All language subtitles for Mythbusters S01 E21

On this episode of Mythbusters, it's all
aboard with Cary Grant and Tori when

they test the tall tale of a train track
disaster.

That's going to be so cool.

Is it possible for a passing train to
suck you off the platform?

Then Jamie and Adam take to the skies to
tackle the classic classroom myth.

Learning every minute. That you can't
make a concrete glider fly. This thing

done.

Who are the Mythbusters?

Adam Savage.

Ants are all over my head, man.

And Jamie Heinemann. Gets me all worked
up just looking at it.

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

That was heavy.

Joining them, Grant Imahara.

Go get him, boy.

Tori Bellacci.

Somebody order some exploding pants.

And Carrie Byron. Oh, God.

They don't just tell the myths.

They put them to the test.

So, Grant, you take the train a lot,
which is kind of weird because most

drive or take planes. I like the train.

That's cool. But, you know, there's this
one myth, though, that if you stand too

close to a passing train, it can create
suction and pull you into the train.

There is a yellow line to help protect
you, so maybe that has something to do

with it.

This urban folklore conjures up every
commuter's worst nightmare. Can the air

pressure caused by a fast -moving train
actually suck a person right off the

platform and onto the rail?

I have an original idea.

Let's start in the small scale.

Let's go find, like, a model train and
build a wind tunnel and do some testing

to see if you actually even have any
suction.

The first order of business is to set up
a wind tunnel and blow some smoke

across a model train.

So while Grant hops and puffs, putting
the wind tunnel together, Tori and

get to go model shopping.

At San Antonio Hobby, Frank the train
man has everything the guys need, and

got some positive news for the myth.

If you stand too close to a train and
it's going fast enough,

It can suck you under.

Now, about those toy trains.

What's the scale on them?

This is 129th scale.

The gauge of the track is G.

Wow. I've actually been doing a lot of
research on people doing aerodynamic

tests on trains, and 125th, 129th around
this, this is the perfect scale for

wind tunnel tests.

So they have their working scale. And
here comes the fun part, choosing their

choo -choos.

How would I wouldn't give to have one of
these when I was a kid?

There's no better way of finding your
inner child than stalking the aisles of

hobby store.

Let go of the trains. Let go of the
trains, honey. Remember the golden rule.

What's that?

You never have too many trains.

Before the guys derail this sequence
completely.

Now that.

Cool. A timely phone call from Station
Master Grant gets everything back on

track.

Hello? Hey, what's up? Hey, Grant,
what's going on?

Hey, I've been reading up on the
research, and I have some new

you. All right, go ahead.

A freight train, it's got a much rougher
aerodynamic profile than a passenger

train. A passenger train's pretty
smooth, and that can generate a higher

slipstream.

So according to Grant, odd -shaped
freight cars might be the best bet. But

the myth is all about an unsuspecting
commuter, they take home a passenger

as well.

Man down.

Man down.

Back at Grant Central Station, our
station master is busy making a wind

And using a NASA -inspired idea, it's a
breeze.

What they use in regular commercial wind
tunnels is a honeycomb.

many densely packed small holes.

These holes reduce turbulence from the
wind source and smooth out the airflow.

And check out the big brain on Grant,
because he's found a cut -price

for high -tech honeycomb, drinking
straws, 47 ,000 of them.

And with the wind tunnel ready to blow,
it's time to get set for the test. But

what are they looking for?

There are three areas that we're going
to be looking at.

There's a high -pressure zone right in
front of the train at the nose, the

slipstream, which is a thin layer of air
going over the sides, and then right at

the back of the train, a low -pressure
area called the wake.

Hopefully with this, we'll be able to
see smoke swirling around at the back,

which would tell us that it's getting
sucked into there.

So Grant thinks the wake is the key to
this myth.

Could this swirling, ultra -low
-pressure vortex, kind of a mini

powerful enough to pull someone off
their feet and onto the rail?

Tori, for this first test, do you want
to turn the wind on? And Grant, you

be the scout.

I'll turn on the smoke.

The team's wind tunnel works a treat, so
testing proceeds.

First, with a passenger car.

Right there, a little cyclone.

That's where I see the little vortex.

And then the odd -shaped freight cars,
which, like Grant suggested, appear to

cause more turbulence.

We're getting a lot of vortex at the end
here.

It's tough to see it in real time, but
the high -speed camera confirms what our

three sets of eagle eyes suspected.

The small -scale trains really do suck.

You still have a little collection of
smoke right behind the train. And that's

exactly what we're looking for. Based on
the experiments that we have just seen

today, I really do believe it's possible
for somebody to be sucked off a

platform. Because the mini -wakes look
like they could definitely pull at least

something nearby right into it.

That's a green light to proceed to the
next station. And Carrie, for one, is

excited. We need full -scale, full
winds, full -size people getting sucked

the train. That's going to be so cool!

Concrete glider. The classic engineering
school challenge. You can't make a lead

balloon. You cannot make a glider out of
concrete.

That's it. Somehow we've got to build a
glider out of concrete.

Adam and Jamie are on familiar ground
when it comes to taking off with crazy

contraptions. Pilot to bombardier. Pilot
to bombardier. Do you read? Over. The

Mythbusters have attempted to get
airborne with a jet pack.

It really is ridiculous.

Launch Jade the Simulate into the bay
with bottle rockets.

And take Adam on a helium life raft
ride.

Oh, it's very satisfying.

Oh, I shouldn't do that.

But this time, it's mission seemingly
impossible.

Can our intrepid duo conquer the skies
with a concrete glider? How are we going

to get around the fact that concrete, to
my knowledge, always has like rocks and

gravel in it that's going to make it
really hard to make a glider out of?

Well, the key component in concrete is
Portland cement, and the gravel and the

sand and things like that can be
substituted for other things, and some

are a lot lighter weight.

Oh, so, I mean, we should actually just
do a bunch of testing. First of all, mix

up some concrete mixes that use lighter
weight aggregates and see if we can

actually lose a lot of that heavy
weight.

Yeah.

So, first up, they're going to learn how
to lighten up their heavy weight

building material.

This is a standard concrete mix.

It's one part cement, two parts sand,
and three parts gravel.

The gravel and sand that go in this is
what is known as the aggregate.

The gravel in this particular mix is
about standard, and it's about

maximum three -eighths of an inch in
diameter.

In addition to the standard mix, Jamie
makes up three more with various

lightweight aggregates.

beanbag foam beads, hummus, and lastly,
a material made up of tiny glass

beads called microballoons.

Now they just have to let it set. And
because watching concrete dry ain't

exactly Emmy award -winning material,
let's come back when that's done.

Concrete. With 6 billion cubic meters
made every year, it's the most common

-made substance on the planet.

Buildings, bridges, and freeways are all
made of this ubiquitous material.

But the question is, can you use it to
make a glider? And will it fly?

For answers, Adam and Jamie have come to
Moffett Field NASA Ames Research Center

for a crash course in aerodynamics.

And glider guru Dr. Steve Smith has some
good news.

I'll bet you can make a concrete glider.

The whole question is weight. So if you
build a concrete glider with some

reinforcing structure inside and a lot
of filler so that the concrete plus all

the other stuff is still pretty light,
then, of course, the speed required to

fly to make enough lift to support its
weight will come down, and you may get

down slow into the typical range that
modern sailplanes fly. Have you ever

of a glider being made out of concrete?

So actually, yeah, the Germans
experimented with a concrete -winged

World War II to be used as a glide bomb.

I think it had some kind of a steel core
or steel structure inside for

structural strength, but they basically
used concrete as a very cheap, quick way

to form a wing shape around it.

What are typical modern gliders made of?
Well, the modern racing -style planes

are made out of pretty exotic materials
these days. They're mostly built out

of... Carbon fiber, reinforced epoxy,
Kevlar, fiberglass, all the good modern

space -age structures.

So we've been, in our research, we've
turned up the glide ratio. What is that?

Well, the glide ratio is the slope that
you travel along as you glide. So a

typical glide ratio for a modern
sailplane might be, let's say, 40 or 60

And what that would mean is that you
would glide 40 miles horizontal for

mile that you would drop, or say, 5 ,000
or 6 ,000 feet.

And so that ratio is the slope that you
would make.

Now, there is definitely...

A lot of food for thought that we got
from Dr. Smith here.

I thought this was totally ridiculous,
and I thought maybe we'd get something

that would fall less hard.

But, I mean, the information we got here
says that we ought to be able to make

something that's actually fairly
respectable as aerodynamic and made out

concrete.

Back at the shop, and the concrete is
ready for the weigh -in.

And no one is surprised when the
standard concrete, the one with the

it, is heavier than the alternative
aggregates.

Based on this first test, there's some
pretty impressive variances in the

weight. Everything from foam beads at 68
pounds up to concrete at 115.

It looks like we'll be able to come up
with a mixture that might be light

enough. The question is, can it stand up
to the type of pressures we're going to

put it under?

We're going to have to do some strength
testing.

In other words, they need to beef up
their lightweight concrete recipe with

muscle. The single biggest problem with
the concrete glider is the concrete.

Concrete has compressive strength but no
tensile strength, which means you can

put a block of it down on the ground.
You can fit hundreds of thousands of

pounds in that block, and it won't
crush.

But you can make a thin sheet of it,
push it through with your finger, and

crack.

So we're going to need to look at ways
to strengthen the concrete.

And one of the ways is...

with an additive material that adds a
structure inside the concrete that makes

it more flexible and more prone to
bending without breaking.

So Adam and Jamie need to know which
concrete reinforcers work best in thin

slabs. And they cast up several,
including carbon fiber mesh and pre

cable.

After leaving them to cure, Jamie is
ready to test their tensile strength

his trusty force gauge.

Okay, so this is cable reinforcement.

Ooh, very significant.

We tested four different types of
reinforcements. Each of those increased

strength to some degree on the concrete
samples.

The standout was the cable
reinforcement.

So Adam and Jamie have some concrete
information, and they've passed

Aerodynamics 101 with flying colors.
It's time to get started on the build.

So, I don't know if you've heard, but
we're going to do this as a build -off.

I hate build -offs. I know you hate the
build -offs, but look at it this way.

While we might be able to make a more
successful concrete glider working

together, working separately, we're
going to illustrate two completely

ways of solving the problem and cover a
lot more ground.

Whatever.

Ah, the pointless competition.

So loved by fans, so hated by the myth
-busters.

Adam hates losing, which happens a lot.
I'm going to kick your goldfish ass.

And Jamie, well, there's nothing about
these head -to -head contests he enjoys,

except the cheating, which is why Adam
is insisting on guidelines set in, well,

set in concrete.

There must be total secrecy.

The glider can be built to any scale,
and the winner will be determined by who

achieves the longest relative flight.

So let's hear from competition Scrooge
Jamie, who he thinks will win. I have no

idea who's going to win, and I don't
care.

Bah, humbug.

We're back on track with the tall tale
that a passing train could make your day

really suck.

The story so far has seen Cary Grant and
Tori testing toy trains in a wind

tunnel, and the results mean they can
move on to the next chapter.

Well, that was really interesting. Looks
like we do have some suction. The small

-scale test definitely showed some smoke
vortex at the end of the model train.

I guess the real question now is, is
that enough suction to pull you off into

the tracks?

Well, I mean, now we need to go to full
scale, and we still haven't found

anybody who's willing to let us use
their train. So, any ideas how we're

to test this one?

I got an idea.

I think we should get out the chicken
cannon and set that up.

and choose one of us as a test subject.
Period. Random.

Not it.

And then see what effect the increased
wind speed has on

our bodies.

The chicken cannon will give the team an
idea of what kind of air pressure and

wind speed it takes to topple a typical
guy like Tori. Wow, that's so hot on

you. Thank you. But before they turn
Tori into chicken cannon fodder, they're

going to do a preliminary test with a
fourth gauge and harness.

All right, ready?

I'm ready. Here comes Mr. Rain!

See how hard that was?

It was like pulling down a tree.

The force gauge clocks in at 70 pounds
per square inch, which tells them two

things. Don't try this at home. We're
professionals. We are professionals.

70 PSI is the kind of force a real train
will need to generate to suck someone

onto the rails.

Plus, they have a number to aim for when
they calibrate the chicken cannon.

So, let's dust off the MythBusters
favorite.

Why do you have the chicken cannon out?
Because we're going to start shooting

each other with it.

It was first used to test if a stray,
high -flying bird could crash through an

airplane canopy.

This is a frozen chicken.

And this is no toy. You're watching
frozen poultry propelled at 121 miles

hour.

Wow!

But on this test, the only chicken
inside is nervously shuffling his feet

business end of the barrel.

I don't think it's going to push me
over.

But then I've been wrong before.

Now, remember, they're not just doing
this for fun. If they can work out what

kind of wind speed and air pressure
knocks Tori off his feet, they'll have

data to crunch when they get to play
with a full -size train.

We're just going to send Tori just
straight into the fence behind us.

That'd be cool.

You're the crash test dummy after
Buster.

Because he's not as easy to repair as
Buster, On their first test, they're

starting at just 30 psi.

And to measure the wind speed, Grant has
a handy little device called an

anemometer. What we're going to do is
set Torrey up just as if he were

on a railway platform waiting for a
train.

So, in other words, he's not going to be
braced and ready to be hit. He's just

going to be standing on his feet just
like anyone would be standing.

Wait a minute.

I'm just trying to think what is the
worst that can happen here.

Anybody?

All right, let's go.

Torrey plucks up all his courage, checks
the newspaper for great deals on health

insurance, and tries not to brace for
the blast.

I hear funny noises.

Must be the train.

The 30 PSI gust rustles up a wind speed
of 24

miles per hour, and Torrey is slightly
unbalanced.

And that turns out to be good data.

Because in Europe, British Rail has set
a maximum safe wind speed on the

platform of 24 miles per hour.

Apparently that threshold works. Yeah,
24 miles an hour.

Now the guys want to ramp it up and see
what it takes to suck you off the

platform.

Adam and Jamie are not only taking on
the myth that you can't make a glider

of concrete.

They're flying solo.

So what I'm going to do is buy a model
glider kit, and I'm going to add weight

to it until it just barely achieves what
I need it to achieve.

And then I will use that kit either as a
mold or a guide for creating a concrete

airplane.

Remember, the rules state they can build
on any scale.

So Jamie goes shopping for a toy glider
to use as a mold.

This type of airplane right here has the
most exceptional lift to it, much

stronger material.

Jamie selects two to test with. The
first is a stealth bomber model that has

excellent lift but is extremely
unstable.

And the second is a U -2 spy plane,
which, with its glider -like wings, also

great lift but is less sensitive.

Well, thanks, Bob. Okay, Jamie, nice
doing business with you guys. You too.

you soon. All right.

Back at M5, and while Jamie is using
pragmatic shortcut, Adam is taking a

intuitive approach.

Basically, he's going to wing it.

Try to come up with a visceral
understanding of exactly what it takes

something fly.

I don't just want to follow someone
else's design and then have it screw up

me because, well, I just followed
someone else's design.

Incredibly, Adam's make -it -up -as -you
-go -along approach seems to be

working. That's cool. Right there?

That's cool.

I'm going to do some actual, like,
almost kite tests with this just to try

figure out how this kind of size of
glider might work.

I'm trying to learn all about everything
I need to know within a day.

Okay.

Learning every minute.

It's a learning curve of precipitous
proportions.

But the addition of a tail fin provides
some stability.

And he seems pretty happy.

That's good. That's a good test.

Which means it's time to move on.

I want to do a little more research.

I might want to rebuild this thing in
wood just to try the design out.

Still not quite as heavy as the
concrete.

But if the wood flies, then...

I don't see any reason why the concrete
shouldn't be able to.

Now that looks like a crash and burn.

That was about a one -to -one glide
ratio.

Like it fell about, it looks about 25
feet away.

It's about how high I am.

And that was still a little bit lighter
than the concrete will be.

And with take two no better, it looks
like it's time for the MythBuster

plan B.

So if I had built a concrete airplane
this size, I mean, it would be known as

rock.

I'm going to need to scale back, back,
smaller, to try and get something

successful.

Meanwhile, Jamie has spent an hour
rigorously testing his shop -bought

gliders.

Okay, that was a good test.

And he's pretty sure a hybrid of the
stealth bomber wing with the fuselage of

the U -2 bomber is the best flyer.

Well, it looks like this wing design is
the winner.

Next, Jamie weighs down the model to see
what the maximum payload is.

Well, based on this test, I believe this
is about the maximum that I could go. I

think I should be under this, but
definitely no more than this.

I'm going to go ahead and weigh this
now, and we'll see what kind of volume

concrete that translates to.

So according to Jamie, if he can make
this glider out of concrete and keep it

less than 800 grams, he might just get
this myth off the ground.

Millions of us commute by train every
day. So is it possible we're just one

away from disaster?

And if a fast -moving train can really
suck you off the platform, the next

generation of super trains traveling at
223 miles per hour could be lethal.

Putting his body on the line for the
myth, Tari has discovered a blast of air

30 PSI, which generates a wind speed of
24 miles per hour, won't knock you off

your feet.

That was nothing. Let's do 100 PSI.

Tori, how about 50 PSI?

It blew

my cover off.

Whoa!

That was sweet!

Tori's still standing, but only just.

Didn't knock you over on your butt,
though. No, but it definitely knocked me

back.

It lifted my shield, and then it just
ripped the newspaper to shreds.

That 50 PSI shot of air notched up a
wind speed of 46 miles per hour, and

struggled to stay standing. It looks
like the team have their knockout

So really the indication, if your paper
shreds when the train passes, you're

standing too close.

If you're not prepared for this kind of
wind speed hitting you, I don't think

you would have the reaction time to be
able to hold yourself up. You would

possibly fall into the train.

But the big question is yet to be
answered. Can a full -scale train

that kind of wind speed in reverse? Will
the weight at the rear of the train

suck at 46 miles per hour?

Fortunately for Torrey, he won't be the
one standing on the platform to find

out.

That job goes to Buster's ballistics gel
brother, Ted.

Our fall guy needs to be as lifelike as
possible. That means building a rigid

frame to support the legs and gel
-coated ropes to bolster the arms.

This is a ballistic material, and I've
coated a piece of rope. And this is just

so that when we pull it out, the arms
don't just rip off the body.

Once Ted pulls himself together, he gets
filled up from the neck down.

Tory pours in enough ballistics gel to
fatten up our mannequin to a healthy 200

pounds. Big enough to prove almost
anyone could be sucked off a railway

to a grisly death.

Yeah, it's kind of weird looking, huh?

The weigh -in confirms he's in fighting
shape.

207 pounds. He's a big boy. It's all
muscle. Yeah. Okay.

Now, all Ted needs is to get ahead.

Modern gliders or sailplanes make it
look so easy.

Their state -of -the -art designs and
space -age materials contribute to

incredible glide ratios of over 40 to 1.

That's 40 miles of travel to one mile of
vertical drop.

Adam and Jamie have got the tough job of
trying to recreate that effortless

flight with a glider made of concrete.

So far, Jamie's having some success.
He's made a mold from his toy glider and

carefully mixed cement, sand,
fiberglass, and water into paper -thin

sections.

And the fresh concrete mix is almost
ready for curing.

Jamie may be up, up, and away.

I don't know how to build airplanes.

But Adam is still grumbling. So I looked
into the origins of the glider.

I come across Cayley and his proto
-original coachman -carrying glider.

Cayley was an amazing aeronautical
experimentalist. He died, I think, in

-1800s, 50 years before the Wright
brothers' first flight with a powered

airplane. And yet, the experimentation
he was doing on wing shapes and glider

shapes and the forces involved of lift
and drag are absolutely...

It's astonishing, considering that his
work went largely ignored for decades

after he died. His design for a glider
is not what you think of as a modern

glider or airplane wing, and yet it's
been proven since then that it actually

works and that it is an effective design
for a glider.

I think it's as good a place as any to
start with this.

So, Adam finally has a design.

Now he's got some catching up to do.
Well, now I've got to draw out the

on the foam, and then I've got to start,
like, sanding and sculpting it.

With the mold ready to go, Adam lays out
carbon fiber mesh for strength.

And then he casts his lightweight
concrete mix onto the foam mold.

And like Jamie, it's just a question of
getting his concrete glider to cure.

But this being Mythbusters, time is of
the essence.

I am prepping my mold to hopefully set
faster than 28

days, which is the recommended setting
time for this concrete.

Keeping the concrete moist in a warm
environment is as much as they can do to

encourage the curing process.

Concrete sets in hours, but curing is a
chemical process that takes weeks.

Jamie is first to find out if their
accelerated curing technique has worked.

That's got to be about the thinnest
piece of concrete you ever saw.

So far, so good. But as he assembles the
wing sections, Jamie finds he has a

weightier problem than the curing
process.

His maximum weight of 800 grams has been
busted.

Right now it weighs about 1 ,300 grams,
which is about twice what it needs to

weigh for it to be in the worst -case
scenario where it just barely is flying.

And this is...

without any of the other structure on
it. This is just the basic, this wing

shape. But the bereted one has an
ingenious solution.

He's going to use the bottom sections of
the wing as the entire wing.

This was originally just the bottom
section, not a very structural part of

original wing.

But seeing as how he's so overweight,
now this becomes the actual wing itself.

By putting a little bend in it, I think
we'll get to the same place.

With the weight problem taken care of,
assembly begins.

And in a last -minute design addition,
he uses some ultralight fishing line to

add some tension to his ultra -fragile
glider.

With Jamie on the runway and ready for
takeoff, let's find out how his wingman

Adam is doing.

Feels good.

I've got some hopes for this.

With the Cayley glider set, it's time to
release it from the mold. And using an

old model maker's trick, Adam dissolves
the foam with acetone. But now he's got

an issue with excess baggage.

It's been way too long.

I don't have a target weight. Just super
crazy light was what I was hoping for.

So I got a bit of work pulling out as
much weight as I can.

So to get the Cayley glider down to a
reasonable flying weight, Adam and his

angle grinder have got a long day ahead.

Our team of train spotters have tested
toy trains for turbulence.

They've toppled Torrey with a tug of war
and turned him into chicken cannon

fodder.

It's time to take this test to the full
scale.

After months of searching, our
researchers have found a railroad in

New Mexico, that's willing to give it up
for science.

The line is still being built, but
there's enough track to push this rail

engine to its legal speed limit of 79
miles per hour.

So, Robert, have you ever seen anything
stuck towards the track, you know, on

the station?

Me, personally, I never have.

I've heard of it. So Robert, our driver,
thinks it's plausible.

But the engine he's driving is hauling
two passenger cars, which we know create

less turbulence than freight cars.

But this legend involves unsuspecting
commuters waiting on a platform. So it's

really the best way to test the myth.

Yeah, I was very pessimistic about this
myth until I saw the size of this train.

It's huge.

I can't believe anybody's going to give
us something this big to play with.

I could see this actually being true.

If Ted could speak, he'd probably be
screaming, why me?

But misery truly does love company, and
he won't be alone out there.

Something else we'd like to try today,
we brought a baby stroller with us.

It's not part of the myth, but train
traveling parents often have their

with them.

And because it's on wheels, the guys
think it will help illustrate the

effect.

The stroller may get pulled off the
platform even if Ted and his 200 pounds

unmoved. Now his back wants to be to the
train. It's like he's got a headphone

on. He's listening to music. He doesn't
know the train's coming.

Okay. The expression says it all. Ted
ain't exactly confident, but Tari thinks

his chances of survival are good.

My feeling is the train's going to go
through.

There's probably going to be a lot of
rumbling. It might knock the dummy over,

but I don't think the suction is
actually going to be strong enough to

dummy in.

The last thing to do before the
potentially lethal drive -by is to set

Grant's wind speed gauges.

With that done, it's time to set this
test in motion.

Three miles away, Robert set his train
rolling, slowly building up to the legal

speed limit of 79 miles per hour.

She'll be here any second.

That was

awesome!

That was intense.

Ted's been tipped sideways, and the
stroller's snapped its line. In fact,

taken out of camera.

So the stroller...

The line snapped.

It got pushed so hard. Are you serious?

It sucked that way.

Oh, jeez.

My God. So any mom that has her stroller
that close to the train.

Was it suction or was it more just the
gust of air that pushed him over?

With so much happening so quickly, it's
difficult to tell what's going on. But

the replay seems to indicate the
stroller being blown along the platform.

there's no sign of Ted getting sucked
onto the tracks.

The myth of the concrete glider has
brought Adam and Jamie head -to -head in

aviation dogfight. And to find out who's
going to be top gun and who's going to

be the goose, it's time to get a visual
on the enemy bogey.

Ta -da!

Ah, well, it looks like something right
out of Leonardo's day.

It's actually modeled on Cayley's
glider. It is, in fact, his most

glider that carried a person.

And it weighs a bloody ton.

Yep. His thing is going to drop like a
stone when he lets it go. I mean, you

see by the shape, it's not got very much
lift involved.

You know, I'm guessing that it barely
has any more lift than mine does.

And yet it weighs several times as much.

So I don't have a whole lot of hopes for
it. Yours is a lot heavier than mine.

But it's a lot sturdier, so it kind of
nicely illustrates the tradeoff. If you

go for lightweight, you get something
very fragile, which is what mine is.

let's see your fragile, wilting bird of
a plane.

Okay. It looks like a glider.

I did testing on something that was a
foam version of this. Yeah.

And this is under the weight that I
tested and still considered it to sail.

So it seems Jamie has taken Dr. Smith's
advice about weight being the key and

gone for a super light design.

But will it hold together?

And Adam? Well, he's gone for stability.
But will it generate enough lift to

overcome its substantial weight?

Next, and the weigh -in. In this corner.

Weighing in at... The scales confirm
Adam's worst fear.

At just over 600 grams, Jamie's wilting
bird is a featherweight. This is

basically concrete with a few pieces of
string, and I think it's a fantastic

attempt at foiling the myth that you
can't make.

A glider out of concrete.

Adam is next. And with over two kilos of
Cayley glider, he's definitely in the

heavyweight division.

So with a heavy heart and glider, Adam
has to feed firmly in his grasp. Let's

set up a wind tunnel test so we can
figure out how many different ways

probably beaten me in this contest.

Okay.

Using Grant's drinking straw technique,
Adam breezily whips up a wind tunnel.

The idea behind the drinking straws is
that they make the flow of the wind

coming out of the fan completely
laminar.

The blades create vortex effects and all
sorts of things about the wind that are

turbulent. And by forcing them through
drinking straws, make the flow much more

what we call laminar and straight.

And that should be perfect for getting a
good test for us.

With the makeshift wind tunnel up and
running, Adam and Jamie can measure

glider's lift -to -weight ratio.

They'll do this by weighing the glider
in front of the fan.

Any lift their glider achieves will
result in a weight reduction.

Yeah, I'm seeing, on average, probably
about, yeah, just about a maximum 200

grams of lift there.

By my best guess, my glider was
receiving about 38 % of its total weight

lift. 38 % is impressive. With a decent
launch speed, that will increase, and it

may just be enough.

Next up is Adam's Cayley Glider.

Well, it's nice that I can feel some
lift, but this thing is heavy.

His lift -to -weight ratio is well down
on Jamie's. It's only generating half as

much lift. Yeah, it spikes up to 350.

Bye, Mike.

Glider did not seem to perform as well
as Jamie's. Actually, about half as

At this stage, Adam is thinking his
heavyweight contender won't stand a

against Jamie's featherweight champion.

But with both fighters ready to rumble,
it's time to pack up and head back to

NASA to let these concrete creations
fly.

Carrie, Grant, Tori, and Ted have
survived a train track flyby.

With no sign of the mythical suction on
the first run, it's take two.

But this time, the train will be going
backwards with the blunt end leading and

the aerodynamic engine at the rear.

Yeah!

Dang!

Dude, look at the stroller.

Look at the stroller.

It got thrown off the platform.

Incredibly, Ted is still standing. He
wasn't even blown back.

But Grant's battery of wind gauges has
its own tale to tell.

On our first run with the train coming
this way and the aerodynamic tip

we had parallel to the train, wind speed
of 49 .9. The second run

with the flat end leading coming this
way, we had on this one.

26 .8. Whoa.

So the wind speed on that run was
actually less.

So according to the figures from the
chicken cannon tests, both runs

enough wind to make a typical guy
stumble.

But it's all blowing straight out or
parallel to the track.

It looks like the turbulence moving with
the train and away from the track

trumps any wake effect there may be
following the train. But Grant is a

train spotter and wants just one more
try.

I'm down here at ground zero monitoring
these anemometers, and it is really

scary as the train passes in this huge
cloud of dust and everything, and I get

stuff in my teeth.

It's very exciting, though, but scary.

Once again, Robert the driver winds his
engine up to full speed.

Ted finds himself face down on the
platform, and the stroller's missing in

action. But how did Grant survive the
blast?

Can we calibrate it by the gravel in
your face and the depth that it's gone?

Yeah.

So no one was sucked onto the train
tracks for a dice with death.

And with no obvious results, it's back
to the shop to study the high -speed

camera and piece together the data.

Looks like all the wind is running
parallel to the train.

Yeah, I'm definitely not seeing any
suction.

The first and third runs had the most
violent effects, but there was no sign

any suction.

The winds blasting outwards and sideways
were far stronger than any vortex that

may have been created behind.

If Ted had felt any suction, that tie
rope would be as taut as fencing wire.

Knocked his headphones right off, and
look at the stroller. There it goes.

It's lifting, and it's running parallel
to the train in the flip stream.

All that turbulence is parallel.

So in the end, there's nothing like a
full -scale test to sort the fact from

fiction. And this one looks like a
foregone conclusion.

So what do we come to for conclusion for
train section?

Oh, it's busted. Totally busted.

But still really, really dangerous to
stand that close. You don't want to

very close.

You do not want to be there.

Let's just psycho.

Ow!

Well, Adam, what are you doing?

Time to test these things.

Are you ready?

Ready as I'll ever be. Me too.

Okay, let's go.

It's launch day, and in search of
perfect test conditions, our pioneering

touch down back at the NASA Ames
Research Center.

We're back at Moffett Field, hangar
number two, where we shot helium

and it's ideal for the concrete glider
test for the same reasons it was ideal

for helium football.

We can close the doors of this huge
space and eliminate any wind.

Dr. Steve Smith, MythBuster's font of
all flying facts, is there to check out

the designs.

and offer some last -minute advice.

Crucial question on this one is going to
be where the center of gravity is so

that it trims. Well, where should it be?
So somewhere probably between 25 and 30

percent of the length, maybe. About
right here?

It turns out that it's not just about
reducing all the weight possible from

this, because if it's super light but
balanced incorrectly, it's still just a

stone.

Next, Jamie presents his featherweight
wilting bird.

But does Dr. Smith think it'll fly more
like a paperweight?

Yeah, that's impressive. That's
beautiful.

Table stay bracing and everything. Look
at that.

Wow. Wow.

Dr. Smith's upbeat reaction to their
designs has fueled their enthusiasm. But

his advice means Adam and Jamie have
some tweaking, trimming, and testing to

To get the balance right, Adam is
stealing another of George Cayley's

ideas and adding a gondola.

The weight beneath the wing can be
adjusted to move the center of gravity.

it should stabilize the glider in
flight.

Jamie has also been busy shifting his
glider's center of gravity.

further forward.

It looks stupid, but we don't care about
that right now. It's a concrete

airplane. What are you going to do? It
may have been called Big Nose at glider

school, but it's ready to fly.

And while Jamie has been picking his
glider's nose, Adam's been getting some

launch advice.

I figured out with Dr. Smith's help.

Actually, Dr. Smith figured out with my
help. And by help, I mean I supplied him

with measurements.

He was able to calculate that it should
fly

At around 20 to 22 miles per hour, about
30 feet per second, if it is to hit its

ideal speed to glide ratio. And because
his throwing arm won't manage two miles

an hour, never mind 22, he's got a
cutting plan.

He's going to use a zip line, toe line,
and quick release.

That mark is where the pin gets pulled
out.

And my glider starts flying on its own.
Adam then optimistically marks out a

target distance of 50 feet.

That's how far I want to travel.

Jamie, who has decided to hand launch,
looks on unimpressed.

At this point, if I were to guess,
there's going to be something go wrong

the kind of scheme that he's got for
launching it properly.

But we'll have to wait and see.

Now, I'm about to let go of this. You
got the hook?

Yep.

Oh, buddy.

Okay. Everything's in place. I'm going
to go down there and grab the tow line.

Last call for the departure of Concrete
Airways, flight 101.

Three, two, one, go.

Well, the launch was successful, and
Adam's Cayley glider has survived

relatively intact.

But how far did it glide?

Well, let's see where I, oh, there's my
50 foot mark, 55 feet. So I didn't make

that.

Looks kind of like I hit, maybe at like
20 feet.

So I didn't get my, I didn't get my
glide ratio I was hoping for.

But hold on, there's a catch.

Adam thinks his glider released from the
zip line and began flying on its own at

a height of 20 feet before gliding a
distance of 20 feet.

But there's been a recount.

My glider released from its catch off of
its guideline at about nine feet off

the ground.

It then flew close to 34 feet before
hitting the ground.

Now, four times nine is 36.

So 34 feet means I came devilishly close
to a four to one glide ratio.

I'm stunned, actually. I could not be
more pleased with these results.

I know I was shooting for 55 feet, but
really, I was hoping for anything over a

solid drop into the ground.

It flew very stably. That is really
clear, which means that, I mean, we only

one chance. I only had one chance to
trim this thing so that it would fly

straight, and it did.

That is, I feel really, really good.

Incredibly, Adam has gone from underdog
to top cat.

Jamie steps up to the plate, but he's
stubbornly sticking to a manual launch

from the stairwell, despite Adam's
successful flight.

I don't want to screw around and, you
know, get some kind of, you know, line,

zip line going and all this kind of
stuff. I'm just going to throw it and

what it does.

With a spring in his step, Adam measures
out the target Jamie needs to exceed to

succeed. We know that Jamie's 28 feet
off the ground, so if he wants to hit a

to 1 glide ratio, he's got to get his
plane to hit the ground at 112 feet.

Calling all passengers for Concrete
Airways Flight 102.

Okay.

In 3, 2...

One. Well, there you go.

Jamie's wilting bird took flight and
then took a nosedive. In other words,

concrete glider was all concrete and no
glide.

Congratulations. You won.

I'm going to enjoy this for the short
while that it lasts.

Jamie's one -to -one glide ratio was not
even close to matching Adam's soaring

achievement of four -to -one. And, you
know, it's possible Adam will let Jamie

forget about this.

It's not really about who wins or loses.
It's really just about illustrating the

concept.

But I won. But unlikely.

All gloating aside, what about the myth?
Did the guys prove anything about the

concept of a concrete glider?

Aerodynamics of planes don't scale up
very easily from small to human size.

But that being said, I think there is
actually a tiny chance that

one could build a human -sized concrete
glider. I'm not sure that I would get

into it, but I'd certainly give Buster a
ride.

Well, Adam, I don't think either of us
were really that happy with the gliders,

but we did prove that it can be done.

I'd call it plausible.

But not recommended.

Yeah, you know, the big thing for me is
that you only got one shot at it. You

know, it's brittle. If you crash with
the things, it's over.

But, you know, I think we also proved
that if you really think through your

launch and you do it correctly, that you
can actually get some gliding done.

We're threading a little bit, are we?

Sure.

Okay. I'll enjoy it while I can.

So we're plausible.

Plausible. But not recommended.

Exactly.