***
***
Do us a favor.
Don't try this at home! Whoa!
On this episode of "
Mythbusters"...
The fans take command in "
Mythssion control."
First up, it's the
Hyneman versus Newton
As Adam and Jamie cause a
cacophony of car carnage...
One car into one wall
at 50 miles an hour.
Bring on the head-on collision!
...Testing Jamie's notion on
Newton's third law of motion.
So are you ready for some
more wanton destruction?
Meanwhile... Aah!
...Kari, Grant, and Tory
Are back in the
school of hard knocks
As they retest "
Knock your socks off."
hold on to your socks, Buster!
And this time, they're
cruising for maximum bruising.
Who are the Mythbusters?
Adam savage... That is science.
...And Jamie Hyneman.
We're gonna have an adventure.
Between them,
more than 30 years of
special-effect experience.
Fun for the whole family.
Joining them...
Grant imahara...
Formidable projectile.
...Kari Byron...
let's do it.
...And Tory Belleci.
it's alive!
They don't just tell the myths.
They put them to the test.
So, what's up?
"What's up" Is that the
fans are in control.
It is effectively "
Mythssion control."
So how does that work?
Cast your mind back to "
Compact compact."
Remember we smashed two semis
Into each other at
Which you said on
camera was equivalent
To one of them hitting a
wall at 100 miles an hour.
And the fans went nuts.
They are revolting.
They rose up, and they said, "No!"
at 50 miles an hour
Is not equivalent to one hitting
a wall at 100 miles an hour.
It is equivalent to one hitting
a wall at 50 miles an hour.
They say that you were wrong.
Let's test it.
That's what I thought.
It was the episode that
had it all -- crashes...
Wow!Smashes...
...And according to the fans,
A subtle physics faux pas.
Both trucks were traveling
at about 50 miles an hour
When the impact occurred.
Now, that's equivalent
to a single impact
Going into a solid wall
at 100 miles an hour.
Uh, stop right there.
This innocent remark...
Now, that's equivalent
to a single impact
Going into a solid wall
at 100 miles an hour.
...Sparked a fan frenzy.
They reckon that because
of Newton's third law --
Every action has an equal
and opposite reaction --
at 50 miles per hour
Is the same as one car
crashing into a wall
At just 50 miles per
hour and not 100.
But can this counterintuitive
argument really be right?
Well, the fans are in control.
How do they want us to do it?
Obviously they want us to smash
Some full-size cars
into each other.
But I think we may
be able to illuminate
Somef the physics here
with a scale experiment.
Under more controlled
circumstances.
Exactly!
And then we get to smash
some full-size cars.
Yes, we do!
But first up,
Adam is rigging a rig
That will replicate the
crash in miniature.
The part of the car
Will be played by two
weights on a pendulum.
It's gonna be loud.
And the wall...
Bring in the immovable object!
Bring in the immovable object!
It's time for the
immovable object.
...Will be played by
this hunk of steel.
Allow me to demonstrate
the rig here.
This is our "Car.
" It's basically a swinging hammer.
This is our "Wall."
It's an unmovable piece of 1,
I will be swinging this
"Car" Into the "Wall"
At speed "X" And speed 2x,
Which is basically
double speed "X."
That's our 50-mile-per-hour hit.
That's our 100-mile-per-hour hit.
Our measurement will be done
simply with a piece of Clay
That sits right
behind the main hammer
And between it and
a secondary hammer.
Obviously, when I swing
this car into the wall,
That Clay will compress,
And it will likely
compress a different amount
At speed "X" Than at speed 2x,
And this gives me a
beautiful comparison point
When I smack two cars into
each other a little bit later.
Okay, so the swing from 1x
Wi ll imita 50pea
e-ilr-hour wall crash,
And the 2x swing
will double the speed
Ca rli cep a itesha
rao 1esat h mer
R g cainlltt waa at speed 1x
in 3, 2, 1.
satisfying ding, isn't it? Yeah.
Tisfying, maybe.
But more importantly...
Their first data point.
Post compression length... 1.5.
For a comprehensive result,
The guys get into
the swing of things
And repeat the test
five more times.
Next, it'sime to double the
speed to 2for a full sng.
Uncompressed length, 2.6.
Car hitting a wall at speed 2x
in 3, 2, 1.
I think that's more.
I think that's a lot more.
Yep, and the measurements
hammer that home.
.777.
It's a little bit less
than twice as compressed
As the speed-1x hit.
-That makes sense, doesn't it?
- Does.
Almost double the compression.
But for a larger sample size,
They swing into action and
repeat the 2x test five times.
And now that their cla
collection is complete...
What's next?
Well, we've got our metric
of speed "X" And speed 2x.
Now it's time to smack
two cars into each otr.
So we're gonna remove the wall
And bring in a second car.
Physicists and fs, stand by...
They're identical. Let's do it.
...Because this is
the moment of trh.
W, that's equivalent
to a single impact
Going into a sol wall
at 100 miles an hour.
Will the Clay clear
up thcontrovey,
Or wl it be as clear as mud?
Okay, "Mythssi control.
" What do the fans havfor us?
Guess.
-"Knock your socks off."
-Yep.
Man, we totly busted that one.
Apparently not.
According to the fans...
you can knock someone's socks off
If you have a hard enough punch.
so apparently we messed it up.
Really? What did they
say we got wrong?
Take your pick.
You used the wrong punch.
Your socks had to
much elastic in it.
Buster was not supporting
his own weight.
Well, looks like we got
to pull our socks up
And give this one another go.
Cool.
cool.
cool.
The last time the
team test the myth
That one punch could lift
Buster out of his leg wear...
...Nothing they tried
could knock his socks off.
And the myth was
down for the count.
Or was it? Well, apparently not.
The fanslooded our in-box,
Telling us exactly
what we got wrong.
Now armed with a list
of mythical mistakes,
The team is ready for a rematch.
so, geven re huns fanpoese,
where do we start?
Well, the most prevalent criticism
Is that we used the wrong sock.
We used elasticized,
long sport socks,
The "Worst-case scenario"
For the experiment.
Meaning they were too
difficult to pull off.
Exactly.
All right, well,
why don't we start out
With the best-case-scenario sock,
The one that requires the least
amount of effort to pull off?
Once we find that,
Then we can unleash some
heavyweight punches on it.
All right, well, since we need
to be meticulous about this,
We should also test hairy
leg versus hairless leg,
So that way we get the
best leg/sock combination.
Are you volunteering
your bare legs?
I don't wax my legs.
Not yet you don't.
Ooh, hey!
round 1.
Right.
First into the ring is the sock,
And to measure just how much force
It takes to pull a sock
off a human foot...
I hope this is the sock puller
annot the knee dislocator.
...Grant has designed
this sock stripper.
Let me introduce you to the
dual Sock-pulling-and-measurement
machine.
Here I have a giant
pneumatic cylinder
Capable of generating over 2,
Which would be equivalent to, say,
hanging a car on your sock
And letting it drop.
Connected to the clevis is a bar
With dual high-precision
force meters.
Now, why two meters?
Because we want to compare
Side-by-side,simultaneously,
the difference between a
hairy leg and a waxed leg.
And, finally, here in the seat
will sit our test subject, Tory.
Unfortunately for Tory,
he is destined for the hot seat,
So Kari is wielding
the spatula of doom.
How's that feel?
It actually feels kind of good.
What's so bad about waxing?
So, ready? 1, 2, 3.
With Tory's legs now
covering both bases --
Smooth and hairy -
it's time to select the sock.
what's with all the socks?
well, for this test,
We are going to leave
no sock untested.
Look at this -- we have
long socks, short socks,
Cotton socks, nylon, wool, silk,
And, finally, genuine
We're going to pull all of
these socks off of Tory's feet
And find the socks
of least resistance.
ew. Tory's feet? Disgusting.
shut up.
Yep, the sock stripper is set.
So the team starts at the top.
Okay, this is sock number one --
Cotton, long socks, loose elastic.
Kari notes the numbers,
And then it's just apply,
strip, and repeat.
Good, I need you to
take off my socks.
Long sock, acrylic, nylon.
Push the button.
Didn't even come off my foot.
They both peaked out at 35.38.
Tory gets his socks off
over and over and over
As the team tries socks of
every material and length
To leave no sock untested,
just as you demanded.
These ones are the lovely socks
knit with love from a fan.
All right.
Whoo! Those looked good.
Finally, after testing
over 50 types of socks,
They've got the data they need.
So here's something crazy.
Out of our top four contenders,
two of them were long socks
Anofd o mtw the were short socks.
So it's looking rikeab f
tisc mue ch morisimportant t.
Who would have thunk?
Now, what we also found
was that leg hair
Was a fairly big factor
In making it harder
to pull the sock off.
In most cases, the smoother
leg had less resistance.
But, most importantly,
the wool knit sock Is the
sock of least resistance,
Requiring only 5.6 pounds of force
to rip it om a bare leg.
So the combination of variables
that makes for the best sock
Are smooth leg and nonelastic,
woven, woolen sock.
That's gonna be your best sock
For trying to knock
your socks off.
Coming up next...
This is the moment of truth.
...Were the fans right?
In "Compact compact,"
The fans detected a
disturbance in the force.
the air bag went off!
So now it's Mythbusters
versus sir Isaac Newton.
But for whom does the bell toll?
These two pieces of
Clay tell the tale.
This is the Clay
compressed at speed 1x.
This is the Clay
compressed at speed 2x.
Now, if Jamie's right
that two cars hitting
each other at speed "X"
Is equivalent to one car
hitting a wall at speed 2x,
Then this is what the
Clay is gonna look like
When we smash two cars into
each other at speed "X."
If the myth is true,
This is what the Clay in those
cars is gonna look like.
Which is it? I quite
honestly have no idea.
This is the moment of truth.
Are you ready to go?
What are you doing back there?
I'm ready.
I'm gonna cut from top dead center
So that the amount of
force on both is the same.
Okay. Here we go.
Two cars smashing into
each other at speed 1x
in 3, 2, 1.
The Clay catastrophe
goes under the hammer.
And judging by first impressions,
It looks like the fans
may be on to something.
Well, I'll tell you right now,
The compression I
can see from here
Does not look like
no 2x-speed hit.
It looks like a 1x-speed hit.
It looks a lot closer
to a 1x than a 2x,
But let's do the measurements.
The results are in.
The two-car test Clay
is almost identical
To the Clay from the 1x tests
And nothing like the 2x tests.
With all the variants
in all of our tests,
One thing was really consistent,
Was that the 2x-speed hits
looked a lot like this,
And the 1x-speed hits
look a lot like this.
In our head-on collision,
it looks like this.
So, where are we with the story?
Well, the hammers and
Clay seem to be saying
That it's looking pretty
good for the myth,
That 2 cars hitting each
other at 50 miles an hour
Might actually be
equivalent To one car
hitting a wall at 50 miles an hour
And not at 100,
as you previously stated.
What do you want to do next?
Next, I want to smash some cars.
All right, then.
Yep, although the impressionable
Clay Supports the fan theory,
will that be true
when they test the mettle
of actual automobiles...
Here we are.
...At a very special location?
It's a platform 120 feet
tall just for dropping stuff!
Thiss a motorized steel barrel
just for strapping down a car
And turning it upside down!
I'm not sure what this one's for,
But I'm pretty sure
I could come up
with something cool To do with it.
Where am I?
I'm in Arizona in the middle
of 150 acres of pure awesome.
This is pretty much what I would
design as my ideal playground.
It's a test facility
designed to break things,
Smash things, make them fail,
and analyze the aftermath.
This is one of the test facilities
Owned by exponent systems,
And today they're gonna
help us smash some cars.
And first up to feel the
crash force is this.
So, this is our car.
This is our car.
We're gonna smash it at 50
miles an hour into a wall.
well, let's get started.
All right.
How's all this gonna go down?
This is a 1,
It has a track embedded
in it and a cable
That pulls the car along that
track towards the impact spot.
These two v8 engines,
Which have about 800
horsepower between them,
Pull this cable,
which pulls the car up
to the desired speed.
When the car gets to about here,
The cable's gonna release it
So it's traveling only
under its own momentum
Right into this big steel thing.
It's at this point that we'll
have a complete picture
Of what happens to a car when
it's going 50 miles an hour
And comes to a dead stop
by crashing into a wall.
It's not just a picture
they'll be getting.
Jamie has also added
some high-tech trickery
To capture the force facts.
There we go.
Inside the car,
underneath the back seat
Is mounted a block
of accelerometers
That measure deceleration
of the impact
In three separate
axes of movement.
That information is sent
back to a data logger
That's mounted in
the back of the car.
It records all that information.
It's kind of like a black box.
This crash, it's
basically a data point,
One of two that we will obtain
In order to correctly analyze
our head-on collision.
Careful viewers will note
that in the full-scale,
We're following the same
experimental procedure As we did
with our hammers and Clay.
We think it has a nice symmetry.
Shall we l the precrash length?
Sure.
All right, then.
All right, the cable's ready.
Come on in.
With the length logged and
the black box engaged,
The car is ready to meet its fate,
Slamming into a solid steel
wall at 50 miles per hour.
All right, this is one car
into one wall at 50 miles ahour
to Take it away.
Okay, Bob,
we're ready for roll-out.
The v8 engines roar as
they spin the cable.
And the car gains speed
Till it's holding at precisely
...And then plows headlong
into a wall of steel.
I hope they're insured.
Yep, it's a car crash, I think.
Yeah.
I'd say what happened here
Was this car here
hit this wall there.
It's a spectacular smash.
The force of the impact
Crunched the front of
the car like a, uh --
Like a car hitting a steel
wall at 50 miles per hour,
Leaving it 3 1/2 feet shorter.
But, of course, that's
not the only impact stat.
What say we find out
what the "G" Load was?
These guys are downloading the
data about the crash right now.
Okay, here's the
stats on that crash.
This car hit that wall at 50.
And took an average of 58 g's
in the longitudinal direction.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say
That when we smash a car into
this wall at 100 miles an hour,
The "G" Load is going to
be significantly higher.
Well, luckily for us,
the only way to confirm
that Is more car carnage.
There was no way I
was gonna do it.
And you did it
without complaining.
If you want to see
what Buster did,
Go to discovery.
Com/mythbusters and check it out.
Could a punch ever be so powerful
It knocks your socks off?
The fans say yes,
as long as it's the right sock
On the right leg
with the right punch.
Oh! Got him in the
The Mythbusters have the sock
of least resistance sewn up.
Those slipped right off.
So next they're finding
Buster some real legs.
The last time we did this experiment,
we used these feet.
Now, you felt like they didn't
have the same kind of resistance
Than human skin would have.
So I've casted up my foot,
And now I'm gonna try
different materials To see
what kind of material is
as close to human skin.
Tory's used plastic,
ballistics medium,
Foam, and lambskin leather
To find something that
simulates a skin-like surface.
Ah! What is that?!
This feels like
somebody uses lotion.
Kari likes the lambskin.
I really think this is
gonna be the winner.
Because it really just
feels the most like skin,
Which is probably
because it is skin.
And after a quick run of tug
tests on the sock puller...
...It turns out her
instincts were flawless.
Yes! 6.25!
This is the most like human skin.
The leather leg,
complete with articulated ankles,
Has an identical sock
resistance to Tory's waxed leg,
Making it perfect for testing.
I've been working on my yoga.
I think I'm getting pretty good.
And now that Buster
has two left feet,
He's cruising for a bruising.
Looks like the bionic man.
The team have a whole
range of punches to throw.
It's like assembling
an old friend.
But first, they're starting
with a familiar enemy --
Nitro punch.
Now, I originally built
this nitrogen cannon
To fire a grappling
hook from a moving car.
The first time we tested it,
It flew off the
table like a rocket.
The second time we tested it,
it punched a hole in the wall.
That is the power of
the nitrogen cannon.
But before nitro is unleashed,
Grant's devising a system
to get the drop on Buster.
So this, my friends,
is the laser trigger.
It's got a beam right
here and a sensor up here.
when I break the beam...
...Fires a solenoid that drops
Buster on his own weight.
Buster's full weight
will be on his feet
Each time he's clobbered.
So seconds out, it's round 1,
the uppercut.
We're about to knock you out.
Last time we pulled
out nitro punch
And gave Buster a
really good uppercut,
We almost knocked his socks off,
And that was with a
tight sports sock.
Now we're using this
woolen hand-knit sock.
I think this might actually work.
Well, there's only
one way to find out.
All right.
Okay, this is uppercut
with proper socks and legs.
all rit.
Fight! All right, here we go.
In 3, 2, 1!
What happened?!
Wow. We knocked him out.
I can't tell if his
socks came off or not.
That punch just landed a massive 6,
Straight to Buster's chin.
That's twice the force
of a heavyweight boxer.
We stone-cold knocked him out,
But his socks are still on.
They're not coming off.
No matter how much
force is hitting him,
The socks are staying on.
Looks like this is not the punch.
Despite all the
fan-inspired changes,
The uppercut didn't cut it.
But there's more
bare-knuckle action to come.
Fight!
Coming up next on "Mythbusters,"
Find out what kind of force it
takes to knock your socks off.
Duking it out in thein g can
be a dangerous business.
But could a prize-fighting punch
knock your socks clean off?
So far, no.
It didn't work before.
It didn't work this time.
But the Mythbusters aren't
throwing in the towel yet.
And that's because the fans think
we have two other kinds
of punches to try --
The right hook and the body blow.
We'll be testing both of
these punches with robots
Because they have
superhuman strength,
And if they can't
knock the socks off,
They'll never get punched off.
But we're gonna start
out by getting hooked.
In the sweet science of bruising,
A right hook packs
a powerful punch.
By pivoting as he swings,
A boxer drives the force of the
blow across his opponent's body.
It's this transverse momentum
That could focus the friction to
force the feet from the socks.
For round 2 of punching,
it's Buster versus the right hook.
So, gentle viewers, to address
your very important concerns,
I've built this
incredible punching robot
That simulates a right hook!
And these are the
hand-knit wool socks
That had the least resistance,
And they are over
our human-like feet.
And this is our quick-release
and laser trigger,
So just before impact,
it'll release Buster
So he's standing on his own weight,
just as you requested.
We're ready to go.
fight!
All right, here we go, in 3, 2, 1!
We knocked him over, but look --
His socks are still on.
One massive right
hook to the head,
And the force is enough
to knock Buster sideways,
But not his socks.
That punch was incredible.
I mean, the power, bang!
And Buster actually
did a somersault.
However, did not
knock his socks off.
Buster has one heck of a chin.
Looks like he wants to
go for another round.
And for the last round,
The team have the most powerful
punch yet -- the body blow.
Now, our body-blow machine is
the most powerful one we have,
And that clocked in at 52,
Or 15 times your average boxer.
That massive momentum
Will be delivered right
into Buster's breadbasket.
This is oc sk uryoocks off
straightforward body blow.
We have knit socks, leather legs,
And Buster on his own weight -
fight!
All right, here we go, in 3, 2, 1!
We knocked him out,
but still his socks remain on.
Although there was some
encouraging sock movement,
Even a punch 15 times that
of a heavyweight boxer
Couldn't separate Buster's
legs from his socks.
So, the myth that you can punch
someone out of their
socks Is busted.
The uppercut couldn't do it.
The right hook couldn't do it.
Even the super body
blow could not do it.
They all failed,
even using the socks
That were the easiest to come off.
But don't worry.
We're not gonna give up.
We're gonna keep trying.
After the break...
Let's go twice as fast.
...Adam and Jamie drive
another car up the wall.
Please do not try what we
do on this show at home.
We're what you call experts.
It's safer that way.
Adam and Jamie are
having a smashing time...
...All in the name of physics.
How did we get here?
Well, it all started
when Jamie said this.
Both trucks were traveling
at about 50 miles an hour.
That's equivalent
to a single impact
Going into a solid wall
at 100 miles an hour.
That's pretty sound
reasoning for my money.
But, no, the fans cried.
at 50 miles per hour
Do not equal one car hitting
a wall at 100 miles per hour.
Because their mass is the same,
they cancel each other out,
And it's no different
than one car hitting a
wall At 50 miles an hour.
I find this surprising and
hard to wrap my head around,
But our scale experiment
seemed to bear it out.
But, of course,
we're not gonna leave it there.
This is what happens
when you crash a car
into a wall S an hour.
Next up, we're gonna be
crashin caa into a wall
At 100 miles an hour.
How bad will it be?
We're just gonna have
to crash it to find out.
So an identical car,
Well, except for the
fact it's lemon yellow...
That's good. Bring it straight in.
...Is hooked up to the track.
All right.
Now, the 50-mile-per-hour impact
Clocked an impressive 58 g's.
But will doubling the speed
double the damage to this car?
It's good.
I got to say that after watching
That 50-mile-an-hour
crash into the wall,
I have a really
hard time imagining
That the 100-mile-per-hour crash
Is gonna compress the
car that much more.
I don't know.
So are you ready for some
more wanton destruction?
I am! Let's go twice as fast!
All right.
Wanton destruction it is,
As the Mythbusters
retire to a safe distance
And the countdown begins.
You ready to make this happen?
I can't wait.
I haven't seen a
No.
All right, commence with the
On Adam's command,
the engines whir into life,
Straining to get the car up
to exactly 100 miles per hour.
It hurtles down the track.
It's going flat-out. Wow.
The cable uncouples,
And the car plows into
its final destination.
The guys are
understandably speechless.
That impact crushed the
lemon car with such force,
It should be in a glass with
ice and a c*ck umbrella.
It's in a very different state
Than it was at 50 miles per hour.
Yeah, it's a little shorter.
I mean, we got a clear difference
between the two crashes.
Uh-huh.
I can't wait to see
what the data set says
About the "G" Load.
If the data's still intact.
If anything's still intact.
Well, thanks to its
position in the trunk,
The black box survived.
So did we successfully
retrieve anything?
We got good data. Really?!
Yeah, we got a peak on
the left side of 140
And a peak on the
right side of 230.
And we'd normally just average
those to get a result in there.
So the midpoint's
somewhere around 185?
That's significantly more than --
What was the last one, 58? 58.
Data!
Is certainly significant.
But that's not the only
data set they're collecting.
Before, it was 15 feet.
Now it's 8 feet.
So not only did the
"G" Load triple,
The crash compacted
almost half of the car.
And remember --
these two cars were identical.
This may just seem like
some gratuitous violence,
But there's actually some really
interesting science going on
When you compare
these two impacts.
You would think that
doubling the speed
Would give you twice the
severity of the impact,
But the physics says
you're actually looking at
More like four times the
severity of the impact.
Our sensors are showing
three times the g's
And our wreckage is showing
about twice the damage.
So what's going on here?
Well, just like this can...
The more I crush it,
the more it resists crushing.
There's some complex
physics going on here,
But you don't have to be a rocket
scientist to understand it.
The cars speak for themselves.
They certainly do.
And after two spectacular crashes,
They have their benchmarks
for car carnage.
Well, we've got our data points.
And they are lovely.
I guess it's time to move
on to the main event.
Yep.
Next up...
Hold on to your socks, Buster!
...The Mythbusters think
outside the boxing ring.
All right, look,
we've tried everything,
But even with superhuman strength
And the best-case-scenario sock,
You still can't knock someone's
socks off with a punch.
No, but I think if we take
this outside the boxing ring,
We're gonna see some results.
Yeah, but last time
we ramped this up,
We used that frightening,
huge pendulum,
And we still got nowhere.
You know what?
That's another fan complaint.
Here, listen.
"Your pendulum hit
Buster at a lower speed
"Than your punching rig,
So this test was actually a
ramp down rather than up."
Yeah, but it did weigh a lot more.
True. But you know what?
To directly address that concern,
Why don't we increase both
the mass and the speed?
Okay, okay. How about this?
Big steel girder.
We weld it to a truck.
We drive straight at Buster,
and bam!
For the final knockout round,
They're heading to alameda
To definitively ramp this
myth up once and for all.
Brian, thank you so much for
bringing your truck out.
Now, tell me what
this thing can do.
This truck is about 20,
It's turbo diesel, can reach
speeds of 80 miles an hour,
And it's ready to
take down Buster.
I think this is the right truck.
So you guys felt like the
pendulum wasn't good enough.
Well, this is what I have for you.
What I have here is a
That I'm about to weld to this 13,
It's a simple build --
One giant girder welded
to one turbocharged truck.
All right, time to fight.
And voilà.
Mass plus speed equals the
behemoth of all battering rams,
While further down the range,
Grant sets up his
laser quick release
And Kari erects the structure
for Buster's last stand.
Now, I've built a nice
little balanced structure
So that Buster can hang,
And then I'm painting
the entire thing yellow,
Maybe a little bit of pink,
So that you can see
it from far, far away,
Because it's gonna be
a really long run-up.
Once Kari's hangman
harness is complete,
It's time to guide that girder
Right into Buster's
reinforced guts.
And they're going to start
At a bone-crunching
We are about to hit Buster
With 4,000 times the
power as any boxer
To see whether or not we
can knock his socks off.
I have a feeling we're
gonna knock his legs off
Before his socks come off,
but let's see what happens.
Remember, Buster is wearing
the socks of least resistance
On his human-like legs.
He'll be standing on all 180
pounds of his own weight,
And at impact, he'll be hit with 4,
Of a heavyweight-boxing punch.
Will that be enough
for the socks to fly?
All right, getting into position.
This is human-like surface
With the socks of
least resistance,
Buster on his own weight.
Go at 40 miles an hour.
Here we go in 3, 2, 1.
Coming at you.
The truck speeds down the
track at 40 miles per hour...
Come on. Do it.
...Triggers the quick release.
Yeah!
Contact.
Ow. Didn't knock his socks off,
but it knocked his hand off.
His hand flew off.
Buhis socks are still on.
We nailed him.
The giant girder made contact,
But it still wasn't
a socks-off knock.
However, there is good news.
Look at that.
They almost came off at the heel!
It almost lifted him
out of his socks.
Well, you know what that means.
We have to ramp it up.
Yeah. You know what?
This will go 65.
With all this weight,
Might be enough to
knock his socks off.
Let's do it. Let's do it.
We're going to hit him
at 65 miles an hour
With this steel beam.
And it's gonna be not two
or three times more powerful
Than a human boxer.
It's gonna be 10,000 times
more powerful than that boxer.
Surely this has got
to be the thing
That knocks him out of his socks.
"Surely" Is right.
If 10,000 times the
force of a boxer
Can't knock the socks off Buster,
then it can't be done.
I think we've really
got a chance here.
We got all the elements.
All right, let's do it.
All right, let's him
at 65 miles an hour.
Here we go.
This is the main event!
Let's see if we can knock
Buster's socks off!
The truck takes its position.
Then it's pedal to the metal...
...As it thunders down the track.
h* on toour socks, Buster!
Houston, we have lift-off.
Whoo-hoo-hoo!
We knocked his socks off!
Dude!
Oh, my God!
We knocked his socks off!
I turned around, all I could
see was like an expl*si*n,
And I saw twsocks floating
down to the ground.
There you have it.
One 30-million-newton knock,
one desocked Buster,
And three ecstatic Mythbusters.
But one question remains.
My big question is -- what came
off first, socks or the feet?
! Oh! Oh! Oh! Look!
Yes! The socks came off!
Look at that! That's great!
They didn't get dragged off.
They got knoed off.
After the first time I
heard this boxing myth,
I thought to myself,
"Who knows? Maybe it's possible."
But after we first tested it,
I thought there is no way
You can knock somebody's
socks off until now.
After seeing what I just saw,
we hit Buster,
Knocked him out of his socks,
it's possible.
I mean, a boxer couldn't do it,
but we could.
So after 20-some-odd sock tests,
multiple punches,
Does the phrase "Knock your
socks off" Still hold true?
Yes, as a matter of fact,
you can knock someone's socks off.
The caveat ishat it's gonna take
a boxer could do.
So, yes, you can use the phrase,
but use it lightly.
Up next, the Mythbusters
head headlong...
...Into a head-on collision.
This car right here hit a
wall at 50 miles an hour.
This car hit a wall
at 100 miles an hour.
I think the difference
is pretty clear.
The question is,
When we smack two cars
together at 50 miles an hour,
Are they gonna look like that,
Or are they gonna look like this?
We're gonna smasretwmoo
cars just to find out!
It's the final act
of carmageddon --
head-on collision.
Here's how this breaks down.
At this end of the track,
the yellow car.
And at this end
sits the orange car.
And here in the middle,
these two cars will meet
In a 50-mile-per-hour
handshake of destruction
That will hopefully answer
all of the questions we have
About the crash forces involved.
Adam's predicting those answers
Will give the thumbs-up to Newton.
This one has really
been a brain bender,
But I have a prediction
for this final experiment.
I think that when all
is said and done,
It's gonna prove
that Jamie was wrong
And that the fans
were actually right,
That when these 2 cars hit at 50,
They're gonna look like the
car that hit the wall at 50,
Not the one that hit
the wall at 100.
And Jamie agrees.
Based on our small-scale testing,
What we should see at the end
of this head-on collision
Should look pretty much Like
the 50-mile-an-hour
crash against a wall.
It's crunch time for force impact.
Will the full-scale test
prove the fans right?
That's it.
Well, I think it's time
to do the final test.
They're all set out there.
It would seem so. I'm goa call it.
Bring on the head-on collision!
From each end of the 1,
The identical 1.
Both cars gain speed as they
head headlong down the track
Towards their head-on collision.
Then as both cars reach
It about to happen.
...Theables unuple.
That was spectacular.
What can you say?
nothing.
What can you say?
Th breathtakinfinale
Is the final piece of
tir physics puzzle.
And as the Mythbusters
survey the wreck Of a 2-car,
They're playing spot the differee.
There's a windshield between them.
It's pretty evident, isn't it?
It really is.
It looks just like the
And nothing likehe 100. Nope.
Amazing.
This tells me the whole story.
I don't needo see the
accelerometer data or ything.
These 2 carswhich hit each
other at 50 miles an hour,
Lookxactly like the car
we smacked into the wall
At 50 les an hour.
That tells me everything
I need to know.
Well, the figures are in.
The orange car got 52 g's.
The yellow car got 58 g's,
Which, give or take a few g's,
Is the same as what
we got against a wall
At 50 miles an hour.
Gee whiz.
And the dama data backs
up those numbers.
Both of the cars are
virtually the same length
As the 50-mile-per-hour
wall test, at 11.5 feet.
And after a spectacular
spe of automive mayhem,
There is irrefutable proof
That those physicist
fans had it right.
Wton's third law --
Every action has an equal
and opposite reaction --
Holds true.
Although the 2-car crash
at 50 miles per hour
Doubles the speed,
The energy of the crash
Is transferred to twice the mass,
halving it,
Resulting in a crash that looks
like just oncar into a wall
At 50 miles per hour.
I made a statement th two
cars hitting each other
At 50 miles an hour
Was the same as one car
hitting a soliwall at 100.
That was a mistake.
But you know what?
I'm okay with it.
That's how you learn stuff.
Love smashing stuff for science!
One way or another,
it's all just shrapnel.
Welcome to our World! Where we serve you cookies to ensure you get the best viewing experience on our site.
Did you know that you can remove censorship board-wide, use our advanced search functions, be notified when new content is posted, join our memberships, set episodes to show in any order you want & more if you are logged into your account?
Register or sign in here: ucp.php?mode=register
Did you know that you can remove censorship board-wide, use our advanced search functions, be notified when new content is posted, join our memberships, set episodes to show in any order you want & more if you are logged into your account?
Register or sign in here: ucp.php?mode=register
08x06 - Mythssion Control
Watch/Buy Amazon
A weekly documentary in which two Hollywood special effects experts attempt to debunk urban legends by directly testing them.
A weekly documentary in which two Hollywood special effects experts attempt to debunk urban legends by directly testing them.