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Bullets Fired Up/More Vodka Myths |
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Written by river95
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Tuesday, 21 November 2006 |
Bullets Fired Up/More Vodka Myths
Original Air Date: April 19, 2006
Episode#50
Bullets Fired Up
The Myth: If you fire a bullet straight up into the air, it can come down fast enough to kill you.
The Experts: Alan Normandy from the South San Francisco Police Department and Frank Doyle, Jr. from the FBI are both on hand to help with the bullets being fired in the early parts of the myth. Later, Dr. David G. Mohler (an international expert on bullets being fired up and injuring people) tells what he knows about bullets being fired up.
Memorable/Quotable Moments:
Adam: Nothing could be sweeter – this is science in action!
The Action/Results:
The first part of this myth is to find out how high a bullet travels before it falls back to earth. Adam decides to correlate the density of ballistics gel with the density of air, and so plans to fire a 9 mm bullet and a 30.06 bullet through ballistics gel and see how far they go. Unfortunately, the ballistics gel acts like water in that it stops higher velocity bullets more quickly than air would. So, the guys resort to finding the numbers they need from a computer simulation.
Next, Adam builds another wind tunnel to see how fast the bullets would be falling at terminal velocity. He determines that both bullets have a terminal velocity of about 150 feet per second, and that they will fall on their sides, as that is the most stable position. So, Adam fashions a shooting rig from an aluminum tube, and fires the bullets at some pigs’ heads. Both Jamie and Adam decide that, while getting hit with a bullet at that velocity would not be pleasant, it would not be lethal, either.
Then, Adam talks to Dr. Mohler. The doctor has x-rays that show bullets in one person’s leg and another person’s skull. The person who took a bullet to the skull did, in fact, die. However, the guys point out that these bullets were not fired straight up. They were fired at an angle, and landed over a mile away. So, the question remains – what happens with bullets that are fired exactly straight up?
For the final part of this test, Adam and Jamie travel out to the Mojave Desert. They have several people who are listening for the bullets to fall. They have shields for the people to duck under while they are waiting for the bullets to fall. And, they have a pretty good idea of what kind of bullet holes they will be looking for, based on the test firing of bullets into the ground. They fire a pistol straight up into the air, and listen for the bullets to fall. Eventually, they find several of these bullets, and they are lying on their sides, about 2 inches into the ground. Then they do the same thing, but with a rifle that fires the 30.06 bullets. They can’t find any of these bullets, and they wonder if they were carried away by the jet stream. Adam rigs up a test mechanism that carries 30.06 bullets to 400 feet up in a helium balloon, and then drops them. This time, they find the bullets, lying on their sides and 2 inches into the soil.
The final conclusion for this myth is Confirmed AND Plausible AND Busted. If the gun is fired absolutely straight up, the myth is busted. If, however, there is even a slight variation from firing absolutely straight, it is plausible that a bullet could hit someone, and confirmed that it did, in at least one case.
More Vodka Myths
The Myth: If you come in contact with poison oak, and you wash the area with vodka, you will not get a rash.
The Experts: none
Memorable/Quotable Moments:
Grant and Kari howling with glee when they see that John the researcher has a rash from poison oak!
The Action/Results:
Kari, Tory and Grant go out to get some poison oak. They gather a sack full, and then it is up to Tory to start this myth. He marks three areas on his arm – one for testing the vodka, one for testing the commercial balm, and one for a control, where they will do nothing. Then it is time for the poison oak. Tory rubs it all over the test area, and then he applies the balm in one area and the vodka in another. Unfortunately, he finds out later that he no longer is allergic to poison oak!
So, they do the same thing to Adam. After a few days, however, they find out that Adam is not reacting either. So, they move on to Grant. Grant also has no reaction, and the team begins to wonder if they can find anyone who will react! Finally, they test Alice Dallow (who is one of the producers), John Hunt (a researcher), and a blonde lady who shall remain nameless for the moment! Finally they get a result! Grant and Kari whoop in triumph when they see John’s arm, which quite clearly shows that vodka and the control portion are covered with the same amount of rash, and the area treated with the balm is clear. Myth Busted!
The Second Myth:
Vodka can be used externally to painlessly remove adhesive bandages.
The Experts: none
Memorable/Quotable Moments:
Grant’s howl of anguish when Tory rips the bandage off!
The Action/Results:
Grant offers up his legs to test this one. They put two identical adhesive bandages on Grant’s lower legs – one on each leg. One bandage is the control, and the other bandage is covered with a cloth, and vodka is poured onto it. After a few minutes to let the vodka soak in, Tory yanks the bandages off of Grant’s legs. The control bandage gets a pain rating of 6 or 7 from Grant, while the vodka soaked bandage gets a pain rating of 4. There is no hair on the vodka soaked bandage, leading the team to conclude that this one is PLAUSIBLE.
The Third Myth:
Can you change low end vodka into top shelf vodka by filtering it through water filters six times?
The Experts: Anthony Dias Blue – Vodka Expert
Memorable/Quotable Moments:
Kari (to Jamie): I’m wondering if you might have contaminated the experiment by mixing on the mustache?
Jamie: Either that, or they’re actually very sensitive and able to pick up on subtle variations in the chemistry of the vodka!
The Action/Results:
Kari, Jamie, and Anthony get together to test this one. They each have eight shot glasses. Each glass is filled with either low end vodka, top shelf vodka, or one of the six filtrations mentioned in the myth. Each person must rank the vodkas from worst to best.
Kari tries her best, but manages to rank the top shelf vodka as the second worst. Jamie comes pretty close, and has most of the drinks in the correct order. Anthony, being the professional, nails it! So, what does the professional say about this myth? He says that you can make low end vodka taste better by filtering it, but you cannot turn it into top shelf vodka.
Myth Busted
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Episode Descriptions 