|
Episode: Killer Quicksand Original Air Date: October 20, 2004 Myths: Killer Quicksand, Appliances in the Bath, Exploding Tattoos
Appliances in the Bath
The Myth: Dropping electrical appliances in the bathtub can kill you!
The Experts: Jamie and Adam get some help from some unnamed electricians for this one, but basically, they are on their own.
Quotable Moments: Adam: Is there a patron saint of ballistics gel?
Jamie: This one is as dead as a dodo!
Adam: And now the iron or, as we refer to it around here, fiero de los muertos!
The Action/Results: Jamie and Adam go off to Thrift Town to find some appliances to drop in the bathtub. Meanwhile, Tory and Christine get to build a bathroom, complete with a toilet, a tub, and a collapsing shelf above the tub. After a bit of confusion about how much resistance the human body has, and a recalculation of how many milliamps it takes to electrocute someone, they are ready.
Hair dryers, toasters, and irons all proved to be lethal additions to the bathtub. Adding bubble bath reduces the conductivity somewhat, but not enough to make it safe to bathe with your toaster. Epsom salts and fake urine increased the conductivity.
To sum it up, in the boys' own words:
Jamie: You can definitely die in you drop an appliance into the tub.
Adam: Oh, absolutely, and surprisingly, it actually turns out that the location of where the appliance falls in the bathtub really has a strong effect on the severity of the shock you'd get.
Jamie: And what's in the water will determine how quickly you'd die.
End result: Myth Confirmed
Killer Quicksand
The Myth: Does killer quicksand exist? Can it suck you under?
The Experts: Thomas Holtzer, an Engineering Geologist, pronounces the sand that Jamie and Adam have chosen to be "as good as it gets" for making quicksand.
Quotable Moments: Adam: That was really satisfying! (after cutting the big tank down to size)
Jamie: Drown, you b@#$#@#! (said with a grin, while trying to sink Adam)
Adam: This is more fun than should be allowed! (while trying to sink Jamie)
The Action/Results: First, the boys test several different types of sand in small scale rigs with five gallon buckets. After determining that Jamie sinks best in the fine grained or "sugar" sand, they order 20,000 pounds of the stuff. Then they cut the big tank (last seen in the Scuba Diver/Forest Fire episode) down to size. After a small disagreement about how to fill the tank (fire hose vs. garden hose), they are finally ready to go.
Jamie, Christine, and Adam all take turns in the tank. They sink to about chest level, and then bob around without going any further. Even when Adam laughingly tries to sink Jamie, it can't be done.
End Result: Myth Busted
Exploding Tattoos:
The Myth: MRI machines can make tattoos explode!
The Experts: Fergus Coakley - Chief of Abdominal Imaging at UCSF - states that maybe one or two people out of a hundred might have some sort of minor reaction on their tattoo while in an MRI machine.
Mattie - Scottie's friend, who tattooed her arm, helps Kari tattoo the pork belly
The Action/Results: The build team tackles the exploding tattoo myth by trying several different experiments. First, after some fast talking by Adam, Scottie is persuaded to undergo an MRI herself, to see if her tattoos react. They don't, so the next step is to test the dyes and pigments that the tattoos are made from. The only pigment that reacts at all to an electromagnet is the iron oxide, so they decide to put that in the MRI. Before they can even insert it, however, the entire container is pulled right into the middle of the machine! Encouraged, Tory makes up a super-thick batch of iron oxide dye to use. Mattie, Scottie's friend, helps Kari to tattoo some pieces of pork belly - one with the super iron oxide dye, and one with regular iron oxide dye. Both pieces show up with abnormalities in the scan, but there is no swelling or redness, no leaching of the dye, and certainly no explosion.
End Result: Myth Busted |
Episode Descriptions 
