05x12 - Grenades and Guts

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: on this episode
of "mythbusters"...

Adam: whoa, dude!

...adam and jamie test
hand-grenade-hero myths

Inspired by hollywood.

Will a heroic dive
save the rest of the cast?

That was incredible.

Can water dampen the blast?

And how about using a fridge
to cool things off?

[ Laughs ]

Next, the team take to task
self-help cds.

My body is strong.

Can a course of self-hypnosis
cure seasickness,

Fix a bee phobia?

[Bleep]
there's your bleep.

Narrator:
or even change your eye color?

And finally, kari, grant,
and tory turn their stomachs

With the latest diet
coke-and-mentos sensation

Sweeping the internet.

Hi, kari.
[ Gagging ]

Will a candy-and-cola cascade
cause your belly to blow?

Oh, nasty!

Who are the mythbusters?

Adam savage...

Is everybody ready
fro diving?

...and jamie hyneman.

Get me all worked up
just looking at it.

Between them, over 30 years
special-effects experience.

That was heavy.

Joining them --
grant imahara...

Power's on.
Run for your life.

...tory belleci...

Somebody order
some exploding pants?

...and kari byron.

High expl*sives
and electricity -- whoo!

They don't just tell
the myths.

They put them to the test.

Be careful with those.

They're not real.
[ Thud ] total props.

So, what's the myth?

Well, these are part
of our next myth,

Which is
a hollywood myth.

Picture a group
of intrepid heroes,

Fighting evil adversaries,

When into their midst
flies...a live grenade.

Guess what happens next?

Well, I would say, no doubt,

The hero actor
jumps on the grenade,

Thus protecting
the rest of the people.

Exactly right.
That's the myth we want to test.

Will jumping on a grenade
actually save those around you?

It's another expl*sive tall tale
from tinsel town.

The director calls action,

And our stunt-man hero steps up
to put his body on the line.

Some special effects later,
and although he's out of a job,

The rest of the cast have
miraculously survived.

So, what do you
think our plan is?

Well, why don't we start
by making a human analogue?

Out of a ballistics media
for our hero?

Yeah, and we'll set off
some grenades,

Both with and without
our hero diving on them.

All right.

We're also gonna need
an objective way

Of assessing
the blast damage,

Both with and without the hero
on the grenade.

And just for fun,
why don't we try some other ways

Of suppressing
grenade blasts?

That's great.
Let's do it.

First up, this movie myth
needs a star

Who'll be willing to go
to ground on a grenade.

No one's volunteering,
so adam begins body building.

Adam: normally, when we want to
do a human analogue on the show,

We use ballistics gelatin
or animal carcasses.

This stuff is --
we've used it on a few myths.

It's still relatively new to us.

It's a different kind
of ballistic media,

Also based on animal protein,
like ballistics gelatin.

However, it's much more stable
at room temperature.

Narrator: while the catering
on this film set

May be gloopy at best...

Ohh.

...the boys have ensured
the dummy will be fattened up.

So, we need a way to gauge
the damage

Caused both with and without
a hero grenade diver.

So jamie and I have
come up with this --

A set of these guys.

These will be our plywood actors
standing in for our movie,

"Band of brothers."

They will be standing around
where the grenade is happening,

And we'll try one control
without anyone jumping on it,

See what kind of damage
they take,

And for take two, we'll put
somebody jumping on the grenade

And see what kind of damage
they take then.

Narrator: so the cutout cast
is ready for action.

Now all they need
is the perfect location.

Watch the coin.

You're getting sleepy --
very, very sleepy.

[ Snoring ]

Why are
we doing hypnosis again?

Haven't we been here
before?

Together: ba-la-la-loop!
Ba-la-la-loop!

Narrator: yep, but the furor
on the fan site

Over mesmeric, mind-altering
myths just won't let up.

Despite busting the theory

That you can plant
a posthypnotic suggestion

In an unwilling dupe...

Grant: I had a clear idea
of what they wanted me to do.

And sleep.

Narrator:
...and proving as plausible

That memory recall can be
hypnotically enhanced...

All of that I remembered after
we relaxed with the hypnosis.

...the fans are demanding
the team tackle self-hypnosis,

Specifically the cds
you find on the internet

That claim you can
change your life

In any number
of weird and wonderful ways.

So, this time, we're gonna try
self-hypnosis myths.

Those are those cds
that you listen to

And they're supposed to
influence you?

Yeah, they're all over
the internet.

You can lose weight, regrow your
hair, or even quit smoking.

So, why don't we
each try one?

Okay, well, I volunteer
for the seasickness one

Because, personally,
I'm sick of being the guy

That always has to vomit
on camera.

All right, well, since I'm only
afraid of commitment,

And I doubt
that's gonna change,

Maybe we should
bring in adam

And try to help him get over
his extreme fear of bees.

If you guys are gonna work
with rational myths,

I would like to try something
a little more outlandish.

I saw one where you can change
your eye color.

And since that's a physical
change, you'll know if it works

Because I'll come back
with, like, purple eyes.

All right, sounds good.

Spin me, baby.

Narrator:
as regular viewers will know,

Grant has a tendency to go
a little green around the gills.

I feel something
coming up in my throat.

This nasa knockoff,

Affectionately known
as the "chuck chair,"

Is used to simulate
the sensation of seasickness.

And it works a treat
on our very own barf machine.

Before grant can try
his mythical seasickness cure,

Kari and tory need
a prehypnosis baseline.

Come on, I want to see you
blow chunks!

All right,
let's get this over with.

Starting in 3, 2, 1.

Round and round he goes...

You suck!

Keep moving your head.

...where his stomach stops,
nobody knows.

Here we go.
[ Retching ]

Attaboy.

Attaboy.
Kari: it's all right.

Minute 17:34.

So now they've got a baseline...



Narrator:
...grant can begin testing

The self-hypnotic solution
for seasickness.

Meanwhile, kari will test
a self-hypnosis cd

She found on the web

That claims she'll be able to
turn her brown eyes

As green as grant after a trip
in the chuck chair.

Kari: I want to do this as
scientifically as possible,

So I've come
to koret vision center.

They're going to take really
close-up pictures of my eyes

So that I have a baseline
control for the experiment.

I'll go through
my self-hypnosis,

And then when I come back,

We'll take pictures
in the exact same way

And do a comparison

To see if I was able to change
the color of my eye.

Narrator: the final challenge
the team will tackle

Is adam's deep-seated
and unfounded fear of bees.

I don't know why.
I've been stung plenty of times.

I'm not allergic.
I just can't stand those things.

They freak me out.

Narrator: and, as always,
the first step is a control

To scientifically measure
exactly how freaked out he gets.

We have two instruments
to measure adam's stress level.

The first is the pulse meter,

And this is going to measure
his heart rate.

If he becomes frightened, his
heart rate's going to increase,

And it's going to spike,

And we'll be able to
see it here.

The second piece of equipment
is the galvanic skin response.

Again, if he becomes frightened,

He'll start to sweat
a little bit,

And that will change
that resistance measurement.

Narrator: to dial in
on adam's fear factor,

He'll be spending 10 minutes

With one arm
in his own personal room 101.

[ Chuckling nervously ]

Oh, that's a lot of them.

Grant: okay,
heart rate's spiking.

[ Laughing ]
okay.

Narrator: it's pretty obvious
from the start

Adam is showing
serious signs of stress.

Your heart rate
jumped up about 20 points.

And once adam gets his arm
inside the box of bees,

The team don't need
fancy equipment

To measure his stress levels.

[Bleep]

[ Laughter ]

[Bleep]
there's your bleep.

[Bleep]

Okay. You really are afraid
of bees, aren't you?

Narrator: the longest 10 minutes
of adam's life

Finally counts down.



And adam goes over
the data percentages.

That 100% sucked.

So with the baseline set,

It's time to move on
to phase 2 -- self-hypnosis.

Tory:
all right, buddy.

This is the cd that you're gonna
listen to for a week,

And this will help you
get over your fear of bees.

Did you guys make this?

We ordered it online,
so you're in good hands.

It's professionals,
not us.

Because I didn't want to
listen to you going,

"Dude, it's totally okay.
It's totally okay."

They're just gonna
sting you.

I'm driving,
"it's totally okay.

Jamie and adam
are testing the movie myth

That diving onto a grenade...

Will smother the blast
and save your buddies.

[ Glass shattering ]

But with the neighbors
likely to gripe

About a grenade going off
in the backyard,

The team head for one
of their favorite spots.

Adam: when you want to
blow up grenades,

You've got to go to a place
where they blow up grenades,

Like the alameda county
sheriff department's b*mb range.

That's where we are here.

Narrator: this place is
a veritable mythbuster mecca.

Tory, grant, and kari came here
to blow up their pants.

Get your pirate face on!

We're about to sh**t
some cannons!

Narrator:
and in the pirate special,

Redbeard and cap'n hyneman

Tested the myth
that cannonball splinters

Are more deadly
than the cannonballs.

But this time, the guys are
going gung-h* with grenades,

And the mythbusters turn
to some old friends,

Frank doyle and j.d. Nelson,

For the crucial expl*sive
ingredients.

All right,
so what have we got?

Jamie: so, if I pull the pin
on one of these things,

It's gonna go off,
right?

Narrator:
no, jamie, these are inert.

We wouldn't trust adam
near the live ones.

Seeing as jamie and adam's
expertise in this field

Comes from the movies,

Why don't we start
with a little grenades 101?

Now, what the heck
are all these things?

A hand grenade is basically a
small, handheld expl*sive device

That's meant to be thrown,

And after a certain delay,
it goes off.

And this is how they work.

As everyone knows,
the pin comes out first.

That releases the striker lever,
which hits the percussion cap,

And that sets off
the chemical fuse.

Finally, the detonator sparks
the packed expl*sive material,

There's a big boom,

And the metal casing fragments
into deadly shrapnel.

So, if the m67 is going to
be our grenade today,

Do we get to pull the pin
and throw them?

Well, we won't be doing that
today for safety reasons.

We'll have a very controlled
situation,

And I think it's a good time
for j.d. And myself

To go and prepare
the actual grenades

That we're gonna use today.

Narrator: so, while
control freaks frank and j.d.

Set up a remote-firing system...

Let's start assembly-lining
this thing.

...it's time to call
for our movie extras.

But our leading man
can kick back in his trailer,

As this test is the control.

Adam: we are gonna detonate
one of our grenades

Without anything inhibiting it,

And we're gonna see what it does

To our figures
standing around it.

Then we'll have a baseline
comparison of damage

To compare all the other
subsequent tests to.

As the director of this slice
of movie mayhem,

Adam choreographs his stunt men.

I am standing
on the exact location

Where we're gonna be detonating
our series of grenade tests.

The grenade is lethal
within 15 feet

And can cause injuries
within 40 to 45 feet.

Narrator: the actors are placed
at 5-foot intervals

From the blast epicenter.

And with everyone poised
for action,

J.d. Brings the small package
with the big boom.

Okay, here it is.

[ Chuckles ]

Well, it goes
right where that cone is.

Okay.

With the live grenade
in position,

Our experts clear the area
and begin their preparation.

Doyle: we're going to be putting
a blasting cap

Into the body of the grenade,
into the expl*sive,

Running it by hardwire

All the way back
to the fire-control point

Where we will do
the button-pushing

And initiate the expl*si*n.

Narrator:
with the cameras ready to roll,

Jamie and adam
hunker down in the bunker,

And with the system hot...

Nelson:
fire in the hole!

Fire in the hole!

...they call action.

In 3, 2, 1.

Jamie: oh.
[ Laughing ]

That was pretty solid.

That was a nice,
like, macho thunk.

That really was.

Whoa!

Narrator: and speaking of macho,
the action actors

Look like they just shrugged off
a grenade blast.

But a closer look
at the guy at 5 feet

Reveals the frightening truth.

The telling part
is look at the backside.

Wow!

Little tiny fragments going all
the way through the plywood.

Yep, the fake-blood department
would have its hands full.

But how about wooden actor
number 2?

Well, he was 10 feet away,

And his part in this movie
is over.

Jamie: right through the lung
or the heart or something.

And the body count
for this scene continues to rise

When they examine
extra number 3.

Adam: jamie, check it out, man.
Same thing on number 3.

One there,
one there, one there.

Down there, down there.
Up there.

The fourth casualty
was one of the cameras.

And this piece of plexiglas,

Which was protecting
a second camera,

Gives a further illustration

Of the lethal power
of grenade shrapnel.

Hey, adam, check this out.
Yeah.

This is actually more revealing
than the dummies, in some ways.

This was
a brand-spankin'-clean thing.

I just stripped it
before we put it in.

And, you know,
on the dummies,

We can kind of see
a lot of little flecks,

But look
at all of them here.

There are just like dozens
of tiny things.

And each of those
could potentially travel

Inches into your body.

Well, frank says
that these are going

Like 20,000, 24,000 feet
per second.

Even though
they're minuscule --

That's like 10 times
the speed of a b*llet.

Yeah, yeah,
and that's the difference.

You know, they may be smaller
than bird shot, even,

But they're going
like several times as fast.

A shotgun only is like 800,


That's terrifying.

This is exactly the kind of
thing I'm interested in

And I wanted to see here.

In first place,
the blast itself was...

Somehow more powerful

Than some of the blasts
that we've seen before,

In the sense
that it was a real thunk.

You could feel it in the ground.

It was, like, guttural
and like a real --

It wasn't a pop or anything
or a big -- cckk! -- Like that.

It was a bang!

Narrator:
so, after the first take,

Three of our actors
have more holes in them

Than a bad b-grade plot.

The question now is,

Will there be fewer fatalities

When our movie star
takes a dive?

Look into the hypnotic eye!

Narrator:
the mythbusters are once again
going under for science.

But hypnosis is not just
the stuff of parlor tricks

And b-grade movie plots.

Hypnotherapy, in conjunction
with traditional medicine,

Has helped millions of people

Successfully battle
wide-ranging afflictions,

Such as addiction,
anorexia, and arthritis.

But for the next week,

Three self-hypnosis,
or autosuggestion, goals

Are being put to the test.

Okay, so,
this is day one

With my seasickness
self-hypnosis cd.

Narrator: as per
the instructions on the box,

Grant will listen to the disc
once per day.

your body is strong.
your mind is strong.

it can handle all kinds
of situations, grant.

I really, really want this
to work.

I'm tired of being
the seasickness guinea pig.

Narrator:
while grant is attempting

What he thinks
is an achievable goal,

Kari is at the far end
of the hypnosis spectrum,

With a farfetched claim

That by listening
to her disc twice a day,

She can change her eye color.

Adam, happy with his eye color,

Has found a self-hypnosis cd

That will supposedly help him
get over his apiophobia.

For those of you
that don't speak geek,

That's a fear of bees.

And as he settles down
for his first session,

Adam, the skeptic,
is going against type

And thinking positive thoughts.

Adam: I feel like
there is some utility

In concentrating on the thing
that one is phobic about,

That me thinking seriously

About bees sitting on my skin
without stinging me

Will benefit and will show a
benefit at the end of this week.

Narrator: now, because watching
the mythbusters snooze

Doesn't make
for emmy award-winning tv,

Let's cut to the chase.

All week, grant has been keeping
up with his hypnosis schedule,

But let's see if he can keep
his stomach down.

In 3...2...1.

Remember, before he embarked
on self-hypnosis,

He lasted just over 17 minutes.

For the myth to stand
any chance of being confirmed,

Grant has to go way past that.

I'm really glad it's you
that gets seasick, not us.

But for total success,

He'll have to keep his breakfast
from seeing the light of day.

Grant:
I really want this to work.

My body is strong.

[ Chuckles ]

And it can handle all kinds
of different situations.

Narrator: grant, using his
self-taught hypnotic techniques,

Remains focused
for over half an hour.

But on the 34-minute mark,
the wait is over,

And old green gills grant
is back.

Okay, stop. That's --
all right. Stop.

Stop. Stop.
I can't do this anymore.

So the self-hypnosis technique
delayed the inevitable,

But failed to outright cure
his seasickness.

Grant: I'm not sure if I'll ever
be cured of seasickness,

But what I do know is that
the hypnosis cd did not cure me.

Narrator:
while grant recovers,

It's time to look
into kari's eyes.

But despite a daily hour
and a half of self-hypnosis,

Kari's eyes
stubbornly remain brown.

So, in your professional
opinion,

Did I change the color of
my eyes through self-hypnosis?

I would have to say that they
are unchanged, unfortunately.

Despite her best efforts,

It's a result kari
was expecting.

So I guess
this one's busted?

I'm afraid it is.

Okay, last but not least
is adam, our resident skeptic.

This self-hypnosis on the cd
is total bunk.

It's snake oil,
as far as I'm concerned.

Narrator: in his baseline test,
adam's heart rate,

Galvanic skin response,
and colorful vocabulary...

[Bleep]

...confirmed
he's terrified of bees.

The question is,

After a solid week of listening
to his self-hypnosis cds,

Will he fare any better when
faced with the dreaded bee box?

How you feeling
compared to last time?

I'm feeling a little better
than last time.

Apparently, you're lying.

[ Laughter ]

Doesn't look like it.

Adam's trying to tough it out,
but the numbers don't lie.

His heart rate and stress levels

Are buzzing at the same high
rates as the baseline test.

Oh, another one landed on me.

Narrator: and a few close
encounters of the flying kind

Prove that 10 minutes
with the bees

Is still 10 minutes of t*rture,

Which leaves
just one conclusion.

Okay, guys, self-hypnosis --
what's the verdict?

I think it's obvious
that this is busted.

Yeah, but you
never believed

That your eyes
could change color.

True, but I followed
all the instructions on the cd,

And I really put my mind into it
and still got nothing.

And adam got
the same result.

That's too bad,
'cause even after his hypnosis,

He's still
afraid of bees.

I think mine
is the most telling result.

And you really wanted it
to work.

Yeah, I wanted it to work,
I thought it could work,

And there was a delay
in the seasickness,

But ultimately,
it failed to cure me.

Yep.
You still blew chunks.

So this one's busted.

Busted.
Busted.

Narrator: in the myth of
the hollywood hand-grenade hero,

Adam and jamie
are having a blast.

A control test
minus our superman savior

Left three extras
looking for work.

One there,
one there, one there.

Down there, down there.
Up there.

Now it's time for take two,

And our hero's
straight out of central casting.

Adam: [ woodenly ]
hey, guys, look out!

A grenade
has landed near you.

You got the back?
Uh-huh.

Hunh!

[ Laughter ]

Adam:
this is our hero right here.

And it should provide
a fantastic testing medium

To show what kind of resistance
the body will provide

To the fragmentation
from a grenade

And how much it'll protect your
buddies standing around you.

Narrator: our leading man
is laid on the grenade,

His body and the myth
on the line.

If his three supporting actors
survive,

This tall tale
will be confirmed.

It's worth pausing
for a second

To talk about the origin
of the word "grenade."

It comes from the french word
for "pomegranate,"

Which is "grenate."

Does a grenade look anything
like a pomegranate?

Well, not now, but in the early
days, they were larger,

They were about the same size
as a pomegranate,

And they were filled
with shot

That was very similar
to pomegranate seeds.

Oh, cool.

In 3...



That was brutal.

Narrator:
well, one thing's for sure --

There will be no happy ending
for this celluloid savior.

Doyle:
he did not have a good day.
He was a hero.

Yep, our hero's role
has been cut short.

But did his selfless act
save the cast of cutouts?

There's a significant chunk
out of the front here.

Out of the back,
I see one, two, three, four...

Yeah, just four --
that's it.

So, wooden actor number one
took 10 fewer hits

Than the control blast,
but how bad were the splinters?

This injury right here
is very telling

Because what it shows us
is that,

While it looks like a lot here,

We look around on the backside
and there's not a mark.

In the previous test,

Without anything
over the grenade at all,

If we saw a hole in the front,
we saw a hole in the back.

So it's clearly slowing down
the velocity of the projectiles

Coming off of the grenade.

Narrator:
and the guy at 10 feet?

Wow, look at that.

I don't see a single one.

This looks like he might have
really saved his buddies here.

There's no doubt about it --

This movie myth
is looking confirmed.

Adam:
well, there you go.

There you go.
I'm pretty amazed.

I wasn't expecting to see
such a definitive result.

Adam: of the eight figures
we had standing around here,

When our hero
jumped on the grenade,

Only his buddy
who was 5 feet away,

Buddy number 1,
sustained any real damage,

And most of that
was to his legs.

Buddies number 2 and 3
are effectively unscathed,

As are 4 through 8.

Narrator: so the rest
of the cast survived.

Unfortunately,
our action hero from now on

Will only be able to play
bit parts.

Kari started it,

Adam and jamie
investigated it...

That's a much more vigorous
reaction.

...and then they
rube-goldberged it.

But incredibly, the foamy
fountain is yet to run dry.

Whoa! Hey!
There it is.

Diet coke and mentos again?
Are you kidding me?

Come on. Is this phenomenon
not over yet?

Well, I know we've done it
a lot,

But there's this video that's
going around the internet.

The guy eats mentos,
drinks diet coke,

And then passes out because
his stomach supposedly explodes.

You know
we have to test that.

[ Beeps ]

Diet coke and mentos is once
again the hot internet topic.

Scour the net, and you'll find
a ton of videos like this.

This guy, who we won't be
calling "einstein,"

Swallows a handful of mentos
and then guzzles some diet cola.

He's hoping
for an upchuck fountain

And his five minutes
of cyberfame.

But according to his friend
who posted the clip,

It all goes wrong
when he ends up in hospital

With a ruptured stomach.

Thanks to the mythbusters,

There's no mystery
to the cola cascade.

Like old faithful, this gassy
geyser just keeps on keeping on.

Wow.
There you go.

That's so cool.

I've never
actually done that before.

Really?
No.

That wasn't even as high
as I've seen them go.

I've seen them go
like 30 feet.

Narrator:
but today, we're asking,

Can the fizzy fountain
burst your belly?

Inside at indigestion h.q...

Oh, geez!

...the team's first job is
to prepare these pig stomachs

For their diet
of diet coke and mentos.

[ Laughter ]

Look at the ooze.
That's cool.

Narrator: first, they have to
drain the bellies

Of a mystery jelly.

That is an amazingly bad smell.
Ohh!

All: ohh!

[ Laughter ]

Oh, my god!

After you haven't eaten
for a while, you know,

And you're just throwing up
bile -- this is just bile.

Narrator:
and speaking of throwing up,
trust tory to take it too far.

Ugh!

Ugh!

Grant: you okay?

Hi, kari.
[ Gagging ]

Kari, the cable ties.

Kari, the cable ties.

Come on, kari.
Kari, come on.

Never leave
your position, kari.

[ Retching ]

Narrator: with the pig
and kari's stomach empty,

The team can finish
rigging out our test subject

With his internal organ.

And to ensure they replicate the
myth's circumstances accurately,

Kari has a plan.

We want to make this situation
as realistic as possible,

So we need our stomach
to have stomach acids.

We didn't want
just the dead bile

That had been sitting in there,
so we drained out the stomach,

And now we're going to add
a fluid

That will have the same acidity
as a stomach

After it's added a little food.

Grant: okay.
That operation's complete.

Tory:
nice work, doctor.

Thank you, doctor.

I think the patient's gonna
recover just nicely.

Narrator: with the deft touch
of amateur butchers,

Dr. Imahara and dr. Belleci
have added the acid.

It's my flesh bagpipe.

But the unfortunate patient
ain't done yet.

They rig his esophagus
with a tube and valve system

So the team can simulate
the delivery

Of a lunch of candy and cola.

Oh, nasty stuff!

Grant: okay, so this is
the experimental test setup

For the myth that if you drink
a bunch of diet coke

And eat a bunch of mentos,
your stomach will explode.

We have standing in for
the human stomach a pig stomach,

Which is a good analogue
for that.

One of the ends is clamped off
with a hemostat.

Inside the stomach, we have
a dilution of muriatic acid,

And that is diluted
to a ph of between 2 and 3

To match what your normal
human stomach would have.

Going into the stomach,

We have a plastic tube --
goes up to this junction.

The idea is that we put
the diet coke in from one side.

Bottle goes up here, we squeeze
it, coke goes down the tube.

After the diet coke's in,
we clamp this off.

Then this is the mentos side.

We'll drop a nut in
with this magnet in place

And then load the mentos
one by one.

When we're ready to trigger,

We pull the magnet away --

All the mentos go in the stomach
at once.

This will have been clamped off,

And hopefully, the mentos
and diet coke concoction

Will expand and expand
and expand and...

[ Imitates expl*si*n ]

Or so we think.

Narrator: kari, grant, and tory
are leaving no stomach unturned

In an attempt
to get to the bottom

Of the latest video
sweeping the internet.

[ Beeps ]

Supposedly, after lunching
on diet coke and mentos,

This guy ended up in e.r.
With a torn tummy.

To find the truth,

The team are about to feed
this pig's stomach

A liter of diet coke
and a handful of mentos.

Hey, what do you think's
gonna happen, see?

I don't think
it's gonna explode.

Kari: really?
Yeah.


It's not going to explode.

Narrator: okay, the first
ingredient is the diet coke.

And when our skeletal friend
guzzles the gassy soda,

His stomach bloats out so much,
grant has a change of heart.

Whoa!
[ Laughs ]

Wow.
I'm revising my estimates.

That looks uncomfortable.

Next, the mentos are dropped
into a holding tube.

Okay.
All seven are in.

[ Chuckles ]

Clamp it.
Clamping.

Narrator: here we go.
Will the belly go ballistic?

Kari: 3...2...1.

What happened?

Did it go?
Did they make it down?

Did it get in?

I thought there was
supposed to be a reaction.

Do you see anything?

Narrator: uh, nope.

The mentos are definitely
in there,

But where's the famous
foamy fountain?

Our soda super sleuths
are on it.

Kari: let's go over the things
that are different

Between the experiment
we just did

And the reaction we know
which is really expl*sive,

Which is dropping the mentos
into the 2-liter bottle.

Okay, well,
first thing is,

We're actually pouring it
into the stomach,

And it's foaming up a lot.

And when you normally
do this experiment,

You're adding the mentos
to the soda

Which is still
in the bottle.

The other thing that's different
about the stomach

Is it has the muriatic acid
in it,

So that might be doing something
to change the reaction

Between the diet coke
and the mentos.

Narrator: their plan is to use
a process of elimination

To work out what's happening.

And a few simple
bench tests later,

They confirm the acid
is not the culprit.

Okay, so the muriatic acid

Doesn't seem to be having
an effect

On the mentos and diet coke
reaction.

Narrator: next, they look
into their method

Of squeezing the bottle

To pour the coke quickly
into the stomach.

Yep, there's your problem.

So the pour is what's k*lling
all our carbonation,

And that's preventing
the reaction.

Yeah, totally.

Narrator:
by copying the video,

Where our guy
guzzles his cola quickly,

The tests have shown the soda
loses most of its co2.

So, they're going to redo
the test,

Trying to retain the fizz
with a slow, controlled pour.

And because
the stomach's opaque,

They can't see what's going on.

Grant: so we've replaced
the pig's stomach

With a translucent balloon.

Narrator:
but despite the gentle pour,
the result is the same.

Through the clear balloon,

You can see the soda sizzling

Before the mentos have even
been added, which confirms

The simple act of drinking
the diet coke releases the co2.

And without its fizz, the candy
and cola can't do the biz.

So the next setup is a
completely unrealistic scenario,

Which involves dropping
the mentos into the coke

With the stomach
already attached.

Kari: final stomach
in mentos experiment

In 3...2...1.

Release.

Whoa-oh-oh!

[ Laughter ]

It's like the new year's day
parade.

But still no expl*si*n.

No.

No expl*si*n, but I guarantee
he really threw up.

Yeah.
But I want to see an expl*si*n.

How are we gonna get one
of these stomachs to blow up?

Compressed air.

Are you serious?
Both: yeah!

[ Laughter ]

Narrator: the myth
is well and truly busted,

But boys will be boys.

They want a burst belly.

This is 30 psi compressed air
directly into the stomach.



Kari: ever get that gassy,
bloated feeling?

Whoa!

Oh!

That wasn't very long.

That got big!

Narrator: and if you don't want
a trip to e.r.,

Don't go sucking
on compressed air at home.

But as for diet coke and mentos,

They're clearly not
the expl*sive combo

The internet
would have us believe.

Well, that one's busted.

Yeah, the myth
and the pig's stomach.

So, does that mean
this diet coke and mentos thing

Is finally over?

Actually, I heard this one
about this guy.

He had a jet pack.

Narrator: adam and jamie have
been blown away

By the results of a movie myth.

This looks like he might have
really saved his buddies here.

But the director hasn't called
"wrap" yet.

The guys have a couple more
hollywood-hero techniques

To test.

So, what's next?

Well, I'm thinking about
this other hollywood scenario

I've seen where the hero
doesn't dive on the grenade --

He actually throws it
into a bucket of water

To protect those around him.

Well, makes sense to me,
and it's easy to test.

Get a bucket of water,
drop a grenade in it,

See what happens.

I'm curious to find out

If it actually dampens
the grenade blast

Or actually makes it worse
or does nothing at all.

We have played around with
expl*sives and water before.

Remember,
on another hollywood myth,

We tried to open a safe
by filling it with water

And setting off
an expl*sive.

And it transmitted the energy
quite well.

It was very effective,

But I don't know what it'll do
with a bucket.

[ Laughs ]
that worked beautifully!

Well,
let's give it a shot.

Back at the range,

Adam and jamie have rigged
the live grenade

And dunked it
in a bucket of water.

The question is, will this
hand-grenade-hero technique

Actually dampen the blast,

Or is it another example
of hollywood screenwriters

Rewriting the laws of physics?

Based on what I know,

I think this may well be
our best technique

Of all the ones that we try,

Because we know that
water resists things

Moving through it at high speed,

And these particles
that are being sent out

Are really quite small.

So I think the water may even be
especially effective

At slowing them down.

In 3...2...1.

Whoa!

Dude,
that was incredible.

Is that part of our bucket?
That's the bottom.

Yeah.

[ Chuckling ]

Well, the bucket of water...

Definitely kicked the bucket.

But the crew is looking
in pretty good shape.

Compared to the control test,

The shrapnel damage
seems superficial

Until they take a good look
at this guy...

Yeah, that's the first one we've
seen through somebody's head.

...which causes adam to leap
to a hasty conclusion.

So, strangely,
it's looking to me

Like jumping on a grenade
is still best,

And the bucket of water
is kind of terrible.

But jamie gives that theory
a bucketing.

Actually, I kind of disagree
about this one

Because all
of the previous ones

Required that our hero

Be close to the actual grenade
when it went off.

If we've got
a bucket of water,

We drop it in the water,

This greatly reduced
the total number of hits,

Greater than anything
that we've done,

And your hero
might survive it.

So when it comes
to saving your friends

From an exploding grenade,

The bucket approach
really does hold water.

And so to our final
hand-grenade-hero technique.

Man: it's a grenade.

In this tall tale on tv,

Our hero attempts to blunt
the blast

By dropping the ticking
time b*mb in cold storage.

To replicate
that small-screen scene,

The first thing they'll need
is a fridge.

What does it smell like, man?
What did you keep in here?

It smells like old food,
I think.

We need to spray it
with bleach inside.

No, no, no, no.

We're gonna clean it out
with a grenade.

So once again,
it's back to the range,

This time
for some gratuitous destruction

Of kitchen appliances,

All in the name of science,
of course.

There's stuff in there.
The beer.

The fridge is in position.

If you caught any diseases
from here,

You could cure yourself
with the penicillin here.

Narrator: and our cutout cast
gather around

As the b*mb team rig the grenade
inside the fridge,

Just like the film clip.

In 3...2...1.

[ Laughter ]

The replay shows the silhouettes
chilling out around the fridge,

Wondering what's for dinner.

What else?
Bangers and smash.

Jamie: something tells me

That this is maybe not the best
of the options.

What do you think?

Wow.

[ Laughing ]

Oh, man.

I think
it's pretty clear here

That the two places you don't
want to be standing

Are either in front
or behind the fridge.

But on the side,
it's just fine.

The key position is the actor
directly in front.

As per the film clip,

Our hero runs away
from the fridge and ducks down,

Square on to the door.

And as the high-speed camera
shows,

That ain't exactly
the best idea.

He didn't fare too well with
the battle of the refrigerator.

No, no, number 7
is totally gone.

If you're thinking
that a refrigerator

Is going to contain a grenade,
you're totally wrong.

I'm sitting on the evidence.

Out of all the options
that we had,

This was clearly the worst idea.

When you think about it,
it makes sense.

You've got a lot of metal there
to create shrapnel.

You don't have a lot of mass
to resist it.

You've got foam
and other lightweight things,

And it's awfully messy, as well.

So how did hollywood,

With its typical tenuous
connection with reality,

Fare with this myth?

Surprisingly well.

It turns out
jumping on a grenade

Does quite well at limiting
the grenade's frag.

And the bucket of water
didn't do so bad, either.

Yeah, of all the ones
we tested,

I'd have to say putting
a grenade into a refrigerator

Should be left
on the cutting-room floor.

Yeah. So, how are
we gonna wrap this up?

Well, we have to say
that jumping on a grenade

Is confirmed.

Amazingly, we've gone after
a hollywood myth

That ain't a myth at all.

Okay, it's confirmed.