the ultimate verdict?

I mean, you can drive with the
night-vision goggles,

but as soon
as you started chasing me,

I had to speed up, and my
reaction time had to speed up.

And having tunnel vision,
basically,

I totally misjudged
that last turn

and crashed into the wall,

and that's when you smacked
into me and stopped me.

[Laughs]

Narrator: So, driving with
night-vision goggles

might help a little,
but less than we'd hoped.

The myth is first tested
and totally busted.

And is it dangerous?

- Yeah. Absolutely.
- Absolutely.

They start by drenching just the
pill pile with the small hose.

This is phase one.

Pressure is still increasing
on the plastic.

I can see it moving.

- Really?
- Yeah.

Right in the corner
down there.

Narrator: Even better,
Adam's gauge cluster

is finally
feeling the pressure.

Oh, we're getting something
on the needle.

Just a tiny bit.
Got maybe 20% of 1 psi.

We've probably
taken care

of more than half
of the antacid tablets there...


at this point.

Am I crazy,

or does that door seem like
it's pushing out on the bottom?

- Is it.
- Is it?

Look along the rail
on the bottom.

The door is pressing out
on the top and the bottom.

We're at just a hair's breath
under one half of a psi.

Yeah, the pile
is almost entirely wet.

Foam has crawled
all the way up it.

I don't know, dude.
You want do what we do best?

Yeah.

You want to take it
to the next level?

Yeah, over the top.

Cue the deluge.

Let's go to phase two...
turn everything up to full.

Phase two is the tub
and the fire hose.

If it does what it should,

we're just moments away
from the world's biggest belch.

There we go.

Water is pouring
into our tub.

Okay.

Oh, we're at 1 psi!

It's climbing
like a rocket.



Look at the door!

Eyes open!



The door is gonna go.


Oh, my God!

We're coming up
to 4 psi.

And the door is... oh!

Oh, my God.
Is everyone okay?

Oh.
It actually worked.

- Dude!
- [Laughs]

Look at that.

Jamie: You could hear it,
and within seconds,

the door started to potato chip.

This massive door that I built

is just, like, creaking
and groaning and curling

from all of this pressure.

It was agonizing to watch it.

This 150-pound piece

of 11/4-inch,
b*llet-resistant plastic...

and yet, all it took was one


with four pounds per square inch
of pressure behind it

to deflect this door that much.

And this is where it ended up.

During the test, it was probably
stretched easily twice that far.

Narrator: It's a cr*cker result,

but where does that leave
prisoner Buster?

Let's posit
that's he's inside the bag.

The amount of CO2
produced by the reaction...

sorry, buddy, but I call
suffocation on that.

And what if he's able to
actually seal himself outside
the bag

during the reaction?

Well, I'll just
put it this way...

the amount of force required
to bend this door like this

is more than enough to squish
our poor inmate like a grape.

Narrator: So the myth, like
the inmate, is all washed up.

I think we have
clearly demonstrated

the awesome power
inside an antacid tablet.

At least,
under the right conditions.

Yeah, but they ain't gonna
break you out of jail.

Busted.

Totally busted.

Yet another common household
item that can wreak destruction.

[Laughs]