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Archimedes Death Ray Burn off |
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Written by river95
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Sunday, 12 March 2006 |
Episode: Archimedes Death Ray Burn-Off/Mailbag Special
Original Air Date: 25 January, 2006
Myth: Archimedes Death Ray revisited
The Myth: Could Archimedes really have burned up a Roman trireme? The fans insist that it is possible, so Jamie and Adam challenged them to prove it! This contest was the fans turn to prove that it could have been done.
The Experts:
Doug Graham
Mike Bushroe
Dan Kuckes
Brenden Millstein
Steven Marsh
Kari Lukes
Jessie Nelson
Professor David Wallace and his students from MIT
Memorable/Quotable Moments
Jamie: I come in peace!
Adam: C’mon down to the Mythbusters Satellite Shack!
David Wallace (to Jamie): Shut up, you lazy Roman pig, and do as you’re told!
The Action/Results:
Jamie and Adam issued the challenge to the fans, and then went through the videos that were sent in. They picked the ones that seemed the most promising, and invited those folks to San Francisco for a “Death Ray Burn Off”! When the teams got to San Fran, the first order of business was a small-scale burn-off. The two teams competed against each other for the first round. It seemed that the boys were doing quite a bit better than the girls – at least in the first round. Brenden and Steven got all of the test materials to burn in nine seconds flat, whereas Kari and Jess got the wood to burn after two minutes, and they couldn’t get the oakum or the hemp to burn at all – just smolder. The teams were given 24 hours to tweak their rigs. Grant also informed both teams that they must set the test items on fire from five feet away, which meant that the boys had some work to do, too. The girls planned to warp some mirrors, and use 15 of them to make a parabola. The guys made a larger parabola out of plaster, which was spun to create a parabola, and then they also made a parabola out of mylar, a giant pot, and a vacuum pump. They tested the contraptions the next day, and, while the girls’ mirrors were making a hot spot, and the boys’ plaster parabola did work, nothing really set fire to the test items until the boys used the mylar and pot parabola, which did set things on fire. Jamie and Adam also made a small scale death ray for this competition, which did set things on fire, but since it couldn’t set things on fire from five feet away, it was also disqualified.
Next, it was Mike Bushroe’s turn. He really is a rocket scientist, and his intelligence helped him to make the only large scale Death Ray that was entered into the competition. His device, the “Sword of Archimedes”, arrived at M5 via a large moving truck. Unfortunately, it was in pieces, and it couldn’t be fixed. As Mike said, “Once a mighty warrior – it’s now a broken wreck.” .
Adam and Jamie decided to invite Professor David Wallace and his students from MIT to show what their mirror contraption could do. They had set a boat on fire in a parking lot, using glass mirrors. But now, they were using bronze mirrors, and aiming at a real boat, sitting in the water. The guys also assigned Grant to “Project X”, which was to make a ballista called “The Scorpion”. This was a weapon that was available in Archimedes’ time, and the guys wanted to see if it would be any more effective at setting the boat on fire than the mirror rig was.
Tory and Grant were given the job of turning a modern boat into something resembling a Roman trireme. They prepared the boat for burning, and Adam and Jamie began assembling the racks for the MIT mirrors. Mike Bushroe’s mighty mirrored rig was also brought out, and aimed (as much as possible) to help MIT’s rig. When the students from MIT arrived, things started to happen quickly!
First, Professor Wallace aimed one mirror at the boat. Then he directed everyone to help aim all the remaining mirrors at the same spot. It took about ten minutes, and there was a lot of charring, but no fire. Professor Wallace then told Jamie to move the boat a bit, so that it was back to the original position. They tried again, refocusing the mirrors. No luck. They tried to focus the mirrors on the sail, but, due to the wind, it wouldn’t stay still. Finally, they moved the boat in to 75 feet away. Finally – FLAME!
When the ballista arrived, the build team wasted no time in setting it up and aiming it at the boat. Each projectile was coated in Jamie’s special “burning goo” and then fired at the boat. Even though they hit it several times, the boat didn’t burst into flame until Jamie tossed a whole pot of the “burning goo” onto the boat.
Several times during this myth, Rob Lee pointed out things that were “nails in the coffin” of this myth. Syracuse (where this happened) faced east, and so Archimedes couldn’t have used the midday sun, as the Mythbusters did. The weapon would be unusable if there were clouds, if the boats were moving, or if the sails of the boats were moving. There are many different versions of this tale, and the first one that mentions mirrors that could burn anything was written 800 years after the battle actually took place. The scale needed for this to actually work is immense. And there were alterative means of attack, such as the ballista. In the end, even though the team and the contestants in this “Mailbag Special” tried everything possible, this myth was undeniably BUSTED.
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Episode Descriptions 