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Lead Balloon/Surfing With Dynamite |
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Written by river95
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Wednesday, 26 March 2008 |
Lead Balloon/ Surfing with Dynamite
Episode # 96
Original Air Date: January 23, 2008
Lead Balloon
The Myth: You cannot make a flyable balloon out of lead.
The Experts: Jamie and Adam
Memorable/Quotable Moments:
As they are making the smaller-scale lead balloon, Adam is rubbing tape over his mustache to get rid of some of the static. Suddenly he comments:
Adam: There’s women out there who are going, “Oh I wish I was that piece of tape right now!”
Jamie: Ya think?!?
Adam: (laughing) I’m sure of it! Raise your hand!
Jamie: (laughing more)
Adam: Yeah, you!
Jamie: Gimme a break!
Rob Lee: The producers of Mythbusters are not responsible for any marital issues resulting from raised arms!
The Action/Results:
First, the guys go for a hot-air balloon ride, just to see what it would be like if they could make a lead balloon that would lift them. However, they realize that such a thing will not be feasible, and they head back to the shop to work on a model that could lift itself up, and maybe a small basket.
To test some different ideas about making the balloon, they guys make models out of aluminum foil first. Adam makes an icosahedral (20 sided) shape, and Jamie makes a sphere. They test both of them, and Jamie’s sphere actually works quite well, and floats off into the rafters. Then they have to track down some lead foil, which proves to be harder than expected. However, they finally get some, and they make a test balloon, which is burrito shaped. It doesn’t float off the table, because it doesn’t have enough helium in it. As Rob and Jamie explain, a bigger shape has more volume inside it, and so it can hold more helium. The guys plan to make a balloon that has enough volume to offset the amount of lead they will use. Adam also figures out that the lead foil is too delicate for any sort of rough handling, so he comes up with an origami-like pattern that will allow this cube-shaped balloon to unfold like a flower. Jamie builds a rig that will allow Adam to lie on a platform that is suspended over the balloon as it is being built, so that it can be taped together without anyone kneeling on the fragile fabric. Finally everything is ready, and they head off to Alameda Naval Base to put it all together.
At the base, Jamie lays out an area in which to construct the balloon. He and several other helpers make each piece one at a time, before sliding it gently over to the place where it will be put together with the other pieces. That is Adam’s job – to put all the pieces together, one at a time. Slowly the balloon comes together, and then they start inflating it. They inflate it using a mixture of air and helium, since they think that plain helium will give the balloon too much buoyancy too quickly. They inflate it from the top and the bottom at the same time, to minimize the stress on the balloon fabric. It begins to rises, and Adam dashes around, taping holes as they appear, but eventually, the holes are patched, and the balloon is, indeed, flying! They attach a small basket, with cutouts of themselves inside, and beam with pride. They have made a balloon, out of lead, and it DOES fly! Myth BUSTED!!!
Of course, after they finish flying the thing, they have to get it down. Adam pulls out a baseball bat, and hands Jamie a ball. Jamie pitches the ball to Adam, and Adam knocks a hole through the balloon. After several more holes are punched in it, it comes down in a heap. As the show ends, Jamie asks Adam “So, do you think that we could actually make a lead zeppelin?”
Surfing with Dynamite
The Myth: A “viral video” shows some surfers throwing a few sticks of dynamite into a canal and then riding the resulting wave. Is this possible?
The Experts:
Frank Doyle, honorary Mythbuster, is on hand to help blow stuff up safely.
Dr. Van Romero (Vice President of Research from New Mexico Tech) chats with Kari about what would happen if the team were to be in the water when these explosives blow.
Memorable/Quotable Moments:
Tory doing a forward flip into the tank is certainly memorable!
The Action/Results:
First, Tory builds a tank to test this in the parking lot. Then he explains how to make a “dry ice bursty bottle”, which they will use to simulate the dynamite in the video. They set off the bottle at different depths to see which one makes the best wave, and they determine that a mid-level explosion makes the most surfable waves.
The team heads to Santa Cruz for some surfing lessons, and then Kari talks with Dr. Romero about how safe this would be. He explains that the shock waves from such an explosion could cause a person to bleed to death, so they decide that this is a job for Buster. However, since Buster can’t stand, they decide to make another robot. Robo-Grant has arms that paddle, a head and legs made of AB foam, and he reclines on a 10-foot long surfboard. The real Grant remotely controls him, so that he can surf the wave safely.
Finally everything is arranged. They go to Angels Camp, where there is a quarry lake, and set up the experiment. After a few test runs to see what is the best depth at which to detonate the explosives, it is determined that 12 feet down, with 200 pounds of an explosive which is like trinitrotoluene (TNT) is just right. Frank Doyle pushes the button, and Robo-Grant starts paddling. The wave comes…but dies out before it gets to Robo-Grant. The wave dissipates too fast, and this myth is BUSTED.
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