Original subtitles

Coming up on Mythbusters.

Myth Revisited, where we take you on.

There's crashing.

It's bad.

And wallet.

In a Myths Revisited special, can salami really work as a rocket fuel?

Stand back, it's time to get some rocket fuel out of the fridge.

Is it possible to record sound onto a painting?

Tori and Grant see if a hand braced on a windshield will stop it from

shattering. I'll miss you, buddy.

Then Adam and Jamie revisit the best way to drive a pickup truck.

Test it. Tailgate up. It's like old times. And finally, there's a battle of

blades. Can a sword slice through a machine gun?

Who are the Mythbusters?

Adam Savage.

And Jamie Heineman. Aren't Tracer rounds illegal?

Between them, over 30 years special effects experience.

That's what I'm talking about!

Joining them, Tori Bellacci.

What could go wrong?

Carrie Byron. We're going for total annihilation.

And Grant Imahara. I'm pumping as fast as I can!

They don't just tell the myths.

They put them to the test.

The more we do this show, the more I think really committed we are to trying

get at least some kind of scientific approach to what we're doing.

Yep. But I got to say, I get a lot of angry email from fans complaining that

screwed this up or you messed that up or you guys have no idea what you're

doing. Yep.

Are you going to say anything but yep?

Mm -hmm.

All right. Well, this is another Myths Revisited episode.

We're going to take another stab.

at some myths that viewers found incredibly controversial, and the first

Salami Rocket.

Yep.

In Salami Rocket, Adam and Jamie wanted to find out if luncheon meat could get

lawn.

Three, two, one.

But according to some fans, with this rocket, it's Houston, we have a problem.

Well, I don't know what more the viewers want. We got the rocket off the ground.

Yes, but the viewers are saying that we did not get a bonafide ignition.

It flew.

Yeah, they claim that all we got was the release of nitrous oxide propelling

that rocket. There was no actual ignition, just the gas alone and its

gave our rocket that launch.

Hmm, I think now would be a good time for a graphic.

Their original rocket was a two -tank hybrid rocket. The bottom half contained

the salami rocket fuel and the top the fuel oxidizer, liquid nitrous oxide, or

NOx. The theory was that on ignition, the salami gently smoldered until the

was released with explosive results.

But some fans think that the salami was never actually a light.

So the thrust they got was thanks only to the release of the NOX.

So we have to retest it. This is just a total proof of concept just to see if we

can get ignition between the NOX and the salami and to see if that ignition

produces real thrust.

Huh.

To find out if their rocket was a NOX no -hoper or a salami fizzler, the

Mythbusters have dusted off their original plans.

Rocket fuel.

So, first things first. It's back to the butcher's board. Remember, the bandsaw

was invented for cutting meat.

Just like last time, Adam's starting by shaping the salamis so that they'll fit

snugly into the rocket.

Gusting. And just like last time, Adam's suffering from innuendo overload.

Too many.

Joke.

With Adam showing the restraint of a saint, he heads on to tackle another

complaint, the graphite exhaust nozzle.

Despite Adam's silky skills, there were some fans who thought his original

nozzles were not strong enough. So I've made the new ones with a much thicker

lip. It should provide a lot more material and provide a lot more

Come launch time, these reinforced nozzles should do the business.

But for this experiment, the term launch is not entirely accurate because

they're going to do these tests locked down.

We're going to do the Thalami rocket revisit bench test right here outside

shop but inside the bunker.

Now, this bunker is specifically designed to be able to contain things

flame and explosions and projectiles that we don't want to expose ourselves

And to get some data without a launch into the sky, Jamie's built a special

clamp that will hold the rocket in place.

That looks pretty nifty.

At each end of the clamp, he's putting force meters that should measure the

amount of thrust the lockdown rocket gives off on ignition.

That's the theory.

And with countdown approaching, Jamie puts the finishing touches to the rocket

fuel, an inner coating of gunpowder.

This is an invention of mine that's called self -cooking meat.

So while there won't be a vertical launch, with salamis, rockets, and

there'll still be some fireworks.

Now it's time for things to get rough.

Here we go for run number one, 15 miles per hour.

When the team tested the myth about driving on rough roads, paramedics are

nowhere to be found. They found that for a smoother ride, the faster you go, the

better. But now, fans want to know something new.

Well, Grant, I understand you have an interesting side myth here.

Yep, and it has to do with rocks on the road. And if you have a vehicle

approaching you or if you're following one that might kick up a rock into your

windshield, you put your hand up on it and apply pressure.

And doing this will save your windshield if a rock hits it.

It's another car taper. Can bracing your hand against the windshield really

prevent it from being shattered by roadside shrapnel?

I don't know. This really falls into the hogwash category to me. I can't imagine

that the dampening of your hand is going to prevent the windshield from being

broken.

What's your plan?

Well, we were thinking we'd get a slingshot and a rock and a bunch of

windshields. I reckon you're going to have to do something more like that.

Okay.

To test this driver's dilemma, rather than using Jamie's hammer, Grant and

are actually going to fire rocks at windshields with that childhood

the slingshot. One, two, three.

Did you get to where that went?

But, of course, they're not just going to release rocks at random.

Instead, Torrey's built a rig that should fire with pinpoint accuracy.

I think that's going to work just fine.

But it's not just the aim that's important for this shootout.

Well, I'm setting up the chronograph so that we can get an idea how fast

Torrey's slingshot is throwing those rocks.

Our target velocity is somewhere in the order of 70 miles per hour.

With the chronograph up and running and Tari's focus focused, everything's set

for a speed test.

I'm going to stand behind you. Okay.

Why, Grant?

Remember, they're looking to hit 70 miles an hour.

Three, two, one.

There you go.

Okay, 67 feet per second, 45 .7 miles per hour.

45 miles an hour.

So we need another at least 25 miles.

Right. Faster. Okay.

To crank up the speed, Torrey yanks the elastic eight inches further back.

Whoa!

You almost hit the chrono, man. It went right through the box.

Perfect. 76 miles per hour. Okay.

112 feet per second, or 76 miles an hour, is right in the butter zone for

mitt. But Torrey ain't done testing yet. Three, two, one.

103.

Perfect. That's three shots.

The first one was at 103 feet per second. The second one was at 109 feet

second. And then the third shot was at, again, 103 feet per second. So it's

pretty consistent.

I'm happy.

With Torrey all smiles, now they just need a car. Check. A handful of stones.

Check. And a blanket to catch any ricochets.

Check.

And with the list checked off, they're finally ready to fire at the windshield,

both with and without Grant racing it with his hand.

All right, Grant, I'm ready to start breaking windows with rocks. But before

stick you in that car to shoot it, I want to make sure we can actually break

windshield with the rock.

Okay.

Don't let that thing go.

Okay. Three, two, one.

Perfect shot.

That's a pretty good hit. Okay.

No shattered windshield.

At 70 miles an hour, there's no broken glass, even without the hand.

They try again, but this windshield is a tough nut to crack.

So next, they decide to go for broke.

Well, since Jamie passed this kidney stone, we figured it would be suiting to

shoot it through the windshield. This is a 150 -gram stone.

We're going to see what kind of damage it does.

Surely this monster will get the result thereafter.

Okay, here we go. Three, two, one.

But, uh, no.

There's a spiderweb crack, but no full -on shatter, which means it's back to

drawing board.

You can protect that schoolgirl complexion with Duplex safety glass.

There are a whole host of ways to strengthen a car's windows, but is it

that your hand, braced up on the glass, can make it unbreakable?

Well, Tori and Grant are on the case, but so far they're struggling to even

shatter a windshield in the first place. Okay, here we go. Three, two, one.

Whoa!

And after a quick research break, Grant discovers why.

I think we've been having such difficulty with this windshield myth

we've been using laminated windshields. And here in America, it's been common

practice to use those.

Since the 1920s. Well, what I think is that this myth comes from other

where they've been using tempered glass windshields up until 1994.

Tempered glass should be much easier to break.

So to kickstart this myth, they're removing the laminated windshield.

This job just keeps getting better and better.

The Myth Buster Way.

After Tori is flipped out on the car, Grant flips her around. It turns out on

this model, the rear window is tempered and not laminated.

And they're also going to make another change.

Man, if I had a nickel for every window I shot out with the BB gun, I wouldn't

be working.

They're abandoning the slingshot, and instead they're going to use a BB gun,

which should be easier to aim, easier to reload.

And that's not all.

The good thing about the BB gun, the BBs are all uniform.

They're exactly the same. So that takes out any variability that we might have

with the stone.

That's the theory. But will the BB be powerful enough to shatter the shield?

What's your prediction?

It's going to take a BB in the nuts.

Here we go in three, two, one.

Okay. Looks like that breaks the windshield.

At last, they get the break they're after.

So now they can put this myth to the test.

With a replacement window in place... Here we go.

Tari's going to fire an identical BB, and Grant will brace his hand against

glass. Will the windshield still shatter?

I'll miss you, buddy.

I'm going to catch it in my teeth. All right, so this is BB shot onto tempered

glass, Grant bracing the windshield.

In three, two, one.

You holding the windshield didn't seem to help much.

No, not at all.

The windshield was definitely not protected by the hand. But the team

quite ready to call it myth busted yet.

What we didn't do in the previous test is dial in at what point the windshield

will shatter. So what we're going to do, I have a BB gun and I'm going to take a

shot. Pump it up, take a shot. Pump it up twice, take a shot. And I'm going to

keep pumping it up, taking a shot, until we find the exact point it'll take to

crack this windshield.

Here we go. Three, two, one.

Tari's worried that in the last test, the BB was fired so fast that it was

always going to shatter the windshield.

One, two, three, four.

So for the next test, he's calibrating the BB so that it fires at a speed which

only just smashes the unbraked glass. One, two, three, four, five, six.

Okay.

Okay.

Six pumps at this angle seem to be the winning number.

With the BB dialed in, it's time to talk to the hand.

Now we're going to do another test.

With me inside of the car, holding the glass to see if this is going to

prevent it from breaking or if it's just going to break anyway.

It's the moment of truth.

Grant assumes the position and Torrey pumps to six. If the new windshield

doesn't bust now, the myth is confirmed.

Three, two, one.

Well. Doesn't look like putting your hand up against the windshield really

much, does it?

Tari's got it right on.

Grant gave the windshield a hand, but it was still smashed to smithereens. My

feeling is it doesn't matter whether or not you put your hand up against the

windshield, it's going to break.

Okay, fair enough.

You're so over this one, huh? You tried getting BBs and rocks shot at you about

a dozen times. Let's see how you feel.

So that's it.

Grant's patience is shattered and this myth is busted.

In the salami rocket revisit, the boys are all set to

see if Bologna can go ballistic because fans weren't convinced.

We're having a revisit of this because there was a concern that...

The liftoff that we got in a previous experiment might have been just the

nitrous oxide coming out of the tank. And obviously,

if there was enough of it, if it was energetic enough of it, we might have

gotten some kind of burst from that, but not actually achieved ignition.

To find an answer once and for all, the MythBusters have made some new meat

missiles. But how do they work again?

It's a bench stand test for salami rocket.

This right here is the salami rocket.

Nitrous oxide goes in here.

This is an electrically actuated valve that releases it into the ignition

chamber where we put the salami and a nozzle.

This rocket will be pushing this way, and we've got a force meter right here

test how much force it is pushing this way.

We also have an analog force meter right here, a plate of steel, that the rocket

exhaust will push against and actually give us a different relative measurement

of exactly...

how much force the rockets are putting out.

The Mythbusters are going to run a bunch of tests and compare the thrust levels

recorded on the fourth gauges.

All right, we're going in.

And for test one, they're going to address the fan's main complaint by

the force put out by the NOx alone.

No salami, no ignition, just escaping gas.

Okay, this is NO2 only.

Yeah. In three, two, one.

That sounds like a hell of a thump.

Oh! Well, let's see what the force gauge says. I believe that would be a pretty

good one.

Okay, the force gauge says 78 pounds of force.

78 pounds of thrust sounds a lot, and it sure looks violent. But would this

alone have been enough to propel their original salami rocket to the sky?

Adam and Jamie do the math, calibrating the force and weight.

And wait for it.

Okay, I will give it to the viewers.

They may actually be right, and the evidence supports it here, that just the

pure release of ventrous oxide from that top tank would be enough to get the

rocket off the rocket stand.

So it's looking like viewers won, MythBusters zero.

And if the escaping knot was enough to launch the original rocket...

then the Mythbusters need to head back to square one. Can salami add anything

the reaction?

Stand back and come and get some rocket fuel out of the fridge.

For test two, they're loading the rocket up to the max.

Salami is the fuel and NOx is the oxidizer. And they're also adding an

to make sure that the salami, with its black powder filling, is smoldering when

the NOx is released.

We're igniting them with little model rocket engines like this, and the new

Mythbusters launch button.

The rocket's ready, but the question is, will this setup produce any more thrust

on the force gauge?

In three, two, one, go.

Now that sounds more like it should.

It's the moment of truth.

Mythbuster pride is on the line.

I get 19 .6.

Pounds? Yeah.

Remember, on test one, with just the escaping NOx powering it, the rocket

generated 78 pounds of force, which means something's gone wrong.

Pull this out. I've just got to look right now.

Nothing. Salami didn't ignite.

Uh -oh, it's looking like it's viewers two, Mythbusters zero.

The salami didn't burn, so it's not added any more thrust, which is leaving

and Jamie rather embarrassed.

So what's next?

It's a return to the pottery record myth.

So we've proven that ancient pottery cannot yield ancient conversation. It's

just not possible.

But our fans think there's something else that can.

Paint. Paint?

Yeah, paint.

The idea is that your voice will vibrate the bristles of the brush while you're

painting on a canvas, and they'll get recorded in that paint.

Well, it sounds kind of crazy, but I think you should canvas the idea.

It was a myth that sounded crazy.

They're recording an audio signal in a piece of pottery.

Archaeology researchers in Europe reckon that potters in ancient Rome

accidentally recorded sound onto their pots.

Carrie, Tori, and Grant had a scream testing this one. Tori!

But found that this myth was nothing to shout about. It was impossible to record

any noise onto the clay.

But now they're moving on to a whole new medium.

There's one part of this myth that was just too intriguing not to investigate.

In the late 60s, the same researchers that were doing tests on pottery found

that they could record to a canvas with paint and a paintbrush and take a

recording off of that.

So I came down to the local art store at Arch so I could get some supplies.

Carrie's given the boys the brush -off to find out whether sound can really be

recorded onto paint.

It's a strange concept, but the theory is the same as in the original pottery

record myth.

The idea then was that an ancient potter was busily working away when there was

a noise close by.

The force of the sound waves made an imprint like record grooves in the fresh

clay. Swap the potter for a painter.

and the clay for wet paint and hey presto you've got yourself a new myth

back at the sound studio carrie's inner artist is all set to be released

okay so what's the idea with this one but the brush strokes are going to be

of like the grooves in a record i i extended it sort of would be if you

put a stylus down the mona lisa you could hear what

leonardo was saying on on a particular breath yeah okay now that would be the

real da vinci code but enough hankering about let's get myth busting and to

start carrie is going to yell at a freshly painted pen according to that

it's like wherever the mouth was the vibration was the strongest obviously so

yeah but it can't be just like no it'd be like a word or something so should i

be doing this with some volume i would say so It's all very surreal.

Picasso!

Picasso!

Remember, the idea is the sound vibrations from Carrie's voice will

the brush and imprint directly onto the paint.

Scream it louder, he might hear.

Picasso!

Okay, we'll take your...

Giving myself a headache?

Yeah. A little bit, yeah. Us too.

While that paint dries, there's another test to try, which should be a little

easier on the ears.

What's this experiment?

This is where we're playing music as you're painting, and apparently the

the vibration from the music, should transfer right onto your paint.

Okay. To direct as much sound as possible towards the painting, they

speaker directly behind the canvas.

And the team gets down, gets funky, and feels the creative vibe.

When I was painting, I could actually feel the vibrations from the music. And

think there might actually be a chance here. The vibrating canvas came along my

brush and pushed an audio track into there.

With a third of the canvas left, the team tries the screaming once more.

Jackson Pollock!

But will it be a load of Pollock?

So now, what, we just let it dry and then come back later and try to play

painting? Yeah. Yeah, because nobody's going to let us try to play the Mona

Lisa.

We're actually taking our painting into the blast chamber, not because we want

to blow it up for a change, but because we want to get rid of all outside

influences, any sort of ambient noise that might interfere with the recording

the audio tracks that we get off of our painting.

With the painting dried up and isolated in the bunker, the team is all ears. To

see if they captured any sound, they're going to drag a stylus directly over the

top of Carrie's brush strokes.

Maybe try going a little faster.

They listen, but the only sound they can detect is the stylus as it drags over

the bumps in the canvas.

I think what we're hearing is a texture of the board, the canvas.

This revisit is sounding busted.

There's nothing in the paint, no music, and certainly no Picasso.

There's not even anything unexplained.

Voices from the oven?

No. But at least M5 has a magnificent new piece of abstract art.

So, recording sound with paint, how'd you go?

Like pottery, it's busted.

Absolutely. There's just no way you can record sound onto something unless

that's what it's designed for.

It's not possible to do it by accident.

Isn't it a great story?

I mean, the idea that out there somewhere embedded in a painting is an

conversation. But it's more like he's put his feelings in the painting.

Like this.

It's busted.

Nice work. Now, let's auction this for charity.

Tailgate up versus tailgate down. Are you serious? Are we revisiting that? I

thought we nailed that. Yeah, we did nail it. I think we nailed it. You think

nailed it. And I believe the general consensus is that we nailed it. But when

comes to fuel efficiency, the fans just want more. They want more tasks.

Huh.

The tailgate up versus down dilemma first spawned a driving marathon.

Yeah, it's definitely out.

Keen it off, over.

Then a water vortex test.

Okay.

Both of which prove that tailgate up is a more fuel -efficient way to drive. And

it's right about here. They're hitting this critical point where I can see them

kind of falling off and joining in with their friends.

But viewers want more.

So the basic gist of it is that the fans feel like there are several tests we

did not try that can potentially improve your mileage on your pickup truck.

Yeah, my inbox is full of them, like driving your pickup with that hard roof

cover on it. Yeah, that's one of them. There's also, I've been suggested, the

mesh in place of your tailgate is supposed to work.

And some of them are suggesting that you even take your tailgate entirely off.

Okay, so that's three tests. That's enough for us to work with.

I think we can do it. Sounds like a plan.

The boys are going to test the different tailgate setup at 25 and 55 miles an

hour. to find out once and for all the most fuel -efficient way of driving a

pickup.

Or, more precisely, Jamie's pickup.

But before driving for science, Adam's attaching a fuel gauge, so they know

precisely how much gas they're using.

The way this works is it's got a flow meter, an electronic flow meter that

hooked directly into the fuel line of the car. So it knows it's not

it's not calculating or extrapolating. It's reading precisely how much fuel is

moving into the engine of the car under each condition we're going to test it

under. It's a foolproof system. And what's more, it has been pre -tested.

anyone out there who wants to email me telling me that we screwed up this test,

we have already calibrated this thing to this car.

That's going to be perfect.

With the perfect gauge in place, it's time to hit the road.

So for each of these, I think this stretch that you're driving on is

It's like five miles of straight, flat road. We can get all of our speed

readings and fuel efficiency readings on here just driving back and forth, back

and forth.

And they're going to start by trying to confirm their original results with the

tailgate down.

Okay, I'm working my way up to 55.

I should be pretty stable right now.

5 .3, 5 .2.

I'm real stable. Stable is not moving. 5 .2, 5 .2. 5 .2 gallons per hour, which

is 5.

From 55, Jamie slams on the brakes and repeats the circuit at 25 miles an hour.

Okay, should be stable now.

It's 1 .2.

Okay. 1 .2 gallons per hour at 25.

Okay. A quick pit stop later, and it's all changed with the tailgate.

Let's test the tailgate up. It's like old times, except we don't have to drive

for 600 miles.

They run the circuit once more at 55.

Stable reading of 5 gallons per hour at 55.

Then again at 25 miles an hour.

Well, that seems to confirm our previous results that having the tailgate up is

more fuel efficient than having the tailgate down.

Well, that's encouraging.

So, what's next?

Now that their original results are upheld, the new tests can begin. And

up, it's on with the pickup cover.

Putting a hard cover on your pickup truck is supposed to be the best thing

can do to make it aerodynamic, and that's supposed to leave you the best

efficiency. A nearly endless number of fans wrote Jamie and I to explain this

very point, so that's why we're doing it.

Once the cover's in place, they drive around in circles some more.

1 .2 gallons per hour at 25. Let's go up to 55.

Okay, and setting off.

Not moving.

Okay, I get a reading of five gallons per hour at 55.

The stats are in, so they head back to mission control, where it's off with the

roof as the cover is uncovered.

And there you have it.

One nice fallout shelter.

Oh, honey, there's a tornado coming.

Hold on, sweetie.

Let's go down.

While Adam seeks shelter, what's next?

Next is actually a truck tailgate mesh.

It requires removing this and putting the mesh on.

Well, this thing weighs a bit. I guess that would save mileage if it's not on

the truck, right?

Well, the fans emailed us and said if we were testing tailgate up and down, we

should test this because this is supposed to be the least aerodynamic.

supposed to use the most fuel.

And on the box, it actually says it improves the gas mileage.

So we're going to investigate that.

There's a mishmash of information about the mesh.

The manufacturer claims it improves mileage, but the fans disagree.

Luckily, the MythBusters are going to put an end to this controversy.

So this is a test for the mesh installed with the tailgate removed.

And two laps later, the info's in. And that leaves just one final

Okay, we're good to go.

Well, let's go.

The last test is no tailgate and no mesh.

And after another bout of driving, they have all the data they could ever need.

So where are we now?

Well, now I'm tired of driving, and I think we should go back to the shop and

crunch all these numbers, compare them to each other, and see what kind of data

we actually achieve today.

Okay.

So, Adam, we're back at base, and you're looking a little confused with that

calculator. I'm not confused. Hold on.

All right. The results are in.

The most fuel -efficient thing you can do to drive your pickup truck is... Meh.

Really? Yeah.

Actually, it was an improvement of almost 5%, which exceeds most of the

things we tried.

Wow. What about the other combinations?

Well, no tailgate. Tailgate up and hard cover were all about the same, and

tailgate down was, again, the worst.

Well, there you go.

Yeah. I really, really hope, and I'm asking you, sitting at your computer,

to email me about this. I don't want to do any more fuel efficiency myths.

Yeah, if you don't believe it, go right ahead and drive the way you want.

Now, Cary, Grant, and Tori are going to slice another myth wide open.

So, sword cuts a sword. Did you guys screw up, or what?

No, we actually got it right this time.

Cut to flashback.

In the mega movie special, the team tried to chop a sword with another

Here we go. In three, two, one.

Yeah! Whoa.

Nice. But no matter what combination of blades they used, they could never get a

clean cut.

At first I was so impressed. I thought we might have had a slice.

But comes down to it, we had another snap.

But the fans now want them to shoot down another sword chopping myth.

So if you guys didn't screw up the last one, what's the point of this one?

Well, the viewers actually agree that we did a good job. You cannot cut a sword

with another sword.

But... They have something else for us. So we actually got a letter from a fan

that said during World War II, Japanese soldiers were cutting through American

soldiers' hot machine gun barrels with their swords.

I'll be darned.

All right. Well, it sounds like we need to dust off the cutting rig, and I'll go

get a machine gun.

Sounds like you've got your work cut out for you, don't you?

Machine guns are the foundation of today's military unit.

But could this mandate of modern warfare really be cut down by the humble sword?

To carve out an answer, Grant is first making some modifications to the

sword -swinging robot.

Before, this was just able to match what a human could do.

But for this one, we're actually going to amp it up and make it something

superhuman.

Because shearing through a machine gun is a tough task, Grant's maximizing the

robot's cutting power. With a new pressure cylinder, it'll be packing

punch, which makes it so dangerous that for a preliminary test, the team must

retreat to the bunker.

Here we go. Three, two, one.

Yeah. All right. That's only at a third of the maximum pressure. A quarter of

the maximum pressure.

With the rig swinging like Babe Ruth, it's time to bring in the World War II

weaponry. What we've got here is a Browning .30 caliber machine gun. And

got the outside guard, but more importantly, the barrel. And as you can

it's pretty thick.

With such a thick barrel, it's looking like the sword will have its work cut

out. But then, Grant offers this myth a lifeline.

Well, supposedly, the reason that they were able to cut through the barrel is

because as these guns were being fired, they would heat up, almost to the point

of being red or even white hot.

Now, let's get this straight. When a bullet is fired, the gases expelled can

reach temperatures of 5 ,000 degrees.

So it's no surprise that with a rapid -fire weapon, the barrel can become red

-hot, making a slice and dice much more likely.

Of course, it's too dangerous to actually shoot the browning to heat it

instead, they're having a barbecue.

The reason why we're starting a fire is we need to get these machine gun barrels

at an even temperature, run it over to the sword machine, and try to cut it in

half. But with Tori in charge of the fire, this method could be just as

dangerous as the shooting.

Always remember, use plenty of lighter fluid.

Who put you in charge of the fire?

I don't know, but I'm glad they did.

Where there's smoke, there's fire. And this little shindig is no exception.

With a little help from the shop fan and a few more coals, he's hoping to reach

600 degrees.

Does this all seem incredibly dangerous?

It seems very dangerous.

All right.

Just as long as everyone's aware of that.

With everyone aware of the danger, Tari adds the gun barrel to the flames, which

is making Carrie even more nervous.

Worst case scenario would be that...

As the samurai sword comes whipping around, hits the gun barrel, one or the

other are both shattered into a million pieces, and they go into every part of

the shop. Shop catches on fire, burned down. I don't have a job.

Carrie may yet be fired, but it's too late to back out because it's done.

We keep the gun barrel up to about 600 degrees.

We're going to bring it inside.

We've got our samurai sword swinging rig all ready to try to give it a cut and

see if this revisit has any truth to it.

Three, two, one.

It was a clean strike, but what's the result?

Wow. That is a slice.

Yeah, it's definitely a cut.

That's a lot better than I would have thought given the thickness of this

material. But it didn't cut through it.

It didn't cut it in half, but that's a gash.

The gun may be gashed, but in a complete reverse of the myth, it's the blade

that's been broken in half.

So after test one, it's looking like this myth may be dead in the water.

But the team isn't going to give up without a fight.

So the next step is we're going to stick this back in the fire, try to get it up

to a maximum temperature, and then we're going to go and try to cut it in half

again.

Last time, they got the barrel to 600 degrees. Oh, I bet that's over 1 ,000.

this time, they're cranking the heat up to the max.

Oh, it's well over 1 ,000. 1 ,500.

1 ,500 degrees.

Okay, it looks like it's holding there.

With the temperature at 1600,

the barrel starts to resemble something out of a sci -fi movie.

Oh, my God, it looks like a lightsaber.

So cool.

All right, let's get this thing cut.

Okay. We are hot. No pun intended.

Get in here.

Three, two, one.

Okay, well.

Clear here.

The barrel is still intact.

He's got a deep slice.

It's good? Yeah, it's deeper, but... Still not cutting it in half, huh? Okay,

think just straight heat is not doing it because it's still red, and if it

couldn't cut it at this point when it's soft and malleable and 1 ,600 degrees...

It wouldn't cut it ever.

With the gun still standing strong, this myth is surely looking busted.

The Mythbusters have been testing hot barrel against chiseled blade to see

whether a sword can really cut through a machine gun.

But so far, it's gun two, sword zero.

But all is not lost because Grant's just had a moment of Imahara ingenuity.

One possibility for another way this might have happened is to heat up the

barrel, just like you're shooting it, and then quench it rapidly.

And if you do this over a succession of times, it will make the metal harder

and, in some cases, more brittle, which would make it easier for someone to cut

it or break it somehow.

To put Grant's theory to the test, Torrey first reheats the barrel before

plunging it into some cold water.

There she blows.

And once chilled, the barrel jumps back from the freezing pan into the fire.

Back into the fire.

After five more repetitions, the barrel's all set for test three, for

Carrie has lined up one more chain.

I've finally convinced Grant and Tori that we are going to have to give this

best shot, so we've...

Gone through our inventory and pulled out the strongest, best sword we have. I

think it's going to give us our best shot.

It's a pooped -up sword versus a bruised -up barrel.

All right. Brittle barrel, strong sword in three, two, one.

Whoa!

Hared a drop of metal.

Kicking, kicking, kicking.

Yeah!

Look it right there.

At last, they've hit pay dirt. The barrel has broken into four pieces.

But according to Grant, it's not myth confirmed.

And there's three reasons why.

The first reason is that this is not a slice.

The myth is about slicing through a barrel. This is hitting it and the

shatters. The second reason is under normal operation, this machine gun would

have an outside guard, which we weren't using for our tests.

And the third reason is that I've really amped up this rig. It is superhuman. So

that amount of force could not be delivered by even an expert swordsman.

So on the Browning machine gun, it's myth busted. But Carrie wants to try one

more thing.

I think we should actually move on, though. I think we should go on to

something. Is there some sort of machine gun or something from the same era that

would have a smaller barrel or thinner walls or something? Well, technically,

wouldn't be a machine gun. It would be a submachine gun. But there are smaller

barrels, like a Tommy gun, which we have.

Okay. We should try that.

Yeah, let's ruin another gun.

All right.

It's the last chance for this man.

Armed with a thin -walled Tommy gun, it's back to the barbecue.

Ain't gonna lie, that's hot.

All right, I'm watching it go up. 1 ,200, 1 ,300, 1 ,400, 1 ,500, 1 ,600, 1

,700,

1 ,740, 1 ,700.

Topping at 1 ,750.

All right, cool. Let's do it.

With the temperature red hot, can this shooter get slashed by the super strong

sword?

Okay, here we're going with a modern alloy blade. Tommy gun barrel in three,

two, one.

Oh, no way!

It bent it.

No freaking way.

Huh.

The barrel's more crooked than a politician, but even at almost 2 ,000

there's still no cut.

You know what my feeling is? It is that hot. It's hot enough to bend it by

hitting it.

And it's still not cutting it? I don't think you'll ever be able to cut it no

matter how hot the barrel gets.

No, I agree. I mean, here you see that deflection. It should have been able to.

If it was going to, this is the softest state you're going to find it in.

It bent the barrel. And let's not forget that those are the thinnest walls on

the smallest barrel using a modern sword with modern alloys.

What they're trying to say is that it bent completely and utterly busted. So,

let's cue the wrap -up.

So what were the results you guys came up with?

Totally busted. You can't cut a World War II -era machine gun barrel with a

sword. They're just too thick.

But we do think we found a reasonable explanation for why people thought maybe

that you could cut them in half, and that is under certain conditions, the

heating of the machine gun barrel through firing can make it kind of

and it can shatter on impact with a sword, but it doesn't slice.

So it's totally busted. Nice work. Well done.

In three, two, one.

The salami rocket revisit is not going well. So far, it's looking like the fans

are right.

Salami may be tasty, but rocket fuel it ain't.

Nothing. Salami didn't ignite.

But Jamie, bright spark that he is, has had a bright idea.

Our ignition system worked perfectly this last run. However, we didn't get

reaction with the...

fuel grain and the knot.

And that means everything was burning, but it wasn't carried through into the

fuel. What we figure that we need to do to make that happen is actually choke

down the nozzle considerably more because increasing the pressure in that

is part of the formula of how rocket engines work.

And on the off chance you are not a rocket scientist, all that means is that

the next test, they're going to use an exhaust nozzle with a smaller hole.

Nitrous oxide with a 5 16th inch nozzle in 3, 2, 1.

That's more like it.

More like it indeed. The reinforced nozzle blew out, but there's no doubt

got the ignition they wanted.

There's salami everywhere.

Dude, it blew out the nozzle.

The nozzle gave way, so there's floor -to -ceiling salami shrapnel.

But it did hang in long enough for the rocket to thrust its way into the force

meter.

Oh, yeah.

That's a hell of a lot of pressure.

218 pounds of thrust.

That's a lot.

218 pounds of thrust. That's three times the force of the NOX alone, proving

that, yes, salami can act as rocket fuel.

But with another tweak to the nozzle size, the boys think they can go better

still.

This is NOS hybrid salami rocket with a 3 -8 nozzle.

In 3, 2, 1, go.

I think we got more thrust.

I'll bet we got more.

Let's go see what it reads.

880 pounds of thrust.

It's a heck of a lot of force for such a little salami. But is it enough to have

launched a rocket?

This thing would have taken off like nobody's business if

we had had this launch.

You know, it would have exploded midair at some point and stopped going. But

with 500 pounds worth of I'm going up, something that weighs, you know, under

pounds is going up.

So, in other words, the salami rocket rocked. It's mission accomplished.

Well, I am really pleased with those results. I mean, the thrust we got from

NOx salami reaction and ignition vastly exceeded the thrust we got from just the

release of the NOx alone.

Yeah, in fact, the results were so good that we maxed out the force gauge and

even ruined it.

I'm also pleased to note that I did not screw up the nozzle design, that the

reaction is so energetic it's more like an explosion than anything else, and it

blew up even our new, much stronger nozzles. I mean, this stuff is

It's just not an ideal rocket fuel. Maybe someday when science unlocks the

secret, we'll be traveling to Mars on pure mortadella.

But not now.