|
Hindenburg Skin/Croc Zig Zag |
|
|
|
|
Written by river95
|
|
Monday, 19 February 2007 |
Hindenburg Skin/Croc Zig-Zag
Original Air Date: January 10, 2007
Episode # 70
Hindenburg Skin
The Myth: The Hindenburg exploded because of the aluminum powder and the iron oxide in the dope used to paint the airship, not because of the hydrogen in the ship.
The Expert: Dr. Addison Bain, a former NASA scientist, suggested this explanation.
Memorable/Quotable Moments:
Adam: Duderonomy! (when the megadope erupts into flame)
Jamie: I love the smell of thermite in the afternoon!
Adam: (explaining the makeup of thermite) This ingredient is made of blur, and this has some blur in it too. Blur is very dangerous – you don’t want to mix blur with blur.
The Action/Results:
Rob reports that the skin of the Hindenburg was 100% cotton cloth. The skin on the bottom part of the Hindenburg was treated with three coats of aluminum powder and butyrate dope. The top half of the Hindenburg had a coat of butyrate and iron oxide, and then three coats of butyrate and aluminum powder. Aluminum powder plus iron oxide and a few other things make thermite, which is a highly dangerous chemical, as Adam demonstrates when he mixes up a batch! As his computerized badge says, “Please don’t try this at home!”
So, Jamie takes samples of the cloth and puts them on aluminum frames. One sample is left plain, and others are treated with the formula for the bottom of the Hindenburg, and the top of the Hindenburg. Jamie also makes a “megadope” solution with thermite in it, just for comparison purposes.
The untreated cotton burns in five minutes and twenty-five seconds. The bottom sample burns in two minutes and twenty-six seconds, and the top sample takes five minutes and thirty seconds to burn. The “megadope” sample takes a bit to get started but then it is gone in twenty seconds!
After this test, the guys decide to see if adding hydrogen to the sample makes any difference in the burn time. Adam makes a small box, puts the dope-treated cloth over the top of it, and adds the flame. It explodes, and Adam looks around in shock, before asking everyone if they are ok!
They decide to go to some more realistic scale experiments, and they build 1/50th scale models of the Hindenburg. They build three models, one with the correct skin but without hydrogen going into it, one with the correct skin but with the hydrogen, and one with the “megadope” skin and hydrogen. The first model burns in two minutes and six seconds. They do see some thermite reactions, but the burn time is still too slow. The second model, with the hydrogen added, is much faster, and burns completely in fifty-nine seconds. The guys conclude that the original footage of the real Hindenburg burning is quite similar to what they are seeing in front of them. This myth is BUSTED, because it is not just the skin that contributed to the burning, but the hydrogen had something to do with it as well. Then, just for fun, they burn the “megadope” model with hydrogen. It goes up in thirty seconds!
Croc Zig-Zag
The Myth: You can escape from an attacking crocodile by running in zig-zags.
The Expert: John Brueggen (Director – St, Augustine Alligator Farm) does not think that the myth is true.
Memorable/Quotable Moments:
Grant: (yelling to Kari when she is tempting the alligator with the quail) You’re the most popular girl in the lagoon!
Tory: I don’t know if she’s more afraid of the alligator or the bird!
The Action/Results:
First, Kari makes a foam bust of Buster to use for the top half of the zig zag rig. Then she contributes some fishnet stockings, which are stuffed with whole, frozen quail, so that they are appetizing to the crocodiles. This foam contraption is then mounted on a rig that slides forward and moves side to side at the same time, simulating running in a zig zag.
Then, the build team run zig zags on a grid made of tape. They film themselves doing this, so that Grant can then calculate how fast the dummy should move when it is running zig zags. The average speed turns out to be about five miles per hour. They pack their bags and head off to Florida to test the rig with real crocodiles and alligators.
At the St. Augustine Alligator Farm, they set up to test this myth with Cuban crocodiles. They get the dummy right in front of the crocodile, and they jiggle it’s legs, but the crocodile isn’t interested. Then they put the quail on Deadblow (Grant’s combat robot) and drive it to the edge of the crocodile’s habitat. Still nothing. Tory then gets dressed in the Red Man Suit and tries to provoke the crocodiles to chase him. They do lunge at him, but they don’t chase at all. They decide to see if alligators are more willing to chase than crocodiles, and Grant and Kari both get a turn at luring the alligators to follow them with the dead quail. The alligators do follow, but they don’t really make sharp zig zag turns, and they aren’t going fast at all.
In the end, the team reports that crocodiles and alligators are ambush predators, and they just don’t chase people. Grant concludes, “It’s ridiculous, and what’s more – it’s BUSTED.”
|
|
|
Episode Descriptions 