Episode: Exploding JawBreaker

Original Air Date: October 27, 2004

Myths: Exploding JawBreaker, Killer Deck of Cards, Static Cannon

Exploding Jawbreaker

Myth:  After being heated in the microwave, jawbreakers exploded in people's mouths.

Two examples were cited, proving that this actually has happened.  The Mythbusters want to find out what caused this phenomenon.  Jamie saws a jawbreaker in half, revealing many different candy layers. His first guess is that each layer heats up at different rates.

Tori builds a set of steel false teeth, rigged to bite with a force of 170 lbs.  They try different combinations of heating, then cooling, then pressure.  They get a jawbreaker to explode, with alarming results: Christine and Adam are hit and burned by flying molten candy!

Perhaps the candy explodes as a result of a chemical reaction. Four samples are put together: two of caustic soda and jawbreaker mixture, and two of caustic soda and ascorbic acid mixture. One sample of each is mixed with water, one sample each is heated.  The heated soda/candy mixture proves combustible, as did the wed soda/acid mixture.

One last test: a jawbreaker in its wrapper is put in a toaster oven. When "bitten," nothing happened.  But when they took it out of the package, it was hard outside but molten inside, making it potentially harmful.

Myth: Confirmed!!  With several different affirmative explanations.

Killer Deck of Cards

Myth:  An ordinary playing card can become an instrument of Death!

Adam reveals yet another skill: he can fling playing cards with some precision, up to 25 miles per hour. Rickey Jay, a slight-of-hand expert is brought in to help. He can throw cards 200 feet, at speeds up to almost 90 mph!

The guys need to build a card throwing machine, and come up with different ways. Adam constructed a bionic arm, and Jamie built a mini pitching machine.

Jamie: "Simpler is always better."

Jamie's machine is throwing cards at 70 mph, but the rubber wheels canít take it.  They are replaced by metal wheels, and the cards fly 150 mph now.  When shot at a cube of ballistics gel, the cards only penetrate 1/2 inch deep.  When Adam throws the cards, they only slice 1/4 inch. Jamie puts his own body to the test. The pitching machine actually kicked his skin, and drew blood a few times, but nothing worse.

Myth:  Busted!!

Static Cannon
Myth:  a construction worker finds a length of 8 inch PVC pipe all covered with paint. He sand blasts it to clean it up, building an electrical charge within it. He walks around the pipe to get another tool, and the pipe unloads its charge on him.

Jamie and Adam set up a length of pipe, and insulate it by placing it on glass blocks and wooden sawhorses.  Adam sandblasts the tube to try to create a charge. Jamie uses a copper hand against the tube, but thereís no spark.

Jamie decided that they weren't going to get the pipe to work, so he goes in search of what will create a spark.  He and the build team make a homemade Van de Graff generator - that works!  However, the major result is mostly Tom foolery.  Adam is still trying to get the pipe to shock. He tries spraying metallic paint inside and out, to create a Leyden Jar, but still no spark.  They decide that sandblasting the pipe actually made for a more humid atmosphere, and helped dissipate any electricity.

Myth:  Busted!!