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Crimes and Mythdemeanors Part II |
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Written by Lnix
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Saturday, 02 September 2006 |
Crimes & Mythdemeanors II
Episode # 59
Original air date 8/23/06
CRIMES & MYTHDEMEANORS II
The Myths: Jamie, Adam & the build team will test real world security systems such as; Fingerprint Door Lock, Thermal Alarm and Ultrasonic Motion Detector. Jamie & Adam will also try to replicate a safe cracking method seen in the movie The Score.
The Expert: Frank Doyle, retired FBI agent and explosions expert
Memorable/Quotable Moments:
Adam: ‘You know, I don’t enjoy the explosion as much as I like the aftermath!”
Action/Results:
Fingerprint door lock
Grant installs the door lock which is meant to only recognize, and open with, his thumbprint. The lock also tests for “live-ness” by measuring temperature, pulse rate & galvanic skin response. The manufacturer insists no one has ever beaten the scanner. Jamie & Adam must obtain a copy of Grant’s thumbprint & convert it into something that will open the door. They determine the likeliest way to accomplish this is to use super glue fumes to reveal the detailed loops and whorls of Grant’s lifted thumbprint and dust that impression with fingerprint powder. Grant’s thumbprint is obtained using secret agent Kari & the boys get to work. The thumbprint’s image is scanned & printed onto acetate. In a Hyneman Moment of Genius ™ , Jamie realizes he can further enhance the fingerprint image by going over the lines with a marker. The acetate is etched by a process onto a copper covered circuit board, then submersed in acid which dissolves the copper but leaves an etch of the thumbprint. A casting is taken of this etching using ballistics gel which has properties similar to human skin.
Adam makes a latex copy of Grant’s etched fingerprint that he can put over his own finger to defeat the lock’s temperature, pulse & skin response features. After a few false starts, Adam tries licking the latex fingerprint and he’s in! Jamie’s ballistics gel fingerprint also defeats the lock as does just a licked piece of copy paper with an image of Grant’s fingerprint on it. The undefeatable door lock has been thoroughly defeated. Fingerprint Door Lock myth busted.
Thermal Alarm is an alarm triggered by temperature. The sensor’s camera takes a snapshot of the thermal energy in a room and the alarm is triggered by a significant increase in temperature. Grant, Tory & Kari use a thermal camera to measure Tory’s thermal output which needs to register the same as room temperature to defeat the alarm.
First up, Kari blasts Tory head to toe with a fire extinguisher to lower his body temp The CO2 doesn’t provide a consistent spray or maintain its temperature and Tory sets off the motion sensor immediately. Next Tory dons a wetsuit, the neoprene should theoretically prevent his body heat from escaping. On the thermal camera Tory disappears, Ninja style, as the wetsuit goes on. His heat begins to transfer to the suit and, while he makes it farther into the protected room, he still activates the alarm.
The third attempt (inspired by the Predator movies) involves covering Tory head to toe in mud to mask his thermal signature and defeat the sensor. The mud, like the neoprene, warms up fast and Tory sets off the alarm. He also makes a huge squishy mess in the process. For the fourth attempt, the temperature of the room itself will be raised with a portable heater directed down the ceiling vent. If they can get the room the same temp as body heat, Grant should be able to drop in undetected. The sensor, however, detects the wave of heat coming from above and triggers the alarm. The heater is then brought to ground level and turned to low to try to more gradually increase the room’s heat. Grant figures that while the room might get to human body temp, his own clothes won’t so he makes the ultimate sacrifice to get (mostly) naked…for science. The room gradually heats to 98 degrees, Grant only gets his lower legs into the room when the alarm is triggered. The fifth attempt involves a pane of glass. While visible light passes through glass easily, infrared is mostly blocked and will make an excellent shield to defeat the thermal motion sensor. The glass works like a charm on the thermal camera, rendering Tory invisible. Grant builds a glass holding clamp and Kari places a frame of glass over the sensor itself. Once the sensor is covered, she & Grant are able to drop into the room undetected. Thermal motion sensor busted.
Ultrasonic motion sensor- This alarm system sends out a high frequency sound wave which bounces off all the walls in a room & comes back to a receiver in the sensor to create an established pattern. Anything disturbing the pattern will trip the sensor & activate the alarm. The first attempt to defeat the sensor will involve using fabric to absorb the sound waves. Kari buys some thick, fluffy, yellow fabric & makes the goofiest imaginable full body suit out of it. She makes it pretty far into the room but sets off the alarm anyway. She then grabs just a plain old bed sheet, holds it over her head and…makes it all the way through! Ultrasonic motion sensor busted! Just for grins they also try the method of walking really slowly to subvert the motion sensor’s threshold. Kari inches her way through the room and 20 minutes later makes it through without activating the alarm. Ultrasonic motion sensor busted times 2
Water safe
Adam & Jamie want to recreate a safe breaking technique from the movie “The Score”. The safe in question is equipped with an anti-theft device called a “glass re-locker”. This device consists of a fragile pane of glass behind the door that, when jarred or broken, activates a set of bolts and locks rendering the safe impenetrable. In the movie this type of safe is defeated by drilling a hole in the top, filling the safe with water, dropping a depth charge and blowing the door off. Grant locates a big safe with a glass re-locker. The research team finds the guys a nice bunker in a sewage treatment plant to replicate the explosion and a familiar face, retired FBI agent & explosives expert Frank Doyle stops by to assist. The safe is loaded with booty-, a scepter and some piles of fake money,
The movie replication involved 5 steps
Step 1- Bore a hole though the top of the safe with a thermal lance
This step takes Adam way longer than the movie, he uses a dozen or so thermal
rods & burns everything in his path including the cash, the scepter & his own
shoes.
Step 2- Fill the safe with water. The water pours out the bottom of the safe. Jamie &
Adam are unable to plug the leaks from the outside of the safe so they seal it
with foam from the inside and are then able to fill the safe with water.
SCIENCE CONTENT! What does the water do to the explosion? The water does not compress when the explosive detonates, it provides dynamic energy that pushes evenly on all sides, concentrating the distribution and transferring the shockwave more effectively.
Step 3- Lower explosives into the safe. The blast shields are put in place & Frank inserts
the depth charge into the water filled tank
Step 4- Blow the door off the safe. There is a satisfying explosion and the safe & its
door violently go their separate ways. The hinges of the safe have been blown to
smithereens and the glass re-lock has been defeated.
Step 5- Get money, run. The cash & the scepter are in charred pieces but still mostly
intact.
The myth, which may be based on an actual robbery from the 1950’s, is declared plausible.
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Episode Descriptions 