Episode: Ancient Death Ray

Original Air Date: September 29, 2004

Myths: Ancient Death Ray, Skunk Cleaning, What is Bulletproof?

Ancient Death Ray

The Myth: Did Archimedes set fire to the Roman fleet with a solar powered death ray?

The Experts: Dr. Heather Joseph Witham says that even though Archimedes was a real person who invented many interesting things, the story of the death ray didnít even surface until eight hundred years after he lived, and so has been debated ever since.

Memorable/Quotable Moments:

Jamie: I don't see any problem here - I think we're gonna set something on fire! (said with a grin!)

Adam: (playing with hemp fiber) This is Jamie after traveling around the world in his sailboat!

The Results: Tori and Kari build half of a boat that bears some resemblance to a Roman trireme. They then caulk it with hemp, "tar", and wax, with some help from Jim Rockwell - the Mythbusters safety officer. Adam, Tori, Christine, and several others build the death ray itself, with a wooden frame and 300 adjustable mirrors. Finally, they set the experiment up. The boat floats crooked, and Jamie has to fix it, with Christine's help.  Then they lift the death ray, focus it on the boat, and take the temperature of the beam - only 200 degrees!  They try to add more heat by focusing more mirrors on it, and only raise it another hundred degrees.  They give up on the death ray and try to set fire to the boat with flaming arrows and Molotov cocktails, but that doesn't work either.  Finally they put the boat out of their misery by smushing it with the crane.

Myth Busted!

Skunked!

The Myth: Can anything get rid of skunk stink?

The Experts: Jeff Anderson from Critter Control and Regan Kuja from Animal Abatement Specialists supply skunks for the experiment, and Scottie Chapman volunteers to see if Adam and Jamie smell better after testing the products.
 

Quotable Moments:

Scottie: (to Adam) You smell like a Bloody Mary!

Jamie: (referring to the synthetic skunk scent) Odeur de skunk


The Results: The skunks did NOT want to spray!  Finally, they harassed one of the skunks enough that he sprayed Adam's shoe a bit, and the guys got doused with cold tomato sauce.  After letting Scottie do the sniff test, they decided that tomato sauce does work (PLAUSIBLE).


They couldn't get the poor skunks to spray anymore, so they tried the synthetic stuff, only to find that the scent didn't linger. They decided to test the rest of the products on the bathroom that the skunk was in.  Beer didn't work (BUSTED) and neither did douche (BUSTED). The mixture of Hydrogen Peroxide, Baking Soda and liquid dish soap worked really well (PLAUSIBLE) and commercial skunk scent remover sort of worked, as well. (PLAUSIBLE)


What is Bulletproof?

The Myth: Can bullets really be stopped by several different things?

The Experts: Jamie and Adam were their own experts on this one.
 

Quotable Moments: 

Robert Lee (Narrator): This test proves Adam would struggle to hit the side of a barn from the inside!

Jamie: Good shot, Adam!

Adam: (in little kid voice) Thank you, Uncle Jamie!

The Results: They shot a thick book with a .22 caliber rifle first.  The slug didn't go all the way through!  So, they tried a .357 Magnum, and the slug went all the way through the book and into the ballistics gel. (BUSTED)

Then they tried a deck of cards with the .22 - no problem - the bullet went right through! (BUSTED).


A Zippo lighter couldn't stand up to a bullet from the .22 either. (BUSTED).

Finally they tested the quarter-inch polycarbonate that they hid behind several times in the first season. Even though Jamie had referred to it as bulletproof before, he didn't remember it that way (sorry, Jamie!) and so they tested it anyway.  The .22 caliber bullet went right through. (BUSTED).

The last thing they tested was a polycarbonate box that was rated bullet-resistant.  The .22 did not go through.  Neither did the bullet from the .357 magnum or the bullet from the .44 magnum.  When they pulled out the Springfield 30.06, though, the test was over - it went right through. End result - the box was bulletproof until they pulled out the high-powered rifle.