All language subtitles for Mythbusters.S09E14.Newtons.Crane.Cradle.1080p.AMZN.WEBRip.DD2.0.x264-CasStudio_track3_[eng]

Please don't try anything
you're about to see at home.

We're what you call experts.

[ Glass shatters ]

Narrator: On this epic episode
of "mythbusters"...

Adam: Go, baby!

Adam and Jamie
go Newton cradle crazy...

Even these 2-1/2-inch balls
are making me giggle.

As they find out
if this viral video

is wrecking-ball baloney.

From big beginnings...

Oh!

To a colossal conclusion.

Adam: Looks beautiful!

But will their mother of all
Newton's cradles really work?

World's largest Newton cradle.
In 3, 2, 1!

Also toying with big machines
are kari, Grant, and Tory...

N-o-o-o!

As they test
a cliff-hanger of a myth.

I've had nightmares like this.

If your car is teetering
over a gorge...

With even a breeze,
that car's gonna go over.

Can a bird landing on the hood

really cause you
to totter over the edge?

Don't make any sudden move.

Who are the mythbusters?

Adam savage.

That's a delicious memory.

And Jamie hyneman.

When in doubt, c-4.

Between them, more than 30 years
of special-effects experience.

Aah!

Together, with Tory belleci...

All in the name of science.

Grant imahara...

Something just touched me!

Narrator:
And kari Byron...

This should be fun.

They don't just tell the myths.

They put them to the test.

[ Whirring ]

What are you doing?

An equation.

Go on.

Does one of these
plus one of these

equal this?

Narrator: It's a simple equation
taken from this viral video.

Take five cranes
and five wrecking balls,

and you've got a desktop toy
taken to the Max.

But is it really possible

to supersize a Newton's cradle?

[ Laughs ]

A wrecking-ball-sized
Newton cradle.

That is fantastic.

Ain't it sweet?
It's my favorite.

How do you want to proceed?

Well, we all know
where this is gonna end up,

and it's gonna be with
full-sized wrecking balls.

[ Scoffs ]
That is gonna be a huge build.

Well, since this is
all about scaling the
Newton's cradle effect,

there's no need to go stampeding

towards the full-on
wrecking balls.

Why don't we do it gradually?

You mean incrementally

bumping up the size
of our Newton cradles?

Exactly, and see
if we can tease out

any kind of problems dealing
with the increase in scale.

That sounds perfect.

Let's do it.
Okay.

So, after the first
of many cheap gags...

You need to stop playing
with your balls

and get back to work.

[ Laughs ]

Adam sets sail
on small-scale.

Adam: Now, the Newton cradle
is effectively

an instant lesson
in energy transfer.

And energy transfer
is the soul of this story,

for when we bring this up
to full-scale wrecking balls,

the biggest problem
we could encounter

is that the energy transfer
doesn't work...

That when we lift ball 1
of the wrecking balls,

it does not send ball 5

like you'd expect
a Newton cradle to work.

So, how are we gonna know
how we're doing

as we scale this up
incrementally?

This is how.

I will pull ball 1
up to this block,

which is the exact same distance
from ball 1

as this block is from ball 5.

I release ball 1.

It sends ball 5

a certain distance
that i can measure

and compare against
our subsequent Newton cradles.

Narrator: It's a simple
but short-lived setup.

So, let's see it again
in slow motion.

Adam releases ball 1,

and in a clear demonstration
of this cradle's efficiency,

ball 5 almost kisses
the blue block.

Jamie: What'd you get?

The energy transfer
was surprisingly clean.

Ball 5 traveled 98% the distance
that ball 1 did.

Wow.
Only a 2% loss after one hit.

Why don't we take it up a notch?
Next size up.

Absolutely.
Let's do it.

Adam: Now, I've got to make
one of these

with five of these.

Now, clearly, all i have to do
is attach some string to this,

but that's no mean feat.

I don't know
if you've ever tried

to drill into a chrome steel
bearing, but i have.

It sucks.

Narrator:
And with that complete,

a quick montage later,
and Newton 2.5 is ready to roll.

[ Laughs ]

Narrator:
And, uh, roll it does.

It's not easy being me
sometimes.

Narrator:
But after a quick restring...

Shall we try it out?

It's got Adam dancing
with excitement.

Adam: Oh, that's cool.
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh.

Narrator:
And while both he and Jamie

get particularly pleased
at something a little low-key...

Isn't that nice?
Uh-huh.

It's definitely
a build to be proud of.

It's funny.

Even these 2-1/2-inch balls
are making me giggle.

[ Laughs ]

Right?
I love it.

But in my mind's eye,
I'm already seeing

the larger and larger ones
that we're gonna be building,

and it's gonna be hilarious.

Narrator:
But before that hilarity,
it's time for scale test 2.

2-1/2-inch-ball
Newton cradle

in 3, 2, 1.

Let's check it out
on high-speed.

Like last time,
Adam releases ball 1

before measuring
where ball 5 maxes out,

and the results
are very encouraging.

Adam: Come on,
come on, come on.

It's looks like
it's gonna touch.

It's 3/8" away, which is 3%,

which means
it's pretty friggin' efficient.

The desktop model, the ball went
98% of the original distance.

This is 97%
of the original distance.

[ Chuckles ]
It's scaling beautifully.

Narrator:
And what that means

is that going ludicrously large,
like the myth,

may just yet work.

Next up,
a cliff-hanger of a myth.

So, i have a classic
physics-meets-Hollywood myth.

All right.
Let's hear it.

So, a car goes
skidding off the road

and is about to go over a cliff,

when it's saved by stopping
precariously at the edge.

It's perfectly balanced,

but a little bird comes
and lands on the hood... dink!

And the whole car goes
crashing off the cliff.

A little bird causes a car
to go over the cliff?

Look, I'm skeptical.

But you know what?
Sounds like a good test.

Narrator: It's a favorite in
many a scriptwriter's handbook,

but if a car
comes to a standstill

on the very edge of a cliff,

can an inquisitive bird
be enough

to tip the balance?

[ Slide whistle ]
Aah!

All right, so, obviously we're
gonna have to balance a car

on the edge of a cliff.

Why don't we build
our own cliff?

That way, we know it can
hold the weight of the car,

and if we go over,
we won't get killed.

Good idea.
Then for the fun part...

Getting a bird
to land on the hood.

I don't think that's gonna be
as easy as we think.

No. I think balancing the car
is gonna be the easy part.

Narrator: So, with
tipping over a real cliff

ruled out for obvious reasons...

Woman: Aaaah!

Narrator: At the bomb range,

the mythbusters are going to
build their own.

[ Horn honking ]

[ Chuckles ]
I think we mean business.

We got a lot of work.

Luckily, we have
the big tools today.

All right, let's do it.

All right,
let's move some earth.

Tory: What we got here
is a front loader.

Whoo-hoo!
Big toys for big boys.

This thing is very powerful.

It's got to move
a lot of weight.

Let's see what i can break
with this.

We're gonna be moving
a lot of earth

to get our slope
up to our cliff.

Nothing better than playing
with big machinery.

Narrator: Although it may look
a little bit precarious...

Grant: Whoa-ho-ho!

N-o-o-o!

Whoo!
Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo hoo-hoo!

Narrator: The goal here
is to build a solid cliff edge,

courtesy of
a shipping container...

Enter one portable cliff.

Which a car
can then be balanced on.

Grant:
This is taking a while.

Kari: Well,
it took mother nature

like hundreds of thousands
of years,

so, really,
we're right on schedule.

Narrator:
Beyond the cliff edge,

they're making
a sloping escape ramp,

which should make a survivable
descent when the car tips over

a little more likely.

Grant:
It may look like we've been
out here all day, playing.

I mean, I've been
up and down this ramp

probably about 100 times,
but there's a very good reason.

And that reason
is we're gonna be in the car

that goes off this container
and down that ramp,

so we want this thing
to be perfect.

Narrator: And Grant better hope
100 times was enough,

because with the cliff car
delivered and pimped...

Just in case
there was any confusion

who was pushing a car
off a cliff

out in the middle
of the bomb range.

It's "all systems go"
for the pre-bird testing...

finding out the precise
balance point of the car...

Okay, you guys ready?

No!

[ Chuckles ]

[ Engine turns over ]

Finding the tipping point,
in 3, 2, 1.

So, you're just gonna
ease forward, right?

Oh, man!

Narrator:
Tory's first task

is to carefully drop
the front wheels over the edge.

Kari: Okay, slow. You're
about to get the tire off.

You can make it.
[ Clank ]

I've had nightmares
like this. Oh!

Narrator: And once there, the
balance-point test can begin.

But it's a delicate operation.

Kari:
Okay, slowly, slowly.

A little less
on the accelerator.

Narrator: Too little throttle,
and they won't budge.

Okay, we're not tipping yet.

Too much,
and they'll flip over the cliff

without finding
the tipping point.

We got no more traction
on the back wheels.

Um... aah!

Whoo-hoo-hoo!
[ Laughs ]

And that was too much.

[ Laughs ]

Holy crap.
That was scary.

It was, like, one second,
we were on the edge,

and then... boom!...
We were off.

Whoo-hoo-hoo!

I think we need
to do that again.

I think so.

Tory: Good news and bad news.
Our safety ramp worked.

We were able to get the car

to go off the cliff and land
safely, and we didn't die.

The bad news is, though,
i hit the gas too hard,

and instead of finding
that teetering point,

we just went off the cliff.

So we don't know exactly
where that tipping point is yet.

We're gonna do the test again
to find that.

This is gonna be fun.

Narrator: Still to come,
bird balance gets bizarre.

Stupid condor!

But next, wrecking-ball baloney
hits a hurdle.

Uh-oh.
That's potentially very bad.

Narrator:
Is this crazy construction
site's viral video really real,

or is this myth headed
to the wrecking yard?

Well, so far, it's so good...

I love it.

Because scaling up
the Newton cradle

with bigger ball bearings
appears to be working.

It's scaling beautifully.

But now it's time
to go bigger again.

Next up, we're gonna go to
a 6-inch-diameter ball bearing.

This is 33 pounds,

and that means
that it's 323 times as massive

as these little ones.

Narrator:
Like the 2-1/2-inch version,

it's Adam who's in charge
of the build...

Another day,
another Newton cradle stand.

Narrator: From the stand
that, this time,

is more heavily reinforced...

Ha ha! Nice rack!

Narrator:
To the ball-securing system.

[ Straining ] Oh, yes!

Wow! That's heavy.
[ Thud ]

Jamie: I've been obsessing
about this story

ever since i first
came across it.

I'm finding it difficult
to describe how much fun it is,

so the only thing i could come
up with was to just show you.

The little balls...

Bigger balls...

and really big balls.

Need i say anything more?

Narrator:
Actually, yes, Jamie.

How about you give us
a countdown

to the efficiency test?

3, 2, 1.

Nice.
That was a good clean one.

Check out the high-speed?
Yeah.

Adam: All right, Jamie,
ball 5 went

to 94.1% of the distance
of ball 1.

Yeah, that's an additional
3% loss.

I'm still feeling pretty good
about this thing.

Yeah, still working.

Jamie: So, is increasing
the mass causing us a problem?

Well, we are seeing
an increase in losses,

the more we scale
these balls up.

But here's the thing...
It's not proportionate.

These balls are over 200 times

the mass of the original
small balls on the toy,

and yet we're only seeing
a total of about a 6% loss.

It's not very much.

Narrator: Although there is
drop-off with increasing size,

it's so slight that the bigger
cradles still work as hoped,

and that means that full-scale
may not be so farfetched,

provided, of course,
that real wrecking balls

perform the same
as ball bearings.

To find out if a bird
can tip a car over a cliff,

the mythbusters first need

to find their car's
balance point...

Aah! [ Laughs ]

which is proving harder
than expected.

Yay!
You guys are safe!

We're alive!

Bad news is, that was a little
too "Thelma & Louise,"

so we have to put you
back up there.

All right. Yeah!

I didn't think you'd disagree.

Kari: After a somewhat epic
but really fun failure,

we decided to change
our methods.

We actually put the car
back into place,

and now we're going to
inch that car forward.

Narrator:
So, with the car engine off...

Okay, we're ready.

All right, begin
the tipping-point test.

The forklift will instead
gently ease it forwards.

[ Clank ]

Tory: [ Laughing ] Oh, oh.
Okay, stop, stop, stop.

But will it have
the required control?

Right about 5 1/2 feet.
How does it feel?

There's no tipping.

Okay, give them just another
tiny little nudge.

[ Creaking ]

Oh!
Oh!

Whoo-hoo!
Whoo-hoo!

Narrator:
Well, so much for plan "b,"

because, like plan "a,"
the car is tipped too soon.

And without finding
that tipping point,

they can't bring on the birds.

All right, plan "c."

We're actually gonna use
a strap this time

so that if we go too far
off the edge,

we can pull the car
back to the tipping point.

Hope this one works.

Narrator:
With resets taking too long...

Tory: Can't tell you
how many times

i get myself
into these situations.

The guys are hoping
that the strap system

will let them find the balance
point a little more quickly.

Kari: Give it little bump.
Give me your angry inch.

But, as it turns out,

it still takes
an entire afternoon

of pushing and shoving...

All right, now pull it back
to 5 1/2.

I'll tell you when to stop.

Before they think
they've cracked it.

Tory: Grant, we are at the point
of no return.

Kari: After a lot of tinkering
and a lot of trial and error,

we have found
the exact tipping point.

I feel like we're gonna go
at any second.

I think, at this point,
with even a breeze,

that car is gonna go over.

Don't make any sudden moves.

So, now, when the guys start
to sway and move their weight,

i think they're gonna
go over the edge.

Ready? Let's do it together.
1, 2, 3.

Oh!
[ Creaking ]

Ohh!

Whoo-hoo!

Yes!

Stop, stop, stop!

Narrator: Finally,
they've hit pay dirt.

Okay, i think we found
our teetering point.

Wobbling at the 6-1/2-foot mark,
the car was so finely balanced

that a slight lean
from Grant and Tory

was enough to send it
over the edge.

But could a landing bird
also tip that balance?

Tory:
Now, it took us a long time

to get our car
to that perfect balance point.

But after seeing how easy
the car went over the edge,

i think if a bird were to land
on the front end of the car,

we're definitely going over.

Well, in that case,
let's unleash the beasts.

Later on "mythbusters"...

Adam: World's largest
Newton cradle in 3, 2, 1.

But next...

Can a bird tip a car
off a cliff? "Hoo" knows?

Narrator:
In wrecking-ball baloney...

I'm confused.
[ Chuckles ]

Adam and Jamie's shop tests
using giant ball bearings

have been a hit...
[ Balls clacking ]

Adam:
I don't get tired of that sound.

This is what everyone will be
wanting for Christmas this year.

Narrator: Which means
it's time to go full-scale...

where the first thing
on their shopping list

is five identical
wrecking balls,

which, somewhat unexpectedly,
turns out to be impossible.

But all is not lost.

There is nobody who has five
identical wrecking balls.

Well, you know what that means.

I think i do.

We're gonna have to build
our own.

How do you want to do it?

Big steel balls
filled with concrete?

That could work.
Shall we try it in scale first?

Sure.
All right.

So, our full-size wrecking balls

need to be identical
for two reasons.

First, it's because that's
what you see in the video.

But second,
and more importantly,

their mass needs to be identical

because that gives us the best
energy transfer possible.

Not only their mass,
but also their surfaces

have to be as round
as we can get them.

So we've got to make our own,

and we're gonna use the building
blocks of real wrecking balls...

Steel and concrete.

Before we go to full scale,

we're gonna try
a scale experiment

with the simplest arrangement
of this possible...

A steel sphere
filled with concrete.

So, i have sourced some
6-inch hollow steel balls.

I'm gonna drill a hole in them

and fill them
with ceramically hard plaster

that matches the compressive
strength of concrete.

I'm gonna build a Newton cradle
out of that,

and it really ought to give us
a good guide

as to the viability of our
concept for the large-scale one.

Narrator: And once the filling
has hardened,

everything's set
to see if they work.

Here we go.

Uh-oh.

Hey, Jamie, you better
come take a look at this!

What's up?

Check this out.

Doesn't last very long.

Clearly, we're gonna have to
come up with something

other than just filling our
wrecking balls with concrete.

Yeah.
That's kind of dead.

Jamie: This is just what
i was afraid of.

These mild-steel balls
are filled

with an ultrahard
gypsum-based product,

but they're still not
passing enough energy through

to do the job we want.

They're absorbing it somehow.

Personally, I'm bummed.

Now, i know that when you look
at the high-speed shot here,

it looks like
the energy transfer

you expect from a Newton cradle
is actually happening.

Ball 1 goes down,
ball 5 comes up.

But here's the thing that makes
a Newton cradle awesome...

The energy transfer continues.
Tick, tick, tick.

What I'm getting from this
isn't tick, tick, tick.

It's tick, tick...

And everyone seems
to want to go home.

I don't know
what we're gonna do.

Narrator: With real
wrecking balls unavailable

and the most simple
do-it-yourself design

falling flat,

what this myth needs
is a brainstorm.

So, giant Newton cradle.
How do you want to do it?

Well, we've got
this problem, right?

This is gonna be probably
20 feet high.

I mean, we can't forge these
solid steel.

There's just no way.

And yet we can't have
just a big sphere

that we fill with
something like concrete.

It is a slow start,
so let's speed things up.

Their goal is to design
a wrecking-ball stand-in

that transfers energy better
than their earlier effort.

Jamie gets a bolt from the blue.

Oh, oh! I know.

All you need is a plate to go
right through the middle.

And then we get
some metal spheres

and weld them top and bottom,

then fill the rest
with rebar and concrete.

Don't they make buoys
that are made of steel?

Yeah.
That's the ticket.

Then we get one of those,

we put the plate in the middle,
we end up with something

where it's a solid-steel
transfer from ball to ball,

but no one could look at them
and say,

"that's not
a wrecking ball."

Like that.
That is perfect.

I think we've got a plan.
Let's do it.

Eureka!
They've cracked it!

But for the rest of us,
here's a graphic.

They're going to take a 28-inch
naval buoy and cut it in half.

Across the center, they'll weld

a 3-inch-thick
hardened-steel plate

that should be able to transfer
the energy of the swing.

Inside the buoy,
they'll add rebar and concrete,

just like some old-fashioned
wrecking balls.

That leaves two questions.

With five in a row,
will it work?

And can they build them?

Well, with a delivery of buoys,
the guys get that ball rolling.

Jamie: These things
are gonna get cut in half.

Then we're gonna weld the plates
right down the middle.

[ Chuckles ]

This thing is gonna be the
center of our wrecking balls.

It's a 3-inch-thick piece
of specially hardened steel

that we've chosen because
it's gonna be the contact point

from ball to ball.

And because it's really hard,

hopefully,
it's gonna transfer the energy

just like
the Newton's cradle does.

We're also gonna weld structural
stuff that we need onto it,

like a bunch
of reinforcing bars,

and the rest of the space
will be filled with concrete.

Narrator: It's definitely an
"all hands on deck" -type build,

even if a couple of those hands
get distracted.

[ Hammers banging musically ]

But once Adam and Jamie
chime back in,

their fearsome spheres...

Kind of hybrid of real wrecking
balls and giant ball bearings...

Take shape fast.

And off we go.

And while the concrete fill
starts chaotically...

Slow down!

Uh, stop.

It's not long before the team...

don, i need you to get
the vibrator ready.

Has this part of the build
in the can.

A little messier than i thought.

[ Laughs ]

Isn't that the title
of your autobiography?

Lovely.
Look at that.

And after two weeks to cure,

plus a quick paint job,
they're all set.

But will they actually work?

Adam:
After a couple weeks' work,

this is either 10,000 pounds
of awesome

or 10,000 pounds of failure.

Coming up next
on "mythbusters"...

A wrecking-ball-size
Newton cradle!

Narrator: But the question is,
will it work?

Please don't try what
you're about to see at home.

We're what you call experts!

Yeah!

[ Horn honks ]

Narrator:
A precariously balanced car

is no laughing matter,

but can a landing bird
really send you over the edge?

Kari: So, we're back
at the bomb range.

Now, it took a really long time

to get our car
perfectly balanced on our cliff.

Grant: Ohh!

But now that we've done it, it's
time to bring in some birds.

[ Whistle tweets, hawk cries ]

We have our expert, Jim,
coming in

to use progressively bigger
and bigger birds.

[ Chuckling ] Should be
really interesting today.

So, essentially,
this myth is all about leverage.

Now, imagine that this block
is the cliff

and this brick is the car
and this rock is the bird.

Because of leverage,
out here at the edge,

a small bird can land there

and cause the giant car
to go over just like this.

Narrator: That's the theory.

But will bird 1,
a classic yet humble pigeon,

provide enough leverage?

[ Pigeon cooing ]

All right, so, now we're gonna
start testing with the birds.

But we're gonna test it a little
bit differently this time.

We're still gonna put the car
on the edge of the cliff,

right where it's balancing,
just ready to fall over.

Should've paid more attention
to the sign... "cliff ahead."

But, this time,
we're gonna tether the car,

so, that way,
if it does go off the cliff

by the weight of the bird,
it doesn't go down the hill,

because... let's face it... we
don't want to hurt these birds.

We don't care about
ourselves. We just don't
want to hurt the bird.

Narrator: With Grant and Tory
sitting anxiously

in the hot seats
of their balancing car...

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Kari:
This is it. Okay.

Come on.
Bring on them birds.

Narrator:
Jim flips the birds, and...

Grant: Okay.
The birds are in place.

Yep, and we haven't gone
over the edge.

There's not a hint of tippage.

But to be sure, the guys
shoo the birds down the hood...

Go away, go away.

Shoo, shoo. Go.
Get out of here.

Don't you have a park
to poop on?

Because the further they are
from the fulcrum,

the greater the chance of a tip.

Two pigeons, not happening.

Nope. We are not going
over the edge.

Ain't that the truth.

The two pounds of pigeon
is just not enough

to cause their balanced car
to tilt up and over,

which means...

Think it's time
for a bigger bird!

Okay, so, we didn't get
any tipping from the pigeons,

so we're gonna move on to hawks.

Now, not only are we gonna get
the extra weight

but also the momentum
of the hawks' landing.

I still don't think it's gonna
be quite enough to tip the car.

You guys ready for the birds?

It's time to let the hawks go.

All right, hawk number 1,
ready to deploy.

Narrator:
Murray lands in a hurry...

But there's no wobble
to their wheels.

That didn't send us
over the edge.

All right.
Bring out another hawk.

Doubling the mass
to almost five pounds

does seem to make a difference.

I could see the hood
kind of bobbling there.

But it is still not enough.

All right, that's two hawks
at the end of the car,

and we have not
gone over the edge.

Kari:
You're not going over.

We did not fall over.

And when two hawks fail...

You got some work to do.
Are you ready?

It's time to bring in
the big guns...

The giant eagle owl.

You know, in many cultures, the
owl is the harbinger of death.

Harbinger of death?!

Thanks for
the encouragement, Jim.

And with those wise words,
it's go time.

All right, let's see if this owl
will send us over the cliff.

He's big.
He's really big.

Aah

we survived!
We did!

He's at the edge of the car, and
we did not go over the cliff!

Yep, once again,
the car's balance is unaffected,

even with this 7-pounder
right at the front of the hood.

Well, if the owl is not gonna
do it, i don't know what is.

Narrator: Grant, for one,
is not that surprised.

Okay, so, why don't i think
this works?

Well, imagine
that you're at a playground

and you have a perfect seesaw.

Theoretically, if you have
a mass, which is the bird,

landing far enough away
from the pivot,

it should be able to move
the seesaw, no problem.

The only problem here is that
this seesaw weighs 3,000 pounds

and it's on a metal pivot,

and the bird isn't heavy enough

and it's not landing
with enough force

to cause it to move.

Narrator: In other words, it's
gonna take an even bigger bird

to tip this car.

And for that,
it's back to the shop.

Tory: Do you hear that?
[ Imitates bird screech ]

That's the call of the wild.
Ca-caw! Ca-caw!

Narrator: Adam and Jamie's
wrecking balls are ready.

Let's move them out.
All right.

Now they just need
to be strung up

into the world's largest
Newton's cradle.

Jamie:
This is our location.

It's a dry dock
in vallejo, California,

and we've used it a number
of times before for experiments.

Check this out.

[ Cheers ]

I don't mind saying
I'm hyperventilating.

So, why this location?

Well, for the
wrecking-ball-scale version

of the Newton's cradle,
we need to be able

to suspend the balls
at quite a height.

Now, we could do it
on top of a large building,

or we could do it
by suspending them

over a big hole, like this one.

Narrator:
As well as the big hole,

the dry dock also comes complete
with its own cranes.

But unlike the video,

the guys won't be swinging
their balls from them.

Adam: Now, in the clip,
our wrecking-ball Newton cradle

is actually suspended
from five adjacent tower cranes

next to each other.

And there's two problems
with this picture.

One is they don't use tower
cranes to swing wrecking balls.

And, two, we were never, ever
going to find five tower cranes

that we could park
right next to each other.

So this "i" beam

and four others
quite similar to it

are going to be
a figure-8 structure

which we are going to hang

our wrecking-ball Newton cradle
from.

We're just about to weld it
in place.

That's it.
That was fast.

Let's get it in the air.
Yeah.

Narrator:
With the frame secured

so that it juts out
over the dry dock,

the guys then need to attach
their wrecking balls to it...

[ Chuckles ]

I'm gonna go over here.

Which, given their combined
weight of over five tons...

Aren't they pretty?

Is something which
is easier said than done.

Jamie: Given that each of these
balls weighs about a ton,

it's gonna be quite a process

to hoist them
and maneuver them into place,

so I'm gonna be on the ground
with a forklift

and I'm carefully
gonna cradle them

and pick them up
and put them in place...

Okay.

How does it look up there?

Looks beautiful!

While Adam is overhead
on a boom lift,

arranging the slings
and the cables.

And we'll carefully scooch them
all in so they precisely fit,

because if this thing
is gonna work,

that's the way
it's gonna have to be.

I think it's good!

Adam:
It looks perfect!

Narrator:
And once that's sorted,

the guys get on
with the finishing touches.

Jamie: Does that
add something to them?

Totally.

Yeah, it makes them pop
a little bit, huh?

But some viewers
may be wondering

why there's not
two strings attached.

Why, oh, why,
you might be asking,

are we hanging these wrecking
balls from single cables

when every Newton cradle we've
thus far built in this episode

hangs from two cables
in a "v" formation?

That's because
this is the arrangement

that we see in the clip.

We are testing the circumstances
of the clip first.

And only if that doesn't work
do we go to two cables.

Narrator:
With the string theory sorted,

everything is finally ready
for a test.

All right, you ready?
[ Chuckles ]

I've been waiting for this,
you know?

I know. Me too.

The world's largest
Newton cradle,

test number 1,

in 3, 2, 1!

Oh!
Ohh. Ooh.

Ooh.
Uh-oh.

Uh-oh. We had a little
rig settling there.

Yeah.

It wasn't very exciting, though.

No. It wasn't.

It was one hit.

Yeah.
A one-hit wonder.

Narrator:
A one-hit wonder, indeed,

and not a good one, at that.

But all is not lost.

I don't need
this high-speed camera

to tell me that one was,
shall we say, lackluster.

Where did the energy go?

The middle
of every one of these balls

is a big hardened-steel plate!

Well, some of the energy
was absorbed by the balls,

but some of it was absorbed by
our framework actually moving.

The amount of force
from ball 1 hitting ball 2

moved our entire
multi-thousand-pound framework.

So we've secured it
and we're gonna go again.

Narrator:
With the framework secured
to within an inch of its life,

it's onwards and upwards,
because, this time...

I think that's good!

They're pulling ball 1 back
as high as it will go,

to try to maximize
the energy of the swing.

Single string.
Maximum pullback.

In 3, 2, 1.

Come on.

[ Adam laughs ]

That was a hell of a hit.

It was a hell of a hit
and a very sad, sad story.

They're all just sort of
swinging together.

[ Sighs ]

That's kind of a letdown.

That is a real letdown.

Yep, despite ball 1
hitting ball 2

with an impact
in excess of 150,000 psi,

there's still no ca-ching
to the swing.

Hear that?
[ Bonk ]

[ Laughing ]
That is the sound of failure.

[ Laughs ]

This thing is so awesome!
I wish you could see it!

Unfortunately,
all we've got to show for it

is some swinging shiny balls.

They're not tick-tick-ticking

like the Newton cradle
of our dreams.

Sorry.

Narrator:
No need to be sorry, Adam,

because this myth's grand finale
is still to come.

Narrator: A pigeon cannot cause
a precariously balanced car

to tip over the edge.

But could
a much, much bigger bird?

[ Bird screeches ]

[ Slide whistle ]
Aah!

All right, despite what they say
about working with animals,

those birds were
really cooperative.

But since we don't have access
to any bigger flying birds,

i think we need to come up
with another plan.

Tory: Yeah,
and it's starting to get

a little dangerous
for these birds.

What if we went with
a model helicopter?

We get one
that's the same weight

as the biggest flying bird

and have it land
on the front of the car.

That's a great idea.

Not only can we match the mass
of the bird,

but we also get the downforce
from the rotors,

just like the bird
flapping its wings.

Awesome.

Narrator:
Weighing over 20 pounds,

the California condor
is majestic...

A far cry from the "mythbusters"
helicopter stand-in.

But while it won't win
any prizes for elegance,

what's key
is that the condor copter

weighs the same
as the real deal.

So, I've slightly altered
an r.C. Helicopter

to emulate the heaviest
flying bird in north America.

It should not only
be the same weight,

but, also, it should represent
its flight path

when it lands on top of the car.

Narrator:
And that flight path

is something
that's been studied by Grant.

Now, i found something
very interesting

about the way large birds land.

Check out this video
of our giant owl.

See how he swoops down
right before he lands?

He rears up
and then lands very softly.

He's minimizing
his landing speed,

minimizing that momentum that
he imparts on the target zone,

and that's exactly
what we're gonna want

our helicopter to do
on the hood of the car.

Narrator: Well, with the boys
all buckled up...

All right.
Time to go to work.

And expert pilot wolf witt
champing at the bit...

[ Motor revving ]

it's time
for this myth to lift off.

That bird is just trying
to psych us out right now.

I know!
Oh, no! Here it comes!

The very precise landing route
that the heli must adhere to

is making life very difficult
for pilot wolf.

Get away, you stupid condor!

And when the wind kicks up,
things get harder still.

Oh, he's playing games with us!

But, eventually...

The eagle has landed.

Oh! He did it!

He did it,
and we didn't go over!

Whoo!
Yes!

We survived!
Yes!

You're still there!

20 pounds, just like the condor,

the biggest flying bird
in north America.

Still didn't tip the car.

Narrator: So, to get
that elusive drop-off,

the team is finishing up

with some poultry in motion.
[Poetry]

We want to see, bird-wise,
what it takes to get that
car to tip off the cliff.

So i spent all morning
training 80 of my best hens

to land gently
on the hood of that car.

They're going to, single-file,
line up at the front

and work their way back
until it finally goes off.

Okay, you guys ready?

We're ready.

No laughing.

Narrator: Each hen weighs
a pound and a half.

They just sit and play dead.
It's incredible.

So, by keeping tally
of the number on the hood...

How many you got on there?

Five. Oh!

Bird down!

The guys will know how much
weight it would take...

22.

I'm starting to get
a little nervous.

To unbalance the car.

60!

Can you believe this?
60 game hens.

That's 90 pounds, man.

90 pounds, and still we are
hanging on to the cliff.

Yet, incredibly, even with
all 80 hens on there...

That's like a small person
standing on the hood.

The car still doesn't go.

Kari: I know.
This is getting stupid.

Totally stupid.

But Tory came prepared
for this eventuality...

[ Whirring ]
Aah!

I don't like it!
I don't like it!

Grant: Oh, my god!
That's crazy!

And brought
a 20-pound robotic Turkey,

which dances and jigs until...

Oh! Oh, god!

[ Laughter ]

[ Both laughing ]

[ Whirring continues ]

Oh, my god!
That was crazy!

I wish you could see

the trail of bird destruction
behind you.

You have to make that stop!
It's so creepy!

All right, it is not
looking good for this myth.

The movie version
where a tiny little bird

just kind of... dink!...
Lands at the end

and the whole thing goes...
Looking a little busted to me.

Tory: The good news

is we got birds to get the car
to go off the cliff.

The bad news
is it took over 80 birds...

140 pounds, to be exact.

And the only way
that would happen

is if a pterodactyl were to land
on the front of your car,

and we all know
that that's not gonna happen.

Narrator: And what that means
is this myth is busted.

At least, now we know why
the chicken crossed the road...

To get out of the way
of the falling car!

Narrator: The mythbusters'
giant Newton's cradle

started with a song...

* five homemade wrecking balls *

* one huge steel frame *

* huge, empty dry dock *

* and a wrecking-ball
Newton cradle *

narrator:
But ended with a dong.

[ Clank ]

Jamie:
That was a hell of a hit.

And a very sad, sad story.

But there may be light
at the end of the tunnel.

So, check this out.

Even though
this is hardened steel,

the areas where the balls
are impacting

have become flattened
from the impacts.

And it's not just here.

It's throughout
all of the balls,

which means that they're all
kind of squashing

like hamburger patties.

The amount of force here
is something on the order

of 500,000 times as much
as what's happening

with those little balls
on the desktop toy.

So, clearly, lack of energy
is not our problem.

Narrator:
Which means the problem

may be the single-cable system
causing the balls to lose focus.

[ Sighs ]
That's kind of a letdown.

So, having restrung the balls
with an extra cable,

things are looking up.

So, with some
preliminary playing

with the five wrecking balls
on the two lines,

Jamie and i are actually seeing

somewhat of a radical
improvement in their behavior.

Oh, oh, oh!
That's a little more positive.

We're actually not just seeing
a tick and then a "buh."

We're actually seeing
a tick, tick, which is...

It makes me cautiously
optimistic about this next test.

Jamie: So, why would
two strings per ball

work better
than a single string?

Well, the Newton's cradle is all
about efficient energy transfer.

So if any one of these balls
is a little out of line,

that's gonna mess up
the efficiency.

The two strings will help keep
these all lined up perfectly,

and, hopefully,
that will improve

what we're seeing
from this device.

Narrator: Well, there's
only one way to find out.

Adam: Wrecking-ball-size Newton
cradle, "v" formation cabling.

In 3, 2, 1!

Go, baby!

Yes! One...

[ Clank ]
Two...

Three.

Ish...

Four.
[ Chuckles ]

It's another
disappointing result.

But at least
there was some improvement.

Jamie:
That was a little bit better.

While our single string gave us
a 30% throw-out on ball 5,

our double-string version
gave us a 45% throw-out

on the same ball.

Now, that's nowhere near
the desktop version,

which gave us 98%,

and it's nothing like the clip.

But before this balls-up
gets concluded,

there's one last thing to try...

Ball 1 pulled back to the Max.

Two strings, Max pullback.

In 3, 2, 1/

narrator: It really is
now or never, and...

[ Adam laughs ]

it's never.

That went quite a ways.

And now it's all done.

So cue one of
the mythbusters' mottos...

Failure is always an option.

Adam: There goes
one of our cameras.

Jamie:
As far as we're aware,

this is the largest
Newton's cradle

that's ever been built.

And it is a Newton's cradle,
because it's demonstrating

exactly the same
physical properties

that the small one does.

But as we get larger and larger,
it becomes harder and harder

to rein in the physical losses
of energy in the system,

from the balls to the cables
to the overhead structure.

While it is a Newton's cradle,

it's just never gonna be as
perfect as the little ones are.

So, where do we stand?

We set out to replicate
what we saw in that clip,

and nobody can say
that we didn't give

a wrecking-ball-size
Newton cradle

[grunts] The best possible
chance of succeeding.

But it didn't look
anything like the clip.

No.
This one is totally busted.

Yeah, it's busted.

Narrator:
And it's busted not just because

their best-case-scenario balls
failed to fire,

but also because the viral video
was nothing but cgi.

Jamie:
Hey, you know, we ought to start
our own demolition company.

We got wrecking balls,
we got explosives...

Adam: Absolutely.
Whatever you want.

Have you had enough?
Of course you haven't!

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