All language subtitles for Mythbusters.S09E15.Walk.A.Straight.Line.1080p.AMZN.WEBRip.DD2.0.x264-CasStudio_track3_[eng]

Please do not try what you are
about to see at home.

We're what you call experts.

Can't you tell?

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

We lock and load...
[ Gun cocks ]

get lost...

Behold the hyneman
in his natural habitat.

Narrator:
And let loose.

Whoa!

First up, Adam and Jamie

look into the age-old anomaly

that while blindfolded...

I feel like
I'm doing pretty good.

Narrator:
It's supposedly impossible

to travel in a straight line.

I drove us
into the middle of a field!

Then...
Somebody order a car?

Kari, Grant, and Tory
find out if a Fender bender...

Whoo!
Whoa!

Narrator:
Could detonate a trunkful

of special-effects explosives.

This is our target car.

Narrator: Stand by for
a rocket-propelled car crash.

Oh, my god.
What just happened?

I don't know!
I don't know!

Narrator:
Who are the mythbusters?

Adam savage...

[ Tires screech ]

I am the master of the sun!

And Jamie hyneman.
Bye-bye!

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

Together with Grant imahara...

Whoo!

Kari Byron...

Hi, Grant!

And Tory belleci...
Hit it!

Narrator: They don't
just tell the myths.

They put them to the test.

Watch out because Adam and Jamie

are about to walk, swim,
and drive blindfolded.

What's with the blindfold?

Ah, well, you ever work
on something,

and it's not going
the way you want it to,

and you feel like you're just
going around in circles?

I know exactly what you mean.

Excellent, because that is what
this story is all about.

The myth is that a human
when blindfolded

cannot travel

in a straight line.
Really?

It turns out that not only can't
we walk in a straight line

but that left
to our own devices,

we will actually walk in circles

and that this might be one
of the reasons

we might get lost in the woods.

I thought with all
your survival training,

you'd love this story.

Hello? Jamie?

Oh, he's gone.

Narrator: It's
a deceptively simple concept

that has puzzled serious
scientists for 100 years.

Supposedly, when blindfolded,

it's impossible
for humans to travel,

whether on foot, in water,
or by road,

in a straight line.

It's a challenge Adam and Jamie
just can't resist.

Come on.
Come on back in here.

Did you even hear a word
that i said?

Yeah. Humans can't move in a
straight line while blindfolded.

That's the story.
How do you want to test it?

Well, when i think
about moving in a straight line,

i think about walking.

I think you might be right.

Is that where you want to begin?

Yeah, all we need
is a couple blindfolds

and a big wide-open field.

Let's do it.

A big field you say?

How about this one?

Adam: Our testing here
is pretty straightforward.

We've got a field
in which we can walk 3,000 feet

in any direction that we choose.

We've got a blindfold...

This one here is from
my personal collection...

And headphones to remove
any other stimulus.

And we're just gonna try
and walk in a straight line

and see what happens.

Narrator:
Sure, we'll see what happens,

but Jamie likes to be
more science-y.

We've got three ways
of telling how good we are

at walking in a straight line
while blindfolded.

First is by using the global
positioning system, or GPS.

This little thing
will be plotting a map for us

that we can look at afterwards.

Secondly, we've got
these lovely little orange flags

that we can place.

Are you ready to go?
What?!

Ooh!

Then lastly, we'll know
if we hit the target

because we will
have had to have walked

in more or less a straight line
to get there.

How do i think I'm gonna do?

I don't think I'm gonna be able

to maintain
an incredibly straight line,

but i don't think
I'm gonna be that far off.

I think i may veer
to the left or to the right,

but i think I'll end up
pretty close to my goal

of that cluster of trees
over there.

Or is it there?

Okay, in 3, 2, 1, go!

Narrator:
All he has to do

is walk in a straight line
with his eyes closed.

How hard can it be?

Adam:
It is a very weird thing

to be walking without
any visual or auditory stimulus.

Narrator:
What's really weird

is, apparently, how
surprisingly difficult it is.

Adam: You're holding
a picture of it in your head,

and in your mind's eye,

you're walking
a nice straight trajectory

across that landscape.

Tickling at the back
of your mind,

you're thinking
something might be wrong,

but try as you might, you feel
like you're walking straight.

Whoa!

Whoa!

[ Both laugh ]

Jamie: You started out
pretty nice,

but after about 300 feet or so,

you started to turn to the left,

and you just kept doing that

until you ended up
right back at the fence.

I swear i thought i was walking
a perfectly straight line.

Nothing told me
that i was possibly walking

in a 200-foot-diameter circle.

I am totally amazed
by that result.

Narrator: A result
nailed by the GPS trail.

The astonishing disparity

between Adam's perception
and his actual route

is there for all to see.

[ Laughs ]

That is hilarious.

It's a result
that begs several questions.

The first of which is,
will Jamie do any better?

Jamie is blind man walking

in 3, 2, 1, go!

With all the confidence
and certainty

you'd expect from the hyneman,

he strides off
towards the target tree...

Before veering off course
like he's got a short right leg.

And any doubt that subtle
topographical features

were the reason Adam went left

are dispelled as Jamie
leans so far to the right,

he turns back on himself
in a corkscrew pattern.

I ended up right back
at the road just like you did.

Narrator:
Time to delve deeper.

Adam:
Now, the question we have is,

is that leaning that we each had

to one direction or the other
consistent?

Walking blind...
Test number two.

Is it something
that could be corrected for?

Well, that's what
we're just about to find out.

He's doing a little better
this time.

Narrator: Adam's start
is certainly straighter,

but it's not long
before the test

literally takes a turn
for the worse.

Adam: Test two,
i didn't walk straight,

and i didn't even walk straight

in the same way i didn't walk
straight the first time.

I went in a circle
in the other direction.

Narrator: Yeah, two things are
clear from Adam's second test.

His route is far from straight,

and there's no discernable
pattern to his meandering....

Bye.
Bye.

Narrator: A theory compounded
on Jamie's second test

because once again,

he immediately heads off
in the wrong direction.

Jamie: [ Laughs ]
I'm lost.

Jamie: Trying to walk
in a straight line

while being blindfolded
is an exercise in futility

because without any cues
like vision or sounds and so on,

you're relying
on purely mechanical means

of determining your direction.

I feel like he's don quixote,

and I'm following him around.

But you're fluid.
You're not like a machine.

You can kind of
meander and wander,

and, in fact,

that's kind of what
these GPS paths are showing...

Is this looks like
a meandering stream.

Narrator:
And that meandering corkscrewing

leads Jamie and Adam
straight to a firm conclusion.

Stop.

We came here to look at the myth

that a person who is blindfolded
cannot walk in a straight line,

and we have
definitely proven that

with the data we've gathered.

Narrator: But the myth
specifically says travel

and not just walk.

So to complete the data set
and nail the science,

Adam and Jamie will be hitting
the highways and waterways,

attempting alternative forms
of blindfold locomotion.

What's next?

Swimming blindfolded.

Well, we can't do that here.
No.

Let's go someplace else.
All right.

You're gonna love this one.

This myth is about
a binary explosive

that is used
in Hollywood effects films.

A guy is transporting it
in the trunk of his car.

He gets rear-ended,
and the car explodes.

Now, here's the thing...
Under normal conditions,

until you mix
the two parts together,

the explosive
is completely stable.

But once they're mixed,
you can set it off

by shooting it with a bullet.

Okay, so, the myth here

is that the impact
from a car crash

has enough energy

to actually set off this
supposedly stable explosive.

Exactly.

Guns, car crashes, explosions...

I mean, it doesn't get
any better than this.

Narrator: It's the rear-end
Fender bender from Hollywood

that was never meant
to end up on screen.

Considering it usually requires
the impact of a gunshot

to set it off,

can a trunkful of
special-effects binary explosive

really go ka-blooey
in a car crash?

This is the first time

we've actually used
this particular explosive,

so i think we might have to do
a little research.

Yeah, let's go
to the bomb range,

and we'll ask ourselves
four questions.

One, what is it?
Two, how does it work?

Three, will a car collision
set it off?

And then, four,
will a bigger amount

give us a bigger explosion?

Explosions at the bomb range?

That's my favorite kind
of research.

[ Tires screech ]

Narrator:
With those four questions

and no small amount of mayhem
in mind...

[ Sighs ]

Guns and explosives...
What could be better?

The mythbusters
rock up to the bomb range,

where it's time
for a little shoot-and-tell.

This is the Hollywood
binary explosive of the myth.

You've got an oxidizer
and a catalyst.

The beauty of this... on their
own, they're virtually inert.

But if you mix them together

and shoot them
with a high-powered rifle,

you get
a superfast chain reaction

that gives you
a really nice explosion.

Grant: This is the first time
we've used it on our show,

but it shares many similarities
with other high explosives

that we have used on our show.

Namely, it requires a shock wave
in order to set it off.

A hammer won't do it.

Small handgun fire won't do it.

Even automatic
small-caliber fire won't do it.

You need a high-powered rifle.

And that's what we're gonna use.

And this is the gun.

It's a .308 sniper rifle.

This thing has a muzzle velocity
of 2,500 feet per second.

That's plenty of power
to set off our binary explosive.

Okay. Here we go. Firing.

Now, the plan is, we're gonna
fire into our catalyst.

Grant: Okay.
Catalyst alone.

No explosion.

And then we're gonna fire
into our oxidizer.

No explosion.
Time to mix them.

Tory: Then we're gonna mix
the two components together,

fire into that,
and see if it explodes.

Now, if it explodes,

that tells us a very important
thing about this myth...

That the chemicals were mixed
in the back of this guy's trunk,

which means that guy was crazy.

All right. This is
the mixed binary explosive.

You guys ready?
Ready.

Did you mix it good?
Kari: Oh, i did.

Wow!
That was a good pop.

Kari: So, we've come out
to the bomb range

to find out
exactly what we're dealing with.

Turns out we're dealing with
something pretty awesome.

You mix it together,

you add a little energy
from a high-powered rifle,

and you get a chemical reaction

that results in a cloud
of rapidly expanding gases,

or as we like to call it,
an explosion.

Now, the question is,
what's next?

Does more equal more?

If we ramp up
to a trunkful of this stuff,

how much bigger
will the explosion be?

That's right.
It's bigger-boom time.

Narrator:
Next on "mythbusters"...

The walrus is back
in his not-so-natural habitat.

And later...

[ Cheers ]
Kari, Grant, and Tory

ramp it up with rockets.

Our myth-busting pedestrians
have already established

that blindfolds
and straight lines don't mix.

Whoa! [ Laughs ]

But how about
other types of travel?

I can't believe
we didn't get pulled over.

[ Laughs ]

We've already established
that when blindfolded,

we were unable to walk
in a straight line.

Now it's time to find out

if we're able to swim in a
straight line while blindfolded.

Each of us will take a turn
putting on a pair

of blacked-out
swimming goggles.

Then we'll see if we can swim
a straight line

from here to the reflector
across the lake.

The GPS will tell us how we did.

You know what i like about tests
where i get to wear a wet suit?

Tight material tends to hold me
in a little bit,

make me look
a little less tubby.

[ Sighs ]
It's not working, is it?

Oh, crap.

Narrator:
Speaking of body shape...

GPS me.

Is the wonky walking
of the previous test

all about that particular method
of movement?

Whoo! Whoo!

Aw, it's cold.

Narrator: Will the biomechanics
of swimming

keep our out-of-shape swim team
on the straight and narrow?

Well, a mere 30 feet
into the test,

it's clear that the blindfold,

by blocking out
any visual landmarks,

makes the answer
a drifting, dizzying no.

He's swimming around and around
in a corkscrew.

Narrator: Once again,
the really compelling detail

is not how far off course
Adam is straying...

I must be close!

But that he thinks
he's going straight.

I feel like
I'm doing pretty good.

In my mental landscape,
the target's still right there.

No. No, Adam, it isn't.

Let's see if the walrus
can do any better.

I'm ready.

Jamie:
Well, Adam didn't do so well.

Will i be able to do any better?

Without any kind of reference,
i don't see why i would.

Narrator:
Aiming blindfolded

for a target
straight across the lake,

two things are clear.

For a marine mammal, he's...
[ Walrus barking ]

clearly not at home
in the water.

And his pre-test prediction
was right...

As well as the occasional left,
followed by a right...

[ Laughs ]

some more right,

and, well, you get the picture.

Adam: Well, Jamie didn't fare
any better than i did

in attempting
to swim in a straight line.

In fact, he fared far worse.

He did have the intuition
in the middle

that things
were going horribly awry...

I get the feeling
I'm swimming in a circle.

Adam: Whereas i thought i was
heading straight for the target.

Verdict time.

Is it possible to swim
in a straight line
while blindfolded?

No.
So, what's next?

Driving.

[ Laughs ] I love it.

Narrator: Can the impact energy
of a Fender bender

set off a trunkload
of binary explosive...

[ Tires screech ]

and blow a car to smithereens?

Kari, Grant, and Tory
are at the bomb range,

aiming to find out.

Wow!
That was a good pop.

Kari: So, we know from working
with explosives like anfo

when you use more of it,
you get a bigger boom.

It seems pretty obvious.

But that might not
actually be the case here.

In special effects, they use
really small quantities.

One load is only half a pound.

And, in fact, when it's mixed,
it's really, really stable.

So what we need to know
is if a single bullet

will actually detonate
the entire batch

when you're using
a very large quantity.

All right.

This is Hollywood binary
explosive double load.

Send it.

Kari: Whoa!

[ Laughs ] Whoa!

Wow!

Tory: Now, as you can see
from the destroyed box,

the double material gives
at least double the explosion,

if not more.

But now what we want to see

is if you had multiple cans
mixed up,

would hitting one of them
set off a chain reaction,

or would the one that got hit
by a bullet just explode?

So we're gonna mix up five jars
of this stuff, line them up,

take a shot at one,
and see if it sets off the rest.

All right.
Here we go.

Grant: Wow!

Tory:
There you go.

That was awesome!

You got a chain reaction.

They all went off.
Totally.

Kari: I like combining guns
and explosives.

Yeah.
It's all right.

Grant: When we first started
this story,

we had four questions...

What is this explosive,
how does it work,

does more equal a bigger boom,
and can a car crash set it off?

Well, we have answers
to the first three.

We know what it is,
we know how it works,

and we know
that one small cannister

will detonate a chain reaction
in a much larger batch.

So the big question is,
will a high-energy impact

other than a high-velocity round

be enough to set off
our binary explosive?

That's right.

We are about to see
if we can create an explosion

from a car crash.

Coming up next on "mythbusters,"
where did i leave my car?

Narrator: In the myth of
the exploding Fender bender...

kari, Grant, and Tory

are having fun
playing with guns and blammo.

All right, so, we know that
our Hollywood binary explosive

needs to be mixed to go off.

We also know that it takes

a high-velocity round
to make it explode

and that it can go off
in a chain reaction

even if it's in several
different little containers.

[ Tires screech ]

So now we want to see
if an impact

will set off
those binary explosives,

just like in a car crash.

To dig a big hole,
you need a big shovel.

Narrator: So, to replicate
the exact conditions

of the mythical scenario,

the team is setting up
for an actual car crash...

Somebody order a car?

In a controlled environment.

Kari: Now, you'll notice we're
not on a road or on a runway.

Turns out it's really hard
to find a place

that'll let you crash
a car with explosives.

So this is our answer.

We're going to bury a car
halfway deep

so that just the trunk's
sticking out,

re-create the crash by dropping
another car at 150 feet

so that it hits at freeway speed

with 50 pounds of binary
explosive in the trunk.

Tory: All right, so, now
that we have our hole dug,

it's time to put our car
nose down into the hole.

[ Laughs ]

This way, the car
won't move at all

when we drop the other car
from 150 feet

from the crane into the trunk.

Looks like we caught a big one.
[ Kari laughs ]

Narrator: With 50 pounds

of premixed binary explosive
in the trunk...

20 times more than this...

It could well be
the end of the road

for our flame-covered friend.

All right. Car's loaded.
Let's drop a car on it.

Kari:
We're almost doubling the speed,

and the collision
will create 880,000 joules

of kinetic energy.

Yeah.

I still don't think
it's gonna explode.

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

Dropping a car from 150 feet
at 60 miles an hour

and crashing it into another car
that's standing on end

half-buried in the ground
with a trunkful of explosives.

Just another day at the office.

Kari: All right.
This is freeway speed.

Grant: 100 loads of binary
explosive in the trunk.

Rear-end collision
in 3, 2, 1.

Direct hit!

That was a great hit.

No explosion.
No explosion.

No explosion.

Narrator: No explosion.

And with the circumstances
of the myth re-created exactly,

albeit at 90 degrees,

the damning conclusion
is quick to follow.

Kari: We wanted to create
a crash at freeway speed.

I think we did one better.

Why? Because that car's buried
into the ground.

It had nowhere to go.

That means it absorbed
all the energy of the collision.

Still no explosion.

This myth is busted.

Narrator:
Under normal circumstances,

the myth is busted.

But can the impact
from a Fender bender

ever initiate an explosion
under any circumstances?

To find out, this story
is getting supersized.

I think we need more speed...

Some extreme speed.

Well, we could make
a rocket-powered car.

I mean, that would give us
a lot of speed.

All right.
Road trip.

I hope this works.

Narrator:
Having walked wonky...

Whoa!

And swum squiggly,

the myth that it's impossible to
stay on the straight and narrow

while blindfolded
is looking good.

But our dynamic duo
are covering all of their bases

and taking human locomotion
out of the equation.

Even with the aid of a machine,

can you travel a straight line
while sight-deprived?

Some blindfolded driving.
Should we get to it?

I think so.
[ Laughs ]

Jamie:
This test is really simple.

Once again, we're gonna use

blinders
and hearing suppression,

and all we're gonna do
is try and drive a straight line

right towards
the city of San Francisco.

So that we can tell
where we've been,

we're gonna attach
this sports chalker

to the back of our golf cart,

and that line's
gonna tell the whole story.

Narrator: They'll also be using
their trusty GPS unit

to plot their course
electronically.

And in this most straightforward
of tests,

Adam thinks he's about to bust
the myth by doing just that...

Going straight.

Adam: I do have a prediction
for this test.

I don't think
it's going to be very hard

to drive in a straight line.

Go.

I think all i need to do
is align the wheels

and not move my hands.

I'm holding my hands steady,

but i can't shake the feeling

that I'm drifting to the right.

Interesting.

Narrator: Once again, Adam
rejects straight-line reality...

[ Laughs ]

in favor
of his own internal vision.

Okay. You're gonna
have to stop.

Well, you can open your eyes.

I was drifting to the left?

Yeah.
Want to try again?

Absolutely.

But two further tests

only confirm the fact
that driving in a straight line

is not as simple as holding
the steering wheel steady.

Oh. Oh, i feel
a terrain change.

I think I'm in trouble.

Any number of small adjustments
and corrections

have to be made
to stay the course...

You know, i think the wind

is, like, giving me
a false feeling of turning.

Could be.

Adjustments that
are impossible to make,

for Adam at least,
without a visual reference.

[ Laughs ] Whoa!

I drove us
into the middle of a field!

And the GPS data
illustrates that perfectly.

The question is,

can Jamie do any better
on his three test drives?

Go.

Jamie:
Basically, I'm trying to focus

on my internal sense
of orientation.

And i have to say, it doesn't
feel like it's very accurate.

Well, that doesn't feel right.

That leaves me with only a very
rough sense of what I'm doing

based on the wind
and the roughness of the road,

which isn't
a whole heck of a lot.

Funny. I could be going around
in circles

for all i know.

So this doesn't really work
too well, i don't think.

Narrator:
Despite making it

further down the runway
than Adam,

Jamie has only given this myth
another kick

in the "confirm" direction.

Adam: So far,
we've walked, we've swum,

and now we've driven.

I'll admit i thought
we weren't gonna get anything

out of the driving test
in terms of results.

I mean, supposedly
you're in this machine

where all you need to do is hold
tight to the steering wheel

and it'll carry you
on a straight line.

I'm holding my hands
perfectly steady.

What's wrong with me?

But even in that machine,

the kinesthetic feedback
we're getting from the world

forced both Jamie and i
to make corrections.

These corrections were based
on a map of our landscape

we had in our head
which wasn't correct,

and thus our corrections
were incorrect

and sent us careening
all over the runway.

Even driving, we could not make
a straight line.

Narrator:
It's an interesting anomaly,

and there seems to be
no rhyme or reason

as to why we can't do it.

There's no correlation between
left- and right-handedness

or body asymmetry.

It simply appears
that, deprived of our eyesight,

we are physically incapable

of maintaining the unnatural
construct of a straight line.

So the myth is confirmed.

But Adam and Jamie
want to take it further

and explore
the real-world implications.

Do not try what
you're about to see at home.

We're what you call experts.

[ Clank! ]
Ow!

Okay. So,
a 60-mile-an-hour crash

is not gonna set it off.

But we can't stop there.

All right.
How about this?

How about instead
of a regular Fender bender,

it was like a super car crashing
into the back of another car

at, say, a couple hundred miles
an hour?

I love it, and i know
exactly where we're gonna go

to test this.
Road trip?

Yeah, but just in case,

let's not put the explosive
in the trunk.

Good idea.

Narrator: When ramping it up
is on the menu,

there's one location
that's guaranteed

to find the dial
marked "awesome,"

turn it up to 11, rip it off,
and run away laughing.

Perfect day for science.

Tory: So, we are back
at new Mexico tech,

one of the most incredible
test facilities in the world.

Why are we here?
Because of their rocket sled.

Last time we were here,
we split a car in half.

With this track, our rocket sled

should be able to accelerate
with 63,000 pounds of thrust

over a quarter-second,
upwards of 300 miles an hour

to create what we hope

is gonna be the world's
fastest car crash.

And this is our target car.

It's completely isolated, as if
it were stopped on the freeway

with 200 loads of mixed
binary explosive in the trunk.

When that rocket-sled car comes
crashing into the back end,

we will find out
once and for all if a collision

has enough energy
to create a detonation

and give us a massive explosion.

Narrator:
But before the team

launches a rocket-propelled
Fender bender,

a control is required.

Tory: Now, you know
it's gonna be a good experiment

when the control test
is a massive explosion.

Narrator:
Knowing just what kind of havoc

the rocket sled can wreak...

Adam: Wow!

Detecting
whether the binary explosive

has actually detonated
amongst the carnage...

What an impossibly large amount
of force.

May be difficult.

Mythbusters version of cocktail.

Shaken, not stirred.

So, to be sure, the team

will set off the same amount of
binary explosive... 200 loads...

In the trunk of this car

and establish
a devastation benchmark.

This is the biggest bomb range
at new Mexico tech.

New Mexico tech, where you can
get a phd in blowing [Bleep] up.

In fact, it's also
the most robust bunker.

It is built to withstand
20,000 pounds of tnt.

Our explosion's
not quite that big,

but it's within the spirit
of the myth...

A trunkful of binary explosive.

Okay, so, because this is
potentially so dangerous,

we will be very far away
and underground.

Home, sweet home.

So we're gonna do it
the old-fashioned way...

Use a detonator.

All right. This is
binary car control

filled with 200 loads
of binary explosive.

In 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

[ Laughs ]

Wow! That was
a massive explosion.

Tory: That was
an incredible explosion.

I mean, i had no idea
that this binary explosive

had this much destructive power.

But we know
that it took a blasting cap

in order to set this off.

The real question now is, will
a car crash have enough energy

to set this off and do
the same amount of damage?

Well, at least now
we have a benchmark.

Narrator: In the ramped-up
rocket-sled crash,

they'll be looking for a shock
wave, followed by a fireball,

and the car roof
being blown 200 feet in the air.

And those are
just the control benchmarks.

With that,
it's time to hit the track

and set up for the Fender bender
to end all Fender benders.

Tory: I know this engine
doesn't look like much,

but it's gonna be putting out
a million horsepower today.

Kari: This is the first time
new Mexico tech

has actually put a car
on the rocket sled.

There's a lot of jeopardy here
aerodynamically.

If that car
starts to lift off the track,

it's going to pull that rocket
sled off of the track,

trash the experiment
and the track.

Narrator:
Hence the concerted team effort

preparing the impact vehicle...

A truck
with rockets as standard.

Tory:
This is the first time

they are flying a vehicle
down the track.

Anything can happen.

Narrator:
But there's one thing

Tory thinks won't happen.

Tory: Now, we know
a high-powered rifle

will set off
the binary explosive,

and that is traveling
at 2,000 feet per second,

which is 1,400 miles an hour.

Wouldn't be a truck
without one of those.

[ Drill whirrs ]

Tory: Now, our car
is only gonna be traveling

at 300 miles an hour,

so i have a hard time
believing that that crash

is gonna be enough
to detonate the explosive.

But we have done
everything we can scientifically

to cover our bases.

Let's see what happens.

Narrator: With a trunkful
of premixed binary explosives

in the target car...

200 loads.

All that's left to do
is winch the truck

back to the start of the track
and add the rockets.

These are 5-inch hvar rockets.

There's gonna be 10 of them
on our sled.

Now, they were made
in the 1950s,

but, believe me,
they still pack a punch.

They're gonna give us
65,000 pounds of thrust

in a quarter of a second

and cause the sled to experience
17 g's of acceleration.

That should be more than enough
to get our truck going.

Narrator: Next,
it's mythbuster versus wild.

Will you really walk in circles
in the woods?

Aw, crap.

So, the blindfold
cleanly removed our ability

to walk, swim, or even drive

in anything remotely
approaching a straight line.

Well, that pretty much
means the myth

is confirmed, doesn't it?

Yeah. But there's something
that's still bugging me

about this story.
What's that?

Well, under no circumstances
do humans ever actually try

and perambulate
while blindfolded.

Where's the real-world
application?

What do you have in mind?

I'm thinking that if humans

are supposed to
get lost in the woods

and that they supposedly
walk in circles,

let's you and me
head out to the woods

and see if we can get lost
and end up walking in circles.

It's a plan.
Excellent.

Narrator: It's widely reported
that unprepared walkers

lost in the woods
unwittingly wander in circles.

With no clear view
of their destination

or established landmarks,

it's as if they were
blindfolded.

It's a potential
lifesaving story

Adam and Jamie
can't resist tackling.

[ Laughs ]

Behold the hyneman
in his natural habitat.

Narrator: On a clear day
in unknown territory,

unable to see their direction
through the trees,

can they stick
to a preselected bearing?

Adam: Jamie and i are each going
to choose a specific trajectory

and try and walk a straight line
on that trajectory

while being tracked by a GPS.

In 3, 2, 1.

Here we go.

After 30 minutes,
we're gonna come back home

and see exactly how we did.

Jamie:
Now, I'm not talking

walking a straight line
like a ruler.

I'm talking i have someplace
i need to get to,

and i want to go there directly.

I'm gonna be doing
several things

to keep me walking
in a straight line.

I'm gonna try and take sightings
off of trees or other landmarks,

and I'm gonna note my position
relative to the sun.

Right now the sun is directly
overhead and off to my left,

and so if i want to use that
to orient myself

as I'm walking
through the forest,

all i have to do is keep it
in approximately that position.

Of course, as time passes,
it's gonna move through the sky,

but i can still keep it kind of
on that one side fairly easily

to compensate for it,

and that'll make sure
i don't walk in circles.

[ Bell dings ]

Oh!

That's the time.
Time to go home.

Narrator:
Using their trusty GPS units,

they head back to position one,
where the results are in.

Despite terrain obstacles and
obscured long-range visibility,

Jamie,
using a range of techniques,

maintained
a very accurate trajectory,

and even Adam generally headed
in the right direction.

Using the sun
to get his bearings,

he clearly avoided the
corkscrewing the myth implies.

While i might not have
the survival training

that Jamie has,

my techniques
actually worked pretty good.

With the help
of a gorgeous day and the sun,

i was able to maintain a
reasonably straight trajectory.

Narrator:
But for the next test,

they're gonna make things
tougher and turn off the sun.

Jamie: We have to replicate
a situation

that is less than optimal
as far as navigating.

Maybe it's a snowstorm,
or maybe it's at night,

and all you've got
is a flashlight.

One way or another,
you can only see

in the immediate vicinity
right next to you.

Now, i tried a number
of different things

back at the shop

to see if i could re-create
that kind of situation.

[ Coughing ]

Definitely not.

Narrator: And it turns out the
perfect artificial snowstorm,

used by experts to train
for whiteout conditions,

where your vision is restricted
to a radius of just a few feet,

is the bucket head.

[ Laughs ]

Okay. Here we go.

As before, Adam and Jamie
have a preselected bearing.

They can see their feet

and a limited distance
in front of them.

Aw, crap.

Narrator: But crucially,

they can't see the sun

or use long-range sight markers.
Adam: Ow.

But our expert outdoorsmen
has his technique down pat.

By methodically pacing
at right angles

around direct obstacles...

Forward.

Narrator: He maintains
his straight-line trajectory.

And go forward again.

Narrator: While Jamie

robotically paces
towards his goal,

the extreme conditions get
the better of untrained Adam...

Something tells me that things
have gone horribly wrong.

Narrator: Until he's simply
wandering in the woods

with a bucket on his head.

With the test complete,

the GPS results show
that urbanite Adam

beautifully illustrated just how
important survival training is

in extreme conditions.

Look at that!

I almost drew an ampersand
in the woods.

Narrator: In contrast,
Jamie's route was indicative

of his practical approach
and technique.

I think we've learned
an important lesson here.

You don't have to obliterate
someone's vision.

You can just merely restrict it,

and all of a sudden, they
might start walking in circles.

[ As Jamie ] Right.
But with proper training,

you can still walk in
a straight line and to safety.

[ Normal voice ]
Thanks, Jamie.

Narrator: Yep,
while lost in the woods,

as long as you can see the sun,

anyone can walk
in a straight line.

However,
with limited visibility,

you'll need training
and a disciplined approach.

But is there another option
for a successful escape?

What about teamwork?

Let's get out of here.
I'll navigate.

All right.

Narrator: Coming up,
there's a blastoff...

and a dance-off.

Watch.
I can make Jamie dance.

One way or another,
it seems that humans

are not inclined to walk
in a straight line

if they can't see very well.

Makes me wonder, though,

if there's not some kind
of mechanical solution.

[ Laughs ]

This I've got to see.

Jamie:
All episode long, Adam and i

have been trying to travel
in a straight line...

I'm holding my hands
perfectly steady.

What's wrong with me?

Without very much success,
i must say.

He's swimming around and around
in a corkscrew.

But now we've had an idea

that may just be the solution
to our problem.

And we're not exactly sure,
but the problem seems to be

that lacking any stimulus,

the human mind creates
a landscape for itself...

Can't shake the feeling
that I'm drifting to the right.

That's not exactly correct

and then makes corrections
based on that landscape

that lead it very far astray
very, very quickly.

So we thought what if a device
could be created

that would allow two people
working in tandem

to directly, physically feel

when they were being led
off of a straight line?

That's when we came up
with this.

Narrator: By securing themselves
into each end

of a rigid,
straight-line tether,

the theory is physical feedback
from the hip harnesses

will alert them if they wander
off the straight and narrow.

Watch.
I can make Jamie dance.

The fatal flaw
for our blindfoldees

could be the high degree
of teamwork required.

That's enough of that.

With their simple
"a" -to-arrow course set up,

it's time
to turn out the lights.

I got my goggles.
Here we go.

In 3, 2, 1.

Let's go.

They're off, and the early signs
are encouraging.

I feel like we're walking
in a nice, straight line.

Okay.

Unlike Jamie's solo efforts,

when he veered off course
very early,

our pair of perambulators

look like they've got
this conundrum cracked.

Now i know what it really
is like

to have a monkey on your back.

[ Laughs ]

But it's not long
before their internal reality

conflicts with the real one,

and they steer off course.

In my mental landscape,

we're traveling slightly
to the right of the arrow.

Feels like we're doing okay.

I feel like you're leaning
a little to the right.

Adam:
Our device's whole point

was to try and add a kinesthetic
sense to the human body

that it was moving
off of a straight line.

And i honestly felt

like we were maybe
slightly veering off course,

but we walked
a complete horseshoe,

and not once
did i have the sense

that we were making
a tight turn.

Just didn't work.

[ Laughs ]

We're facing where we started.

That's amazing.

The arrow's way over there!

[ Boing! ]

[ Both laugh ]

This didn't work at all.

Well, what are you gonna do?
That's science.

You come up with a theory.
You test it.

Either it works, or it doesn't.

And in this case, it didn't.

Are we ready?

Yes. We're ready.

Right.

Well, it would seem
that all of our tests

have definitively shown
that human beings

tend to lack the ability to walk
in a straight line.

Now, what we haven't attempted
to figure out

is the "why" of that phenomenon.

But i think it's safe to say
that it's confirmed.

Are you there?

I'm right here.

It's totally confirmed.
I agree.

Narrator: That's what
the detonation of a trunkful

of Hollywood binary explosive
looks like.

Love a good explosion
in the morning.

Narrator: Question is, can
the impact from a Fender bender

initiate that explosion?

All right.
Ready for launch.

Narrator: If a rocket-propelled
truck can't do it,

no conceivable car crash
ever could,

because at 300 miles an hour,

we're exceeding the speed of the
fastest super car on the road.

This is binary explosive
versus the rocket sled.

It's this myth's final chance...

Here we go.

And final countdown.

Tory: In 5... 4...

3... 2... 1.

[ Laughs ]

Oh, my god.
What just happened?

I don't know!
I don't know!

Narrator: What just happened

was an old, beat-up
pickup truck...

powered by 10 hvar rockets,

pumping out
65,000 pounds of thrust,

pulled 17 g's

and got up
to almost 300 miles an hour.

[ Laughs ]

Oh, my god.
That was awesome.

[ Laughs ] Wow!

Narrator:
As Fender benders go,

that was at the end of the scale
marked "insane."

But to find out
whether the binary explosive

in the trunk of the target car
was detonated,

the team needs to get
a closer look

and compare it
to the control blast.

Kari: We watched 200 loads
of binary explosive detonate

so that we could compare it
to what we just witnessed.

We saw a rocket sled

come down the track
at almost 300 miles an hour

and crash
into the back end of a car

with the same amount
of explosive.

Now, though a spectacular sight,

it was not a detonation.

What we saw with our explosion
was a flash of fire.

What we saw here
was a disintegration.

Anybody get the license plate
on that car?

Now, we know
that our binary explosive

can be set off
by a high-powered rifle round.

But this myth
is about a collision,

specifically
a vehicle collision.

We continued to ramp up
our speeds

all the way up
to nearly 300 miles per hour,

and still no detonation.

Narrator:
As incredible as it seems,

the energy that could cause
this type of damage

was still not enough
to initiate the explosion.

And that's the beauty
of binary explosives.

Safety-conscious
Hollywood special-effects teams

can rely on a very specific
detonation fingerprint

and know
that any incidental impact

will not have
disastrous consequences...

which leaves
just one conclusion.

Wow.
That was incredible.

I don't think this myth
can be any more busted.

Now, that was
a high-speed crash.

Yeah.
And you know what?

You're not gonna see a crash
like that on the road.

And even if you did,
there'd be no explosion!

Definitely not a detonation.

All right,
so a collision from a car

is never gonna set off
a trunkful of binary explosives.

This one is busted.

Busted.
Busted.

That was awesome.
[ Laughs ]

Want to know
why we did what we did

and didn't do what we didn't do?

Go to discovery. Com/
mythbustersaftershow

and see why.