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Franklin's Kite/Facts About Flatulence Episode #48 Original Air Date: 3/08/06
The Myth: Could Ben Franklin really have flown a kite in a thunderstorm? Could he have done it safely?
The Experts: Bob Malahowski (electrical engineer PG&E) explains why it is dangerous to fly a kite anywhere near a powerline
Memorable/Quotable Moments:
Tory dubs the small replica of Franklin’s kite “The Kite of Punishment” as it dives at his head, then hits him in the groin. Meanwhile, Grant is on the ground, laughing hysterically and saying, “That made it all worthwhile!”
The Action/Results:
The build team swings into action to test the three parts of this myth – can a replica of Franklin’s Kite conduct charge along the string? Can it make a spark that leaps from a key to a person’s hand? And, can that spark be fatal?
First, they investigate what Franklin’s kite would have looked like. They find out that the handkerchiefs of the time were either 10 inches square or 3 feet square, so they make several kites – some small and some large. They test both, but, as Grant notes, “Stability seems to be an issue!”. The kites spin, but they don’t fly. So, Kari redesigns one of the kites, stating that Ben Franklin’s notes aren’t exactly precise when it comes to what his kite looked like. The new kite is more of a diamond shape, and, when they take it out to the beach for a test flight, it does just fine.
Next, they measure the amount of charge that is generated by just flying the kite. With dry string, the charge gets up to 10 kilovolts. However, they can’t get a spark to jump from the key to Kari’s finger. So, they bring the kite down, wet the string, and try again. This time, the charge gets up to 19 kilovolts before the reading is off the scale. However, they still can’t get a spark from the key to Kari. So, they decide to try again, with something that they know generates electricity – Jamie’s Van de Graff generator.
Jamie’s generator is soon set up and running. The kite is positioned next to it, with the authentic twine running from the end of the kite to the key. After a few tries, they finally get a minute spark, but it is enough to prove the concept – you can get a spark to jump from the key to someone’s hand.
Finally, it is time to revisit the testing facility at Pacific Gas and Electric. The team sets the kite up so that it is in midair, right next to the electricity generating apparatus. They set up a ballistics gel model of Ben Franklin, complete with metal paddles to measure the amount of shock that Ben would get across his heart, and to see if the shock really does travel down the string to the key. Finally, the experiment is ready. With wet string, a shock does indeed travel all the way down the line to the key, jump the gap to Ballistic Ben’s finger, and deliver enough of a shock that Ben would have been toast. So, the myth is BUSTED, even though the experiment itself is CONFIRMED. In other words, even though the experiment worked, the fact is that if Ben did it himself, he would have died.
Facts About Flatulence
The Myths:
1) Can you actually die from the gasses produced in flatus?
2) Do beans help produce more flatus?
3) Does lighting a match burn up the gasses released in flatus?
The Expert: David Maliby (Lab Specialist at UCSF) tests Adam’s flatus using a spectrometer and breaks it down into its components.
Memorable/Quotable Moments:
Adam: We have flatus contained! (imitates siren)
The Action/Results:
Adam and Jamie set out to test three different flatus myths, starting with the story of a large man who was living in a small room and surviving on beans and cabbage. Supposedly he died because he inhaled the toxic fumes of his own flatulence. So, the guys first need to know what is in flatus.
Adam builds a flatus-catching device from a bathtub and some Lexan. He plans to fill the bathtub with water, suspend the device over the bathtub, and then catch the flatus using a small chamber that has had the air removed from it. This eventually works, and Kari has the job of taking the samples to the lab to see what they are made of. Although the main ingredients of Adam’s sample are nitrogen and oxygen, there are a few other gasses present that could be toxic, including carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and methyl mercaptan. So, the question then becomes: could any of these be released in such great concentrations in one night as to be fatal?
They test out the scenario with carbon dioxide gas seeping into a small room with Buster as the large gentleman in the story. Even after eight hours, however, there couldn’t have been enough carbon dioxide produced from flatus to kill Buster. Adam says that there would be more carbon dioxide produced just by breathing, and so Jamie goes into the room to check it out. After only four hours in the little room, he has already produced much more carbon dioxide than would have been produced by flatus alone. Carbon dioxide as a fatal flatus gas is BUSTED. After some number crunching by Adam, it is apparent that none of the other gasses could be produced in great enough quantities in one night to kill someone either, and so the whole idea of death by flatus is BUSTED.
The next myth involves beans. Supposedly, beans make flatus production happen more frequently. To test this, Kari, Jamie and Adam record their amounts of flatus production for three days. Kari comes up with an average of 3 episodes of flatus per day, Jamie has five episodes, and Adam has ten. Then they modify their diet, with Jamie eating only meat for a day, Kari consuming only fizzy drinks, and Adam eating beans. Then they record the results.
After 24 hours, Jamie’s flatus production has been cut in half. So, meat is BUSTED as a producer of flatus. Adam and Kari, however, both noticed an increase in episodes of flatus. So, beans and fizzy drinks are CONFIRMED producers of air salutes.
The last flatulence myth is to determine if lighting a match burns up the gasses involved, thus getting rid of the odor. They use Adam’s airtight box and Jamie’s automatic match to test this – filling the box first with hydrogen sulfide and then methyl mercaptan. When measured with the meter, neither gas is consumed by the flame at all. However, the guys then wonder if the fumes from the match are covering up the smell of the stinky gasses. So, they attach a sniff tube to the top of the box, and invite John the researcher to smell each of the gasses before the match has been lit, and then again, after the match has burned. Even though the smell of the mercaptan is lessened by the burning of the match, it is still there. So, the myth that matches either mask the smell or burn up the gasses is BUSTED as well.
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Episode Descriptions 
