Episode# 91
Supersize Special
OAD: November 14, 2007

Supersize Special

Supersize Sharks

The Expert:
Merlin the dolphin shows Jamie and Adam his moves.

Memorable/Quotable Moments:
Jamie: Here, fishy, fishy, fishy.

Adam: This could just be a nice little boat ride, or I could be on a waterborne vomitorium.

Jamie dancing in the shark cage.

The Action/Results:
Jamie and Adam have two myths to test for this part of the special.  The first myth: are sharks attracted to low-frequency underwater sounds?  The second: are sharks afraid of dolphins?

For the second myth, the guys will need to build an animatronic dolphin for safety reasons.  After seeing how Merlin moves through his pool, Adam heads back to the shop to sculpt a dolphin body from open cell upholstery foam.  Jamie uses an electric drill and some bike chain to make the tail move like Merlin’s.  After some dialing-in of the speed, and a little gray spray paint, the guys have a fake dolphin that will move like the real thing.  Their dolphin is packed up, and they head to South Africa.

Their test site is off the shore of animal sanctuary Seal Island.  On their first visit, Jamie and Adam are just hoping to get a feel for the shark activity.  Adam soon learns that South African antinausea remedies aren’t up to the task of keeping his breakfast down, but before his seasickness kicks in both he and Jamie see great white sharks leaping out of the water to grab the decoys.  Jamie decides to take a closer look, dons his scuba gear, and goes into the shark cage.  Some more bait is thrown out, and Jamie gets a closer look than he’d expected as one great white rams his cage and gets part of its head inside.

The next day, Adam has some different seasickness medications, and the guys are ready to start testing.  Some underwater speakers are lowered over the side of their boat.  Adam will broadcast various sounds over the speakers; Jamie will be in the shark cage watching for any shark activity.  The speakers are tested successfully with the MythBusters theme music, and the test gets under way.  According to the myth, a 40-hertz tone matches the sounds/vibrations given off by a wounded fish or sea mammal.  So, Adam starts with 10 minutes of 40-hertz hum, but Jamie reports no shark activity.  Adam then tries sweeping back and forth from 0 to 40 hertz, but there’s still no reaction.  They finally try high-pitched sound, instead of low-pitched ... and a great white comes by to see what’s going on.

There is a chance, though, that the shark was responding to Jamie’s presence, not the sounds.  The tests are rerun, this time with no one in the water.  No one on the boat can see any shark activity during any of this set of tests.  This myth is ruled BUSTED.

It’s time to uncrate their “dolphin” for the second myth.  For the first tests, the fake dolphin and a seal decoy (a silhouette cut from carpeting) will be towed behind the boat.  The decoy alone is promptly attacked, but when the dolphin goes in the water the sharks leave both of them alone.  Sharks can be seen swimming up to investigate, but they don’t come close to the decoy.

A second set of tests uses tuna heads instead of fake seals.  The dolphin is on a longer tow line for these tests; Jamie will pull the dolphin in close when a shark comes near the fish lure.  No sharks strike at the tuna until the dolphin is removed from the water.  Saying the sharks were afraid of the dolphin may be going too far, but it certainly acted as a deterrent, so this myth is ruled PLAUSIBLE.

Supersize Jet Taxi

The Expert:
Phillip Pinter operates the plane for these tests.

Memorable/Quotable Moments:
Tory “guiding” the 747 into position.

Grant: I love that sound!  That’s the sound of destruction!

The Action/Results:
The original “Jet Taxi” tests were cancelled at the last minute by the insurance company.  Finally, they’ve found someone willing to let the team give this myth a true test.  Kalitta Air, a freight company in Michigan, has offered one of their 747s, and the build team heads to Michigan.

For the first test, a car is repainted in taxi colors.  The plane is parked at the end of a runway, and the engines brought up to full power.  The car is then towed 100 feet behind the engines, and goes tumbling across the grass.  The camera they’d mounted inside the car is immediately destroyed by the jet blast.  After years, this myth is finally CONFIRMED ... but why stop here?  It’s the Supersize Special, after all.  Next, a donated school bus is moved into position.  Grant points out that many airports use buses to move passengers between terminals, so this could happen in reality if a driver took a wrong turn.  The bus is lifted off the ground by the jet blast, and while it doesn’t look like it tumbled as far as the taxi it certainly tumbled far enough to crush the roof.  Finally, a small plane is brought in.  Just to be safe, this tow run is done at 120’ instead of 100.  The plane promptly flips over and skids across the grass.  Basically, being behind a jet airplane with running engines is a very bad idea.

Supersize Rocket Car

The Expert:
Eric Gates comes back for more rocket fun.

Memorable/Quotable Moments:
Jamie: Go ahead, tailgate.  See if I care.

Adam: Scottie, there’s no difference between this and any other run.
Scottie: Only that something highly explosive is behind me.

The Action/Results:
In the original “JATO Car”, Adam and Jamie recreated the myth.  Now it’s time to replicate the result, and get a ’67 Chevy Impala airborne.

The original Impala is long since departed, so the researchers find another one.  Adam gets Cris to help him make a one-sixth scale model in hard foam.  Adam uses this to vacuform several Impala bodies for small-scale testing.  Meanwhile, Jamie takes their new Impala out to be weighed – their models will have to have the same center of gravity as the real thing, or the small-scale tests won’t give them usable data.

The model Impalas and some rocket motors are taken to the old hanger we’ve seen in other episodes.  Jamie puts a ramp together, the Impala is mounted on a remote control car chassis, and rockets are mounted on the roof just like the original.  When the rockets are fired, though, the car goes spinning out of control.  After a few tries, Jamie suggests moving the rocket engine to the back of the car.  This modification and a larger engine send the Impala straight up the ramp and out the back of the hanger.  For the full-scale test, the rockets will be pushing directly behind the car.

Building the rockets (ammonium perchlorate, with 10,000 pounds of thrust) is sent off for professionals to handle.  Jamie modifies the Impala’s trunk to take the rockets, and adds enough weights to the engine compartment to keep the center of gravity the same.  Everyone heads off to the desert, where they meet up with former MythBuster Scottie.

Scottie cuts two shipping containers on a diagonal.  The four halves are lined up side by side to form a ramp, and the ramp surface is covered in fiberboard.  The myth says the Impala was moving when the JATO was lit.  This time, instead of a R/C rig, they set up a cable and pulley tow rig (like the one used in “Compact Compact”).  Adam strings some surgical tubing to hold the steering wheel steady.  Scottie drives the tow pickup for some test runs, and once they’re certain the car will stay on a straight line everyone gets into position.  Scottie starts the final tow, the rockets are lit, and then the rockets explode.  Momentum carries the Impala over the ramp, but it doesn’t really count as a launch.  This didn’t answer any of the questions about the myth, so the only verdict they can give is Myth SUPERSIZED.

Supersize Cruise Ship Water Skiing

The Experts:
Willi Ellermeier gives Tory some lessons.

The Action/Results:
This is a fansite request – can you water ski behind a cruise ship?  Tory is elected to try this one, as he’s had at least a little water skiing experience.  He chooses to do this with a wakeboard instead of skis, though.

The cruise ship will be going at 14 knots, or about 18 MPH, when it gets to speed.  Tory won’t be able to start out behind the liner; he’ll have to switch from a tow rope on a motorboat to one on the liner.  Working with Willi Ellermeier (the same person who taught Jamie to ski behind a rowing shell), Tory gets to the point where he can make the switch at least some of the time.

For the test, the team heads to the Bahamas.  Captain Stavros Kontas will be taking Tory for a wakeboarding spin behind the “Regal Empress”.  Since one problem Tory had in practice was seeing the rope in the wake, Grant sets up a colored rope on the stern of the Empress.  The team transfers to a motorboat, and meet the Empress out at sea.

Once the liner is at 14 knots, Tory gets into position.  The motorboat brings Tory in close to the rope, but on the first try Tory misses the switch and falls.  On the second try, Tory manages to hold onto the liner’s tow rope and wakeboard behind it.  Myth CONFIRMED.