All language subtitles for Mythbusters.S15E01.The.Simpsons.Special.1080p.AMZN.WEBRip.DD2.0.x264-CasStudio_track3_[eng]

[ TV playing ]

Seen it.

[ Sighs ]

Definitely no.

[ Burps ]

[Laughing] No.

[ Laughing on TV ]

No.

Nope.

Boring.

So many channels,
and nothing's on.

Narrator:
Welcome to "mythcrackers."

Huh. [ Chuckles ]

[ Ding! ]

That was fun,
being on that show.

What was it we were trying
to prove again?

Don't know.

Don't care.

[ Humming ]

Blow it up!

But you know, i was thinking.

If we did their show,
shouldn't they do our show?

A "Simpsons" special?

Absolutely.

[ Chuckles ]

Let's do it.

* the Simpsons *

captions by vitac...
www.Vitac.Com

captions paid for by
discovery communications

hi.
Hey.

Who's this?

It's al Jean.

Okay.

Hi, al.
Pleased to meet you.

Jamie, it's al Jean.

I'm sorry?

The executive producer
and the showrunner

of the best animated series ever

and the longest-running
scripted show on television,

"the Simpsons."

Oh, "the Simpsons."

Welcome, al.

You were thinking
"south park."

[ Laughter ]

So, are we gonna be animating?

No.

Look, their writing staff

is packed with science
and math geeks, right?

110% percent.

And they try and hold to
the laws of physics, right?

Yeah.

Conservation of mass,
it's the law.

Ish.

We're gonna do a couple of
stories from "the Simpsons."

Like what?

Okay, we've got one where
Bart throws a lit cherry bomb

into the sewer system of
the school

and turns all of the toilets
in the school into geysers.

One of my favorite episodes,
"the crepes of wrath."

Okay, that works.
What else?

We have another one where
homer protects his house

from a 5,000-pound
wrecking ball

by putting his body between
the wrecking ball and the house.

So, cartoon physics
in the real world.

That's Jamie excited.

He's excited to get out
of this room.

Yeah, probably.

Now, it is one thing to look
at physics from the movie world

and see how realistic they are
in the real world.

It's another entirely
to try that with a cartoon.

And in investigating
homer versus the wrecking ball,

Jamie's tackling
the wrecking ball.

Aah!

And I've got to build
a full-size homer

with all the same dimensions,
body mass and water content...

as if homer was a real person.

Narrator: Yep.

To determine
the kinetic energy implications

of homer's heroic intervention,

the size and mass of
the key animated elements

have to be accurately translated

from Springfield
to the real world.

So, al, we really strive

to be as accurate as possible
on this show.

So I'm hoping you can supply us

with some real-world
dimensions of homer.

Lights.

How tall is he?

Well, you have to be
really accurate.

He's 5'11", and that's what
the animators always use.

What about his shoe size?
11½.

Those are almost exactly
my dimensions.

Well, the good news for you

is you have less stomach
and more hair.

[ Chuckles ]

Speaking of his stomach,

how much does homer
actually weigh?

Well, about 240,
but we think 239 is funnier.

So 239.

[ Laughs ]

Ladies and gentlemen,
this is homer Simpson full size.

Al, thank you so much.

I'm gonna leave you alone
with the doughnuts.

They'll be gone
when you're back.

Mm, doughnuts.

Narrator:
Armed with homer's exact specs,

Adam commences the construction
of an animated American icon.

[ Chanting ] U.S.A.!

U.S.A.!

Starting with upholstery foam...

That's pretty good.

Adam utilizes a method

with familiar,
family-friendly results.

Adam:
This technique that I'm using

of gluing an open-cell
urethane foam to itself

is referred to as
additive foam building

because, instead of casting
and mold-making inflexible foam,

I'm physically building
the parts that i need

out of sheet foam.

What you might not know,

this is how all your muppets
were made.

Yep, same technique.

There we go.

Do i look like homer at all?

Hi.

What? [ Laughs ]

Ha!

Narrator: With the arms
starting to take shape,

it's on to homer's
famously tubby torso.

One, two, three, four, and five.

Doesn't look like much,
but that's gonna be homer soon.

Narrator: A series of
cylindrical discs glued together

form the tapered shape.

Yeah!

Narrator: The human-like mass
and density will come later.

For now,
Adam's immersed in his art.

This is what we call
a shop shower.

[ Air hissing ]

[ Laughs ]

Narrator: Next, the arms are
attached to shoulder joints.

Adam: [ Chuckles ]

Narrator:
And the legs are measured,
cut, and positioned...

Whoo-hoo!
On the posterior.

That's it, ladies and gentlemen.

Narrator:
And, with those foam pieces
of the puzzle in place...

Adam: All right.

I'm pretty happy with that.

That's lookin' a lot like homer.

Narrator: Adam heads out
for help with homer's head.

This is the center

of what used to be
industrial light and magic.

Now, behind that blue door

is legendary machinist
merrick Cheney,

who built armatures for
the stop-motion films

"nightmare before Christmas"
and a million other movies.

And he is going to help us get
homer's head screwed on right.

So, merrick,
how is this gonna work?

So, we've taken your model
of homer's head.

I've converted it
into a machinable file.

And I've cut it up
into, like, eight chunks.

That is cool.

And they all fit together

kind of like
a three-dimensional puzzle.

Narrator:
And that eight-piece puzzle
will form a central cavity,

a negative space mold of homer's
ironically large cranium.

Narrator: While Adam waits
for all eight,

the hyneman has been concocting
an ingenious plan.

Jamie:
In the cartoon, homer appears
to be on a wrecking ball

that's about as tall as he is.

And, because it's so much larger
than a real-world wrecking ball,

I've got to make my own.

And that's not exactly
an easy task.

But I've got an idea.

Easy as pi.

Narrator:
The task at hand is to build
a custom wrecking ball

the same dimensions
as the one in the clip

but weighing in
at a realistic 5,000 pounds.

Heh, so, are you starting to get
the picture?

Narrator: It's a unique
manufacturing assignment

the hyneman is tackling
in his own unique way.

[ Dog barking ]

Jamie:
There are a lot different ways
of making a big, heavy ball.

But the quickest and easiest way
i know of to do it

would be with
steel-reinforced concrete.

Now, to do that,
you need a mold.

And I've come up with an idea

of creating what amounts to
a hemispherical-shaped auger

that i can Chuck onto the back
of some earth-moving equipment

and dig two hemispherical holes
right in the ground.

We pour our concrete in there
around a steel armature,

let it cure, put them together,

and you got a ball...
One big-ass, heavy ball.

Narrator: Yep.

To make two
hemispherical molds...

It's working.

Narrator: For the two halves
of the concrete wrecking ball...

That's what I'm talkin' about.

Narrator: Jamie's designed
and constructed

a one-of-a-kind tool.

Jamie:
This is workin' great.

[ Laughs ]

[ Laughs ]

Next!

The rig didn't break.

It's made a nice,
symmetrical half-sphere.

It's clearly solid enough
to have concrete poured in it...

It's perfect!

Which is what's gonna happen
pretty much next.

Oh, look at that.

Narrator: The steel armature
made back at the shop

will provide structure
for the concrete half-shells.

And you could say
the hyneman is happy.

This is working
exactly like i had in mind.

Normally, if you want to make
a big sphere like this,

you'd start off
with a big chunk of foam.

You'd carve it into a sphere.

Our little hoes are perfect.

You'd put fiberglass over it.

And then, you'd make another
mold of the interior cavity.

And it'd take several people
pretty much all week long

just to accomplish this.

Instead of doing that,
we just dug a hole.

I'm just sayin'.

Narrator: With the concrete
shaped and edged

with matching seams,

phase one of Jamie's big ball
is complete.

Jamie: Now, that has to sit
for about a week and a half.

And then, we're gonna pull
that one out,

turn it upside down
and put it on top of this one.

And we'll bond
the two things together,

and we've got a wrecking ball.

Narrator:
With two weeks before Jamie
can wreak wrecking ball havoc,

it's back to the shop

for part two
of this Springfield spectacular.

So, what's next?

Toilet bomb.

Al, you want to do the honors?
Thank you, Adam.

Well, in one of the
earlier episodes
of "the Simpsons,"

Bart flushes a cherry bomb
down the toilet.

[ Laughs ]
So long, sucker!

And it immediately sends
geysers of water

shooting out of every toilet
on the block.

[ Explosion ]

Woman: Aah!

So, explosives and toilets...

I'm thinking we should start
small scale.

I totally agree.

I am licensed to drive this.

Whoa, whoop.

The myth is that an explosion

will travel
through a plumbing system,

causing multiple geysers
out of the toilets.

[ Explosion ]

That's the bowl.

And that's
where the magic happens.

And, to test that,
we're gonna do three things.

Number one,

I'm gonna make three
transparent, working toilets,

so we can really see what
happens when things go boom.

Number two...
[ Chuckles ]

Number two,
I'm gonna connect them

with an accurate
waste-disposal system.

Two more like that,
i think we're good to go.

And finally,
we're going to be introducing

a cherry bomb-like explosion
into that system.

And, well, then,
we're gonna see what we see.

Narrator: Re-creating
Springfield elementary's

plumbing system
sounds elementary...

Melting my brain.

Narrator:
But it's anything but.

Wah!

I'm trying to work out
how to do this.

And, because I'm molding it,

effectively, i have to think
upside down and backwards.

So, the negative space here
you see,

I'm going to fill
with a stone plaster

so that,
when the stone plaster sets,

I'll pull out all the bead foam,

and I'll be left with
a toilet negative, the front,

to which, i will mount
a piece of acrylic...

Excellent.

So that we can see
what's happening in the toilet.

It's gonna be frickin' awesome.

Narrator:
And, after the plaster is set,

the negative space molds
are removed...

Okay, one.

Narrator:
To reveal the bowls.

Number two.

[ Laughs ]

Number two... get it?

'Cause in a... Never mind.

Narrator: And, once they're
cleaned up and dried out...

[ Hair dryer whirring ]

It's a little bit of an oven.

Narrator: Adam mounts them

and seals the system

with a transparent sheet
of half-inch acrylic.

I get excited
about a good experimental rig.

I think it's time
to flush a toilet.

[ Laughs ]
So long, sucker!

Adam: I want to watch
one of these work right now.

We think of toilets as, like,
there's water,

and it's water all the way down,
but it's not.

Toilet systems are mostly air.

And here's how it works.

If you put more liquid in
the system than it can handle,

it just spills over here.

Now, if i flush this toilet
by putting more water in,

check out what happens.

That works just like a toilet!

[ Laughs ]

Narrator:
But that's only half the story.

Adam: Now that the toilets are
finished and actually working,

it's time to plumb them
into a system.

Excellent.

Okay.

See, the toilets
in Bart's school

would've all been connected to
a central set of pipes.

That's what I'm about to build
in scale.

So here we go, go, go, go, go.

You were supposed to cut.

[ Sighs ]

Narrator: The plumbing
beneath the bowls is crucial.

Good.

To accurately model the pressure
wave effects of Bart's bomb,

it has to be set up

just like a three-stall
school sewage system.

Complete with two crucial
effluent outflows,

the system has multiple exits
for the blast.

And, with that, this "Simpsons"
special game of thrones...

Fire in the bowl!

Adam:
Explosion in three...

is ready for blast-off.

Go.

[ Laughter ]

* the Simpsons *

narrator:
Welcome to "mythcrackers."

Adam and Jamie
have hit Springfield again.

Tonight, we take on
the classic myth

that a cat will always land
on its feet.

But, this time,

instead of experimenting
as animated characters...

What was it we were trying to
prove again?

Don't know, don't care.

[ Humming ]

they're animatedly
experimenting.

[ Air hissing ]

And, with a transparent trio
of toilets ready to blow,

they want to know if Bart's bomb

could've really gushed
multiple geysers.

[ Explosion ]

[ Woman screams ]

Now, what happens
when you flush a cherry bomb

down one of these toilets?

Well, it's gonna go down
through the plumbing,

and it could blow anywhere.

It could blow here.

It could blow here.

It could blow down there.

That's actually
what these black caps are.

There are places
in the plumbing system

we can introduce the pressure
from the cherry bomb.

But we're not gonna use
a cherry bomb.

Not in my shop, we're not.

Number one, it's illegal.

And number two...

[ Chuckles ]

it's potentially dangerous
and definitely very messy.

So we're gonna need
a little bit more control

if we're gonna do it here.

For that,
we have my little pop gun,

which has a fast-acting valve
on it

that releases a blast
of pressurized air.

[ Laughs ]

And that's essentially
what an explosion does.

It creates a volume
of rapidly expanding gases

in a pressure wave.

So we're gonna plumb
my little pop gun

into Adam's rig
in various places,

adjust the pressure
and see what happens.

20 psi?

Yeah, that's a big, fat dump...

Of pressure.

Nice.

Let me know when you're ready.

All right,
I'm gonna count it down.

Cherry bomb half-scale
toilet experiment,

position number one,
explosion in three, two, one.

Go.

[ Laughs ]

Go.

Narrator:
A simultaneous Tsunami,

and the physics of Springfield

are looking
surprisingly accurate.

Jamie:
This first test showed

that pressure delivered
to the middle toilet

was pretty evenly distributed
to the other toilets around it.

It's quite pretty, actually.
Yeah.

It's like a little bit of
a water ballet.

Some sort of modern art.

Now, we want to know what
would happen if the cherry bomb

and its pressure went here
or here.

Would that make any difference?

All right.

I don't know about you folks,

but whenever i go to the toilet,
i always take my umbrella.

Half-scale cherry bomb
toilet experiment,

position number two, two.

Explosion in three, two, one.

Go.

[ Laughs ]

That's very satisfying.

Narrator: Another successful
concurrent eruption...

Position number three, go.

One that's replicated

regardless of where
the explosion originates.

Jamie:
Which kind of makes sense

because there's resistance
in each of these toilets.

And so, with multiple inlets,

that resistance is gonna tend
to equalize the pressure.

Yeah.

The pressure spread
is plausible.

But Adam has an issue
with volume.

Jamie: Now, up until now,
we've been experimenting

with a properly set-up
plumbing system.

But it's not quite
the fountain of water

that we see in the show

because there's just not enough
water in the system.

But what if there is a clog
in the system?

There we go.

The clog could have water
backed up in that system.

And the cherry bomb
could go in that.

And then, it's pushing water.

Adam: What do you think?

Jamie: That's about got it.

All right.

What happens to that water?

Does it come out of the toilets?

I kind of think so.

But we're gonna try it,
just to make sure.

All right, this is
a fully clogged toilet system.

Three, two, one.

Go.

[ Laughs ]

I think we found the explosion
we were looking for.

[ Laughs ]

Well, aside from being pretty
to look at,

our half-scale system
has demonstrated

exactly what we were hoping,

and that is the "Simpsons" -like
fountain of water

shooting out of the toilet
behavior

from a cherry bomb
thrown into the system.

So i think
we're gonna go full-scale.

I think we're gonna detonate
our cherry bomb

back behind
some clogged-up water.

The question we have
when we go to full-scale...

Will the cherry bomb actually
generate the pressure we need?

[ Laughs ]

We don't know.

That's why we're gonna do it.

Excuse me.
Sorry.

Narrator: While the crew
completes the clean-up...

the epic odyssey of homer's
heroic intervention continues

because Jamie's big ball
has hardened.

Jamie: [ Chuckles ]

And his distinctly
unconventional plan

has paid off.

It's lookin' pretty good.

Next, he makes the two halves
a whole

and seals the deal
with a super-strong sealant.

Jamie: So, my plan worked
exactly as i had in mind.

And we've got
a nice spherical shape.

[ Laughs ]

A little chiseling
and a little mortar,

and this thing
will clean up real nice.

And we'll have
one heck of a big wrecking ball.

Narrator: With that,
Jamie heads back to the shop,

where homer's head
has just arrived.

Now that we have these
lovely molds of homer's head,

we're gonna coat the insides
with a tinted latex

because that'll give us
the correct color,

and also, a nice, tough skin.

Narrator:
Once the latex skin is dried,

Jamie fills homer's head
with a two-part pouring foam.

Jamie: Now, this stuff expands
about 4-1,

and it's a little hard
to estimate homer's head volume.

All i can see is that
it's much larger than mine,

as hard as that is to believe.

You want to help me
pull this thing apart?

Narrator: 15 minutes later,
the foam has set.

There you go.

It's coming.

And homer's precisely
proportioned profile

is revealed in all its glory.

Oh, it's kind of heavy.

Ah, that looks awesome,
totally fantastic.

For the finishing touches,

Jamie paints
homer's famously unshaven mug.

Starting to look like homer.

Adam coats his torso
with waterproof rubber.

And Jamie adds the ears

and those
instantly recognizable eyes.

Jamie: [ Chuckles ]

Kind of comes to life
when you do that.

So homer is very,
very nearly complete.

We've painted all of his
body parts, including his head,

and now, his hands, a suitable
shade of "Simpsons" yellow.

After this, we'll send
his measurements out

to our seamstress to make him
a full set of clothes.

And then, it's time to take him
out to the location

and abuse him.

Aaaaah!

[ Dog barking ]

To recap, homer supposedly
protects his house

by placing himself
between a wrecking ball

and his house and absorbing
the shock with his body.

In order to test this,

we are absolutely of course
going to need a wrecking ball.

Check.

Well, that's a big-ass ball.

Adam: We are also
going to need a house

to swing this
wrecking ball into.

So we decided to build our own.

Actually, we built two.

[ Laughs ]

I'm always painting something
before we destroy it.

There's a very good reason.

Because what we want to find out
is whether homer would have made

any difference to the wrecking
ball's effect on his house.

All right, let's go.

Therefore,
that's our control house.

We're gonna swing just

a straight old wrecking ball
into it.

Ah.

It's only when we get
to this one

that we're gonna strap homer
to that wrecking ball

and find out if the amount
of destruction...

Beautiful.

Is actually different,

i.E. Less on this one.

Now it's a home worth
protecting.

Yeah, perfect.

Jamie:
In the demolition industry,

wrecking balls
are kind of iconic.

Jamie wire brushes his balls
every morning.

Jamie:
But we've come to find out

that they don't actually use
them that much anymore.

Now it looks like
it's all business.

And when you think about it,
it's sort of understandable.

There we go.

Jamie: Because you get
thousands of pounds

of weight swinging on the end
of a cable,

it's not exactly
a precision instrument.

You're right on the money,
5,000 pounds. It's perfect.

Not only that, it's hard on
the equipment that swings it.

[ Grunts ]

Jamie:
So, we've found that,

whenever we need a wrecking
ball, we make our own.

Narrator:
With their accurately sized

and weighted
homemade homer wrecker

ready to swing into action...

I love having
the right hardware.

Narrator: It's simply
a question of lifting it...

I'll hold it up
in case it falls.

Awesome.

Pulling it back
and letting it go, right?

Ray, how do you feel about it?

You like it?

Wrong.

If it goes out too far,

it's gonna want to bring
the crane over.

Do you understand?
Right.

So that's an interesting
question.

If we pull it back too far,
and it swings far out,

it's gonna pull the crane over.

Probably the big question is,
how far do we pull it back?

Narrator: To answer that...

Right angle,
40-foot radius.

Okay.

So let's talk this through.
That's 40.

Narrator: The guys look
into the limits

of the crane's
live load capacity...

Let's say the ball hangs here,

and the crane is here
in relation to the house.

Narrator:
Discuss the physics involved...

Force equals mass
times acceleration.

So, once that ball
starts to move...

It wants to keep going.

Nerd!

Narrator: And, after an hour
of tense discussion...

You have no intuition
about that whatsoever?

Come up
with a swing distance of...

What if we did 12 feet?

12 feet is significantly less

than the free-wheeling cartoon
capers of Springfield.

Good.

But it's as far as the
real-world physics allow.

All right, you like that?

Yeah, i think that's perfect.

And with those parameters
in place,

the guys set up for the control.

Standing now.

Jamie:
You may be wondering why we're
not pulling our wrecking ball

back quite as far as you see
them do in "the Simpsons."

About four feet away.

Well, cranes aren't designed
to swing heavy weights around,

like tether balls.

If they did that,
in a heartbeat,

they could tip the whole crane
right over.

Stop. Stop.

Are you happy with that?

You betcha.

In rigging,
there are two kinds of loads,

a dead load and a live load.

A live load is one that moves,

and this load is about
as live as it gets.

Narrator: The repercussions
of a miscalculation

could be catastrophic.

You know, it's just like
destruction in potentia.

But the question they're aiming
to answer is,

what kind of hit will the house
take without homer?

This is "Simpsons"
wrecking ball control,

minus homer,
in three, two, one...

Go!

[ Laughter ]

Yeah!

Ah, fabulous.

The second hit.

Oh, yeah.

Third hit.
Let's go for a third hit.

The whole... whole building
just is kind of...

I know!
Shifting.

Our test showed that a wrecking
ball hitting a house like this

would severely damage
any masonry,

as well as the framing
and the wall of the house...

just like it did here.

Adam:
Now, the question is,

will homer make any difference

if he gets in between that ball
and the house?

Honestly, i don't know.

Narrator: To find out if Bart's
bellagio-esque fountain

will translate from the success
of small scale to full scale,

the mythcrackers
hit the bomb range.

After having played
with miniature toilets

to our hearts' content...

Adam: Go!

[ Laughs ]

we are going to assemble
three real toilets

on a platform 7 feet
off the ground

with a real
full-scale plumbing system...

Ready to, uh, get started
and build this thing?

Can you give me a minute?

Sure.

So that we can cherry bomb it
all day long.

And, believe me, we will.

[ Grunts ] Come on!

One toilet, two toilets,
three toilets.

Narrator: To re-create the exact
same setup as the shop test...

Remember, kids,
proper care of your toilet

requires brushing twice a day.

Narrator: But as a
standard-size sewage system...

[ Bellowing ]

It's almost like Godzilla.

The guys plumb
the multiple inputs...

Yes, that's it.

A gas vent and central waste
pipe to a 7-foot-high platform.

[ Speaking gibberish ]

Maybe we should just back away
a little bit.

Narrator: And, up top,

Adam finishes with three
fully functional toilets.

Adam: Hey!

That totally worked!

Ah. All right.

Narrator: Now, what about the
boom that shakes the restroom?

Under strict
bomb squad supervision...

The guys are using their own
mythbusters-made cherry bombs

to find out if the fuse
will fizzle when wet.

Adam:
Now, when you hear that Bart

throws a cherry bomb
into the toilet...

Let's get to safety, shall we?
Come on.

Your mind might be set
to thinking,

"i wonder if water

would actually put out
a cherry bomb's fuse."

An excellent question,

and one i am just about
to answer.

Can't get over how much like
a cherry they look.

[ Laughs ]

Here we go.
It's about to go underwater.

Oh.
Oh.

It's burning underwater.
[ Laughs ]

I don't get it.

Jamie: So how is it that
the fuse on Bart's cherry bomb

is able to burn underwater?

Well, to burn something,
you need three things.

You need fuel, you need oxygen,

and you need a source
of ignition.

Now, as it happens,

the gunpowder that runs along
inside this fuse

has everything it needs to burn.

It has its own fuel
and its own oxidizer.

So it's quite happy to burn

without any kind of
exterior source of oxygen.

Every time i learn
something new,

it pushes some old stuff
out of my brain.

Oh!

Nice!

That was awesome.

Narrator:
With the fuse firing just fine

and the cherry bomb
packing a punch...

Got it.

It's time to fill up
and bring the boom.

Okay, that's it.

Adam:
Our first cherry bomb experiment

with the full-size toilet system

is going to replicate
the circumstances

that we found to be
our ideal circumstances

in the small scale...

That is, the sewer system
clogged with water

with the cherry bomb placed
under that water.

[ Laughs ]

Jamie: Right about here.

Now, we're gonna be
lighting this off

with an electric spark
via these wires

because that'll allow us
to place this

exactly where we want

and set it off exactly when we
want from a safe distance.

Okay, we're all sealed up.

Setting off explosives
in the air as opposed to water

is really quite different,

and that's because air
compresses and water does not.

So, if you apply pressure
to water,

it'll deliver a shock wave

directly to whatever
it's connected to,

kind of like a hammer blow.

Are you ready?
I'm ready. High-speed's ready?

Now, in our case, that water
hammer can become massive.

In three...

And it'll deliver the shock wave
through the water,

through the plumbing...
Two...

to anything
that it's connected to.

One.

Oh-ho-ho!

[ Laughs ]

That was catastrophic.

[ Chuckles ] Yeah.

Narrator: Yep.
Jamie's hammer theory nailed it.

In contrast to the shop test's

"Simpsons" -like
water fountain...

Oh, yes.

Hey, this camera's
still rolling here.

When faced
with the same firepower

as a real cherry bomb...

It is a freaking horror
show up here.

The standard, full-size
lavatory fixtures

were forced free
of their moorings,

leaving the porcelain...

Yay!

And, possibly, the myth, busted.

Looking carefully
at the high-speed footage,

you'll notice that water starts
coming out beneath the toilets

at the same time as it starts
coming out the bowls.

Now, that means that that water
was moving so fast

that the toilets' plumbing was
not able to absorb the onrush,

which is why it broke
the toilets off their mounts

instead of creating
three large geysers.

Our cherry bomb gave us
a stunning explosion.

Unfortunately, it also happened
to rip all three of our toilets

right out of the floor.

That pretty good?

Looks good to me.

So we have gone to the measure
of bolting them

right to the cast-iron flanges
of the plumbing

that they are plumbed to.

And that should hold them tight
for this test.

Narrator:
After a quick reset up top...

You know, all evidence
to the contrary,

i think you and i would make
a good pair of plumbers.

This time,
they place the cherry bomb

at the lowest possible point
of the plumbing.

The guys are hoping
the larger volume of water

above the explosive
will absorb more energy

and give them the mythical
gushing geysers.

Adam: This is it.

After small-scale
and large-scale experiments,

this is the blast
we hope will work.

We have changed the position
of the bomb.

Hell, we've even bolted them
to their own plumbing,

which is totally unrealistic.

But it's what we hope
it will take

to give us the geysers
that we're looking for.

And it's just about to happen.

Are you ready, sir?
I am.

Okay.

Five, four, three...

Two [Laughs]

One.

Go!

[ Laughs ]

No force can contain
the cherry bomb.

What are you gonna do?

[ Laughs ]

Narrator: Yep.
The power was simply too much.

The pressure blast
couldn't escape

through the narrow plumbing
fast enough,

and something had to give.

Jamie:
What we're seeing is that,

if you have enough energy
to push a lot of water

up and out of those toilets

using something like
our cherry bomb,

that same energy and the
shock wave that accompanies it

is also going to break
the toilets off at their bases.

They're simply not strong enough
to stay in place.

So, as far as I'm concerned,
using an explosive,

you're never gonna see the kind
of geyser

that we saw in the cartoon.

In this house, we obey the laws
of thermodynamics!

So, cartoons
don't reflect reality?

Wow, this is big.
This is...

What's the word?
Busted!

It's busted, yes.

Yeah!

[ Laughs ]

Kickin' toilets apart
since 1930.

[ Chuckles ]
Them's some steel-tipped shoes.

Narrator:
With the porcelain pummeled,

Adam and Jamie head back
to homer's house,

where our humble hero
awaits his moment of glory.

D'oh!

Hello, friends.

If you're like most people,

you probably are sad that you
haven't been able to afford

your slice
of the American dream.

But now
it turns out that you can.

On the outskirts of Springfield,
a new development has arisen,

one that provides
picture-perfect homes,

if viewed from the right angle.

We've reduced home ownership
to its barest essentials...

One wall, one couch, one floor.

Welcome to shady acres.

Pay no attention
to the wrecking ball.

Narrator: Jamie and Adam are
chasing a cartoon conundrum...

Adam: Oh!

That's his home.

Narrator:
The homer wrecker.

Can our hero's leap of faith

dissipate the force
of this impact?

[ Laughter ]

Yeah!

You know,
it didn't move very fast,

but it had quite a kick to it,
didn't it?

I mean, that's Newton's
second law, right there.

[ Both laugh ]

Now, we're gonna leave all
this damage intact, as it is...

Ah, couldn't be better.

Jamie: And go ahead
and do the test with homer

on the wrecking ball
with the identical house.

Now, that is a proper
cartoon wrecking ball.

Jamie: And, if it shows damage
anything like this,

we will know
that homer's efforts

would've been for naught.

And ta-da!

Allow me to introduce you
to the completed,

ready-to-be-tested-with
hero of this episode...

Mr. homer j. Simpson.

Ladies and gentlemen,
let's give a round of applause.

Woo-hoo!

Narrator: Our accurately sized
and dressed homer...

There we go.

Is attached to the ball
exactly as per the clip...

That's it.
First arm is on. Okay.

With a final, crucial component.

Jamie: Since part of this

is what happens with homer's
body mass on the ball,

we need to give him some
body mass other than just foam.

We're doing that
by adding water.

Narrator: The average density
of a human body

is within a couple of
percentage points of water.

Perfect.

So a water-filled homer

is an almost perfect
energy-absorption analog

for a real person of that size
and shape.

Oh, oh.

Homer is substantial.

Our cartoon character
is coming to life.

Narrator: The question is,

with a real-life mass
of 239 pounds,

can he save his house?

I think we're good to go up.

All right.

[ Chuckles ]
It's happening.

Jamie: We're making sure that
we're positioning the ball

exactly the same way that we did
the first time.

We'll let it settle so the
physics should all be the same,

except for homer.

Does it look like his ass
is dead center?

Adam: He couldn't be
more perfectly

on the horizon
of the lines of force

between the ball and his house.

[ Laughs ]

Narrator:
As per the control,

the velocity on impact may only
be a pedestrian 6 miles an hour.

[ Both laugh ]

What are we doing?

But with 5,000 pounds of ball...

Who's paying for this?

This is awesome.

There's a lot of energy
to dissipate.

Say goodbye, homer.

Can our hefty hero
really absorb that impact?

All right.
Here we go.

Homer versus the wrecking ball,
the final experiment.

Three, two, one.

There he goes!
Oh, yeah.

Oh! Oh!

Oh!

[ Laughs ]

Jamie: That's a result
that i never would've bet on.

[ Laughs ]

He's clearly made
a big difference.

Yeah, i mean,
look at this house.

And then look at that one.

Wow!
I'm just sayin'.

Homer's ass is quite impressive,
actually.

[ Laughs ]

Narrator:
It's an astonishing result.

The house didn't escape
completely unscathed,

but homer did help.

Well, astonishingly,

it turns out homer did in fact
make a difference

by placing himself between the
wrecking ball and his house.

He clearly made a heroic effort,
and it had a heroic outcome.

Jamie: Those cartoonists
don't get enough credit

for proper engineering.

[ Laughs ]
[ Chuckles ]

* i am so smart *

* i am so smart *

* s-m-r-t *

* i mean s-m-a-r-t *

all right, al.
I got some good news...

Woo-hoo!

And some bad news.
D'oh!

I'm gonna start
with the bad news,

which is the toilet bomb.

Unfortunately, all we got
was total toilet destruction.

It's busted.

Well, you forget that the school
is near a nuclear plant,

a nuclear plant run by idiots.

Oh-ho-ho.
It's funny 'cause it's true.

And there could be a nuclear
explosion at any moment,

which means that the toilets
are ultra-super-reinforced,

not busted.

Hmm.

I see where you're headed
with that.

And the good news?

The good news is homer wrecker.

We are totally amazed
by these results,

but the fact is that homer
made a difference.

By placing his body between
the wrecking ball and his house,

he was successfully able to keep
it from being damaged.

So, you're saying the show is
100% scientifically accurate?

Mm, s-sure.

Thank you, gentlemen.