1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,660 In this episode of Mythbusters... 2 00:00:05,660 --> 00:00:10,920 It's a barrel of bricks and the world's unluckiest builder. 3 00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:15,740 We gotta go now. 4 00:00:15,740 --> 00:00:17,740 Answering nature's call... 5 00:00:17,740 --> 00:00:20,960 Oh man, warm. 6 00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:22,960 On an electrified third rail... 7 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:25,640 You've got the lights almost pulled. 8 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:27,140 It's a total disaster. 9 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:29,440 The eel and the credit card. 10 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:31,440 The ultimate smackdown. 11 00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:33,440 Electric eel is looking at me right in the eye. 12 00:00:33,440 --> 00:00:34,440 He goes ZAP! 13 00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:36,440 Knocked backwards off the rail. 14 00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:38,440 Oh, that's disgusting. 15 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:40,440 Who are the Mythbusters? 16 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:42,440 Is my missing an eyebrow? 17 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:44,440 Adam Savage. 18 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:47,440 I always enjoyed seeing Adam in pain. 19 00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:49,440 Oh! 20 00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:51,440 And Jamie Heineman. 21 00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:53,440 Jamie wants big bones. 22 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:56,440 30 years of special effects experience. 23 00:00:56,440 --> 00:00:58,440 Feel kind of sexy. 24 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:00,440 They don't just tell the Myth. 25 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:02,440 They put them to the test. 26 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:16,440 This one is the barrel of bricks myth. 27 00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:17,440 Oh! 28 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:19,440 This is the one the guy is trying to take bricks off of a roof. 29 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:23,440 And the barrel's too heavy and it drags him up, hits him on the way up. 30 00:01:23,440 --> 00:01:25,440 Cracks his skull, injures his collarbone. 31 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:31,440 Keeps shooting straight up until he's about two knuckles deep into the pulley. 32 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:34,440 Of course the barrel exploded when it hit the ground, losing the load. 33 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:37,440 Then his weight was obviously heavier than the barrel's weight. 34 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:41,440 The barrel goes back up and this guy goes back down. 35 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:43,440 He hits the barrel about halfway down. 36 00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:49,440 I'd even heard that he then let go of the rope and what was remaining of the barrel came down and hit him. 37 00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:50,440 But he survives. 38 00:01:50,440 --> 00:01:51,440 Yes. 39 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:52,440 So we're going to replicate this. 40 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:54,440 Yeah, it's going to be tricky. 41 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:58,440 This is a study in physics and bad luck. 42 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:01,440 Victim holds rope, heavy barrel pulls him up. 43 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:04,440 The barrel breaks and loses its load so the victim falls. 44 00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:07,440 Victim lets go the rope, gravity does the rest. 45 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:15,440 To test this myth, the guys will have to create a building site scaffold 30 feet high. 46 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:23,440 They'll run a rope through a pulley at the top with a 500 pound barrel of bricks on one side and the victim on the other. 47 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:34,440 The boys are negotiating the tricky question of who holds the rope. 48 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:35,440 No, stop spinning like this. 49 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:37,440 Throw me into the shop. 50 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:40,440 Oh, God. 51 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:42,440 I'm going to spew. 52 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:43,440 That was evil. 53 00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:50,440 Looks like another job for Buster, the crash test dummy. 54 00:02:50,440 --> 00:02:54,440 With that problem solved, Jamie and Adam have some serious shopping to do. 55 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:06,440 First, they need a rope and pulley capable of lifting 500 pounds. 56 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:07,440 This is a rougher's block. 57 00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:14,440 So if you have a 500 pound load of bricks and you're pulling that load of bricks 500 pounds on the opposite side, 58 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:18,440 but with the rope, you'll be putting a thousand pounds of capacity on the block. 59 00:03:18,440 --> 00:03:19,440 This is a more traditional rope. 60 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:20,440 It's manila. 61 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:21,440 It's made out of tree fiber. 62 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:23,440 Of course, it's a little rougher on the hand. 63 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:25,440 Manila rope. 64 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:30,440 That'll hogtie this myth, which just might have some truth to it. 65 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:33,440 So is the myth widely known in the rigging industry? 66 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:35,440 I mean, a lot of people know about this one. 67 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:36,440 I think so. 68 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:37,440 I think that's, yeah, I recall it. 69 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:39,440 I remember hearing the story a couple of times. 70 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:41,440 It's quite a calamity. 71 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:46,440 Over at the brickyard, Kevin's heard about this one too. 72 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:55,440 I think I may have seen it in a trade magazine where somebody, he had put in a claim to a worker's comp or something like that. 73 00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:57,440 Truth is stranger than fiction. 74 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:04,440 According to folklorist Heather Joseph Witham, this story regularly pops up in print. 75 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:12,440 Reports to be an accident report or a worker's compensation claim or something like that. 76 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:17,440 So it's by showing the written form of it, it has more veracity and seems more truthful. 77 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:24,440 It's almost like Wild Lee Coyote on one of his adventures, getting hit here, getting hit there, dying here, dying there. 78 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:28,440 For some reason, we think that's funny or interesting. 79 00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:35,440 It's interesting enough to have the guys testing the rig back at the workshop. 80 00:04:36,440 --> 00:04:37,440 Nothing is left to chance. 81 00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:39,440 This is serious business. 82 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:44,440 Excellent! 83 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:59,440 Buster has been fitted with a quick release hand, so the guys can make him let go of the rope at the right moment. 84 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:03,440 In this myth, precision is everything. 85 00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:08,440 We get to see what happens when you fall from eight feet. 86 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:09,440 Okay, go ahead. 87 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:15,440 The quick release failed its first test. 88 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:21,440 Adam, it's a good thing to figure all this out before we get down there with 500 pounds of bricks on the end of that line. 89 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:25,440 I have some ideas about how to fix that. 90 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:31,440 I gotta say that looks like it hurt. 91 00:05:32,440 --> 00:05:35,440 Unfortunately for Buster, there's more to come. 92 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:41,440 Oh! 93 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:48,440 The quick releases are fine. 94 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:50,440 How's that feel, Sport? 95 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:52,440 Huh? 96 00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:54,440 It's time to raise the stakes. 97 00:05:55,440 --> 00:05:56,440 Raise them by 30 feet. 98 00:05:57,440 --> 00:05:58,440 All right. 99 00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:03,440 Jamie and Adam will use their theater rigging experience to help build a scaffold. 100 00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:13,440 You got any idea what these are for? 101 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:18,440 Oh, oh, okay. 102 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:21,440 Am I about to feel really, really stupid? 103 00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:22,440 Probably. 104 00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:28,440 Now that's a floor. 105 00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:31,440 Both of them know the risks. 106 00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:34,440 More than 10 feet, you can break limbs. 107 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:39,440 At where we are at about 30 feet, you could easily die falling that high. 108 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:42,440 The pulley is attached to a crossbar at the top of the scaffold. 109 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:50,440 With 500 pounds in the barrel, plus the counterbalance on the other side, there'll be a thousand pounds of pressure on the rig. 110 00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:56,440 Where the pulley is, is actually pulling on the backside of the scaffolding. 111 00:06:57,440 --> 00:07:02,440 So in fact, a tremendous amount of force is on two little bolts that are holding the back of the scaffolding up. 112 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:06,440 The guys are also worried about the strength of the barrels. 113 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:09,440 Here's perhaps the critical question. 114 00:07:09,440 --> 00:07:14,440 When the barrel supposedly falls, it breaks and lets go of its bricks. 115 00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:16,440 Do you think these barrels will do that? 116 00:07:16,440 --> 00:07:17,440 Personally, I doubt it. 117 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:19,440 See, I think they'll fall out on the first try. 118 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:20,440 I think it'll shatter. 119 00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:21,440 You want a bet? 120 00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:23,440 Oh no, here we go again. 121 00:07:23,440 --> 00:07:24,440 Come on, I got a dollar. 122 00:07:24,440 --> 00:07:25,440 Here we go. 123 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:28,440 You want to drop some bricks? 124 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:29,440 Yeah. 125 00:07:29,440 --> 00:07:30,440 Okay, let's go. 126 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:32,440 Wait a second. 127 00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:42,440 The empty barrel is raised into position on the pulley and tied onto the fender of Jamie's truck. 128 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:43,440 Latching on. 129 00:07:44,440 --> 00:07:45,440 Got it? 130 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:47,440 Buster's quick release hand is attached. 131 00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:48,440 Okay. 132 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:51,440 And things start to get dangerous. 133 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:56,440 500 pounds of bricks will be loaded into the barrel. 134 00:07:56,440 --> 00:07:59,440 Everybody keep their eyes on the barrel and keep yourself out of its path. 135 00:08:01,440 --> 00:08:04,440 A lot of creaking going on up here. 136 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:08,440 Our main pipe is bending a little bit. 137 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:13,440 If that pipe bends anymore, the whole rig could crash. 138 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:16,440 Back me away from this a little bit. 139 00:08:18,440 --> 00:08:23,440 Jamie's got the last bricks in, but they don't know how long the rig will hold. 140 00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:26,440 Our rope stretched about maybe five feet. 141 00:08:26,440 --> 00:08:27,440 We're down about 20 feet. 142 00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:31,440 I'm not even sure actually that the pulley is going to stay on that pipe. 143 00:08:31,440 --> 00:08:32,440 The pipe's bending. 144 00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:33,440 We got to go now. 145 00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:34,440 Yeah. 146 00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:35,440 Okay. 147 00:08:35,440 --> 00:08:41,440 In five, four, three, two, one. 148 00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:51,440 The barrel didn't fail. 149 00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:54,440 All right, I owe you a dollar. 150 00:08:54,440 --> 00:08:55,440 Here you go. 151 00:08:55,440 --> 00:08:56,440 No, that's a five. 152 00:08:56,440 --> 00:08:57,440 I'll take that. 153 00:08:58,440 --> 00:09:03,440 Even with 500 pounds of bricks falling from 20 feet, the barrel stays intact. 154 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:12,440 The barrel is supposed to spill the bricks, fly back up to the pulley, then fall when the rope is released. 155 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:16,440 Instead, Buster is left hanging. 156 00:09:16,440 --> 00:09:19,440 So far, everything seems to be spot on. 157 00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:23,440 The amount of weight in the barrel is certainly enough to really launch this guy. 158 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:24,440 It was violent. 159 00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:28,440 It made him sling into the barrel and whip them around all over the place. 160 00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:32,440 And, you know, we just need to get the whole thing timed just right. 161 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:34,440 It's not only timing. 162 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:39,440 They have to strengthen the rig by putting in a second pipe to share the load. 163 00:09:40,440 --> 00:09:42,440 I think we should just try it again with this barrel. 164 00:09:42,440 --> 00:09:44,440 I'm not even sure it'll hold 500 pounds. 165 00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:48,440 Jamie's gambling that it's still pretty strong. 166 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:52,440 In fact, he's taking off some of the steel reinforcing bands. 167 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:59,440 He's not convinced that even if the bottom falls out, that the bricks would come out because the barrel has got a shape like this. 168 00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:01,440 And he thinks the bricks would wedge in. 169 00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:03,440 He's totally wrong. 170 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:04,440 He's on. 171 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:06,440 They'll soon know who's right. 172 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:09,440 The rig is holding and ready to go. 173 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:12,440 Three, two, one. 174 00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:19,440 Damn, barrel. 175 00:10:19,440 --> 00:10:21,440 It didn't do squat. 176 00:10:21,440 --> 00:10:23,440 I'm not even sure what to do with this guy. 177 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:25,440 I'm not even sure what to do with this guy. 178 00:10:25,440 --> 00:10:27,440 I'm not even sure what to do with this guy. 179 00:10:27,440 --> 00:10:29,440 Damn, barrel. 180 00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:31,440 It didn't do squat. 181 00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:33,440 What is this? 182 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:36,440 This barrel is too damn strong. 183 00:10:36,440 --> 00:10:38,440 I, I, you know what? 184 00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:39,440 I was right. 185 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:41,440 Oh right. You were right. 186 00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:46,440 This 2,000 year old technology is proving a tough nut to crack. 187 00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:50,440 Unexpectedly, the problem isn't the bottom, but the sides. 188 00:10:51,440 --> 00:10:57,440 You know, I'm starting to believe that the myth didn't happen because the nature of the taper and the steel bands that are on it, 189 00:10:57,440 --> 00:11:00,440 it just doesn't want to let go of those bricks. 190 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:14,440 A board in the drop zone will make for a rougher landing. 191 00:11:14,440 --> 00:11:17,440 But Adam's confidence is shot. 192 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:22,440 I've been wrong every other time, so I don't know what the hell is going to happen. 193 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:27,440 They've taken off so many rings, they're not even sure it will hold the bricks away. 194 00:11:27,440 --> 00:11:31,440 Okay, remember Adam, there may be bricks everywhere. 195 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:36,440 So far so good. 196 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:41,440 You've got that knife blade of a board down there, I don't know what that's going to do. 197 00:11:41,440 --> 00:11:43,440 You don't know what it's going to do? 198 00:11:43,440 --> 00:11:50,440 It's going to wreck the barrel for us in 5, 4, 3, 2... 199 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:06,440 It worked perfectly! 200 00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:09,440 That was fun. That was really cool. 201 00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:12,440 I mean, it went up, it went down, it went up, it went down. 202 00:12:12,440 --> 00:12:18,440 It's like dummy getting beaten every which way on the whole process. That was hysterical. 203 00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:24,440 Best of all, they finally managed to break the barrel. The board did the trick. 204 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:28,440 But what does it mean for the myth? 205 00:12:29,440 --> 00:12:38,440 If you were dumb enough to load a barrel that had already been modified to fail, I'd see that the sequence of events is definitely possible. 206 00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:46,440 Just the fact that we were able to get what we got is, I believe, very strong proof that it was conceivable. 207 00:12:46,440 --> 00:12:49,440 But, alas, not true. 208 00:12:49,440 --> 00:12:54,440 Well, in the case of this particular story, it was printed in a 1918 joke book. 209 00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:58,440 So it seems that it may have started as the brainchild of one person. 210 00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:03,440 A joke may be, but Adam and Jamie have proved the barrel of bricks myth is possible. 211 00:13:04,440 --> 00:13:08,440 And if it's funny once, twice should be hilarious. 212 00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:12,440 Have a seat there, buddy. Your life's about to get really hard. 213 00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:15,440 3...2...1... 214 00:13:28,440 --> 00:13:30,440 Buster is busted. 215 00:13:30,440 --> 00:13:34,440 He was designed for testing inside a car with seatbelts. 216 00:13:34,440 --> 00:13:38,440 Smashing unprotected into the barrel was just too much. 217 00:13:39,440 --> 00:13:43,440 We broke a crash test dummy, man. I think that's a red letter today. 218 00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:54,440 It's late. You've had a few drinks. 219 00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:58,440 There's no train expected. Nature's calling. 220 00:13:59,440 --> 00:14:02,440 What could possibly go wrong? 221 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:15,440 Where are we? 222 00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:22,440 We're here at the Golden Gate Railway Museum in San Francisco, and we're testing the myth about peeing on the third rail. 223 00:14:22,440 --> 00:14:26,440 This is the one guy found himself late at night in a train yard peed on the third rail. 224 00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:29,440 The electrified rail got electrocuted and died. 225 00:14:29,440 --> 00:14:31,440 That's the one. 226 00:14:31,440 --> 00:14:35,440 Some subway systems are powered by an electrified rail on the track. 227 00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:44,440 A steel paddle slides along the top of that third rail, arcing as it draws current. 228 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:51,440 There's enough power in the New York subway to light the whole state of Vermont. 229 00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:55,440 Attention, feeder board. 230 00:14:55,440 --> 00:15:00,440 Rob Lobenstein is the superintendent of that system. He's well aware of this myth. 231 00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:07,440 My first day on the job, they give you all the safety tips and the warnings, and that's the very first thing they tell you not to do. 232 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:14,440 After 34 years, Rob still has a healthy caution about electricity jumping up urine streams. 233 00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:16,440 Do you want to pee on that, Jamie? 234 00:15:16,440 --> 00:15:18,440 I don't want to pee on that. 235 00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:22,440 Come on, do you feel lucky? 236 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:30,440 To test this myth, they'll need to make a stunt dummy with the same electrical properties as a human body. 237 00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:34,440 They'll have to come up with a system to make it pee. 238 00:15:36,440 --> 00:15:38,440 Electrify a track. 239 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:43,440 And finally, test urine's ability to conduct a challenge. 240 00:15:44,440 --> 00:15:48,440 So the boys need a dummy that can answer nature's call. 241 00:15:48,440 --> 00:15:50,440 They'll start with a skeleton. 242 00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:56,440 Okay, this is actually a nice one. 243 00:15:56,440 --> 00:15:59,440 Did it come with a body bag? 244 00:16:07,440 --> 00:16:08,440 Stop. 245 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:11,440 I'll always miss my old skeleton. It's too bad. 246 00:16:11,440 --> 00:16:15,440 He got his head blown off with a Mannlicher-Carcano rifle. 247 00:16:17,440 --> 00:16:24,440 In the past, they've encased a skeleton in a product called Ballistics Gel, which is used to test bullets. 248 00:16:24,440 --> 00:16:28,440 The guys think it might work well here, too. 249 00:16:28,440 --> 00:16:33,440 It has nearly exactly the same electrical resistance as the human body. 250 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:36,440 They just need to mold it into shape. 251 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:44,440 We use the vacuum form for all sorts of things. We use it all the time here in the shop. 252 00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:46,440 Let's carry this over and cut it out. 253 00:16:46,440 --> 00:16:51,440 We use it for toy prototypes, when we're inventing something. 254 00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:54,440 The same plastic is used in soda bottles. 255 00:16:54,440 --> 00:16:58,440 They'll mold the dummies front and back and join the shells together. 256 00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:02,440 Normally, they'd use glue to do that. 257 00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:09,440 But Adam's made an executive decision. He thinks it'll be quicker just to use tape. 258 00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:17,440 He's looking pretty healthy. I've always wanted my own full-sized, visible human. 259 00:17:17,440 --> 00:17:25,440 The same speed that Adam has when he goes through and does a job will elicit an occasional mistake, 260 00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:28,440 because he doesn't think before he does something. 261 00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:33,440 The next step is to fill the legs with gel, crucial for the experiment 262 00:17:33,440 --> 00:17:37,440 that will give them the same electrical properties as humans. 263 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:43,440 They make this stuff out of boiled-down animal products, like cow hooves. 264 00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:47,440 It's really pile. 265 00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:53,440 Stop. Stop. 266 00:17:54,440 --> 00:17:57,440 Adam's tape is not holding. 267 00:17:57,440 --> 00:17:59,440 Damn it. 268 00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:07,440 It's leaking from everywhere. 269 00:18:07,440 --> 00:18:09,440 We didn't glue that at all, huh? 270 00:18:09,440 --> 00:18:11,440 No, I didn't. 271 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:12,440 Adam. 272 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:13,440 Yup. 273 00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:16,440 Oh, stop playing. Let's do this. 274 00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:18,440 That's such a good sound. 275 00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:20,440 There we go. 276 00:18:20,440 --> 00:18:23,440 Hey, look at that. It's filling up. 277 00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:26,440 Not for long. Now both feet are leaking. 278 00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:29,440 Come on. Come on. 279 00:18:29,440 --> 00:18:32,440 Slanted. The flightway's... oh. 280 00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:34,440 I'm gonna go get my own. 281 00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:36,440 I'm gonna get my own. 282 00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:38,440 I'm gonna get my own. 283 00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:40,440 I'm gonna get my own. 284 00:18:40,440 --> 00:18:42,440 Slanted. The flightway's... oh. 285 00:18:42,440 --> 00:18:47,440 If we get lots of ice in here really fast, we'll be okay. 286 00:18:47,440 --> 00:18:54,440 Ballistics gel sets solid when cooled, but they only have four bags of ice. 287 00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:56,440 I kind of think you're... 288 00:18:56,440 --> 00:18:58,440 There we go. 289 00:18:58,440 --> 00:19:00,440 That's fast enough. 290 00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:04,440 Is there a spigot on this garbage can? 291 00:19:04,440 --> 00:19:06,440 No. 292 00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:12,440 Total crapola. 293 00:19:12,440 --> 00:19:15,440 This is a complete and utter disaster. 294 00:19:15,440 --> 00:19:18,440 It is not. You've got the legs almost full. 295 00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:20,440 It's a total disaster. 296 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:29,440 I mean, the tape not only didn't hold, but the gelatin acts in a completely negative way upon the tape to render it like useless. 297 00:19:29,440 --> 00:19:35,440 He just kind of forged ahead because, you know, he wants to get the job done and I normally applaud that, 298 00:19:35,440 --> 00:19:40,440 but it's clearly a situation where we need more speed, less haste. 299 00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:42,440 At last, a break. 300 00:19:42,440 --> 00:19:47,440 More ice means they'll get the legs set for the experiment. 301 00:19:53,440 --> 00:20:01,440 One thing that keeps bothering me about this is that, you know, urine itself is probably not gonna conduct all that much. 302 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:07,440 I mean, we don't really know, but I can't imagine that you're gonna be able to conduct current like you would with a wire. 303 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:10,440 And so the dirty work begins. 304 00:20:10,440 --> 00:20:12,440 Oh, it's warm. 305 00:20:14,440 --> 00:20:21,440 What this boils down to is how much current can we actually carry through about a quarter inch diameter stream of urine? 306 00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:23,440 And is it enough to kill you? 307 00:20:23,440 --> 00:20:27,440 The guys know it's not just the number of volts in a shark that hurts you, 308 00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:33,440 but rather the amount of electricity that actually flows through you, called the current. 309 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:39,440 They can work out how much current will zap a third rail victim if they know two other facts. 310 00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:44,440 They need to find out the electrical resistance of urine. 311 00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:49,440 So it's about 10,000 ohms, which is just what we expected. 312 00:20:50,440 --> 00:20:54,440 And they know a subway train runs on about 650 volts. 313 00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:57,440 Your home sockets are 110. 314 00:20:57,440 --> 00:21:01,440 They'll match the subway with a transformer from a fluorescent light. 315 00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:09,440 If you had a rather robust stream of urine and you were able to spray it up on the ceiling into a fluorescent lamp, 316 00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:13,440 you would probably receive the same effect as peeing on the third rail. 317 00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:20,440 A famous electrical formula called Ohm's Law says the current equals voltage divided by resistance. 318 00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:30,440 So 650 volts passing through urine at 10,000 ohms resistance means there'll be a current of 65 milliamps. 319 00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:34,440 Just 30 milliamps is enough to paralyze your breathing. 320 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:37,440 65 can give you a heart attack. 321 00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:40,440 So that part of the myth is true. 322 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:43,440 Urine can carry a shock big enough to kill you. 323 00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:49,440 In this dry run, they'll try to pass that current through a tube of donated urine, 324 00:21:49,440 --> 00:21:54,440 through ballistics gel and into a relay switch triggered at 65 milliamps. 325 00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:56,440 We'll be cooking with gas! 326 00:21:56,440 --> 00:22:04,440 And I think we should hear the thing click if it's going to work, if I plug it in right now. 327 00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:08,440 There you go. 328 00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:10,440 That's fantastic! 329 00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:12,440 Something actually worked for a change. 330 00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:20,440 So they've got the body built, tested the urine, now for the bionic bladder. 331 00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:26,440 Well here on MythBusters it seems we'll do just about anything for science. 332 00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:28,440 We've got 250 milliliters there. 333 00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:31,440 It took about 18 and a half seconds. 334 00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:35,440 And that's what we're going to try to replicate with our rail rig. 335 00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:37,440 Here I go. 336 00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:47,440 Start in... 337 00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:49,440 now. 338 00:22:52,440 --> 00:22:54,440 10 seconds. 339 00:22:54,440 --> 00:22:56,440 10 seconds. 340 00:22:56,440 --> 00:22:58,440 19 seconds, that's perfect. 341 00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:01,440 That's a relief. 342 00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:05,440 But Adam's still got bladder problems. 343 00:23:05,440 --> 00:23:09,440 So the question is pressure, I think. 344 00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:12,440 Personally I don't let gravity do my trick. 345 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:15,440 You know there's some pressure involved. 346 00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:20,440 So the question is, how to add pressure to the system? 347 00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:25,440 What better way to pressurize a fake bladder than with a whoopee cushion? 348 00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:28,440 Yeah, that's holding pressure. 349 00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:31,440 Better still, it fits perfectly. 350 00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:39,440 But of course that's only half the equipment. 351 00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:42,440 If you make the stream really small and narrow, 352 00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:46,440 the surface tension is going to tend to make it go into a sprayer. 353 00:23:46,440 --> 00:23:50,440 Yeah, I've gone as close as I can to the real thing. 354 00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:52,440 You had to fill it up? 355 00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:54,440 Yeah. 356 00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:55,440 Are you ready? 357 00:23:55,440 --> 00:23:56,440 Ready. 358 00:23:56,440 --> 00:23:57,440 Commencing. 359 00:23:57,440 --> 00:23:59,440 Wee-wee. 360 00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:06,440 Looks like a pretty convincing stream to me. 361 00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:07,440 Yeah. 362 00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:09,440 Getting urine everywhere. 363 00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:11,440 It looks okay. 364 00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:13,440 It's a little bit of a shame. 365 00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:15,440 Getting urine everywhere. 366 00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:19,440 It looks okay, but how close to real is it? 367 00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:22,440 What they need is a comparison. 368 00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:26,440 Volunteers, anyone? 369 00:24:31,440 --> 00:24:37,440 Once more, Adam is forced to offer his bladder and dignity to science. 370 00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:41,440 Here on MythBusters, we're prepared to put our pants on the floor for you. 371 00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:46,440 The moment to remember will be captured on high-speed camera. 372 00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:48,440 I think I got 100 mils. 373 00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:49,440 You ready? 374 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:51,440 All right, here we go. 375 00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:55,440 This is not our ballistics dummy that we're looking at here, right? 376 00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:57,440 It's a real live dummy. 377 00:24:57,440 --> 00:24:59,440 This is what it is. 378 00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:01,440 All right. 379 00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:04,440 We have a match. 380 00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:09,440 Finally, Adam has a leak he's happy with. 381 00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:10,440 The science is good. 382 00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:12,440 We know why things are working and why they're not working. 383 00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:14,440 And we're getting some really good results. 384 00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:17,440 I'm having a great time as dirty as the work is. 385 00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:19,440 Okay. 386 00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:20,440 There we go. 387 00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:24,440 The MythBusters are ready to ride the third round. 388 00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:25,440 That's good. 389 00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:27,440 Where's the Wee bottle I have to go? 390 00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:29,440 I guess I can hold it until we're down there. 391 00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:31,440 Oh, man. 392 00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:41,440 The MythBusters 393 00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:55,440 Jamie and Adam have rolled into the Golden Gate Railway Museum 394 00:25:55,440 --> 00:25:59,440 to test the myth about the guy who died the nastiest of deaths, 395 00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:02,440 relieving himself on an electrified third rail. 396 00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:06,440 Usually when you hear the narrative, the guy has a name. 397 00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:08,440 It's Joseph Patrick O'Malley, 398 00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:10,440 a more Irish name you couldn't get. 399 00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:13,440 So I suspicion that part of this is a stereotypical legend 400 00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:18,440 and it promoted the stereotype of the drunken, thick Irishman. 401 00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:21,440 O'Malley is in for a rough time. 402 00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:25,440 He's been built with the same electrical properties as the human body. 403 00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:30,440 The plan is to wire him up so that if the myth is true, 404 00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:34,440 current will run from the third rail, up his urine stream, 405 00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:36,440 and trigger an electric release switch, 406 00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:38,440 knocking him over backwards. 407 00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:40,440 The current by then will be exiting his feet. 408 00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:45,440 There's no third rail here, so they'll build their own, 409 00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:50,440 attaching a section of track to a 650-volt transformer. 410 00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:57,440 And once in position, there's the delicate, but most important issue. 411 00:26:58,440 --> 00:26:59,440 Perfect. 412 00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:02,440 How's the P.A.M. look? 413 00:27:02,440 --> 00:27:04,440 P.A.M. looks pretty good to me. 414 00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:06,440 I think that's going to hit handily. 415 00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:07,440 Okay. 416 00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:09,440 He looks beautiful. 417 00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:11,440 What would my having this in my house? 418 00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:13,440 Start to stink after a while. 419 00:27:14,440 --> 00:27:16,440 Yeah, I've had that problem before. 420 00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:19,440 Adam, is your bladder ready to do the real thing? 421 00:27:19,440 --> 00:27:22,440 Yeah, we've got it set up basically the way we think it would be set up in real life, 422 00:27:22,440 --> 00:27:25,440 the way someone would actually happen across the situation. 423 00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:27,440 It's a dry day, the ground is dry, 424 00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:30,440 our subject is wearing normal, rubber-soled shoes. 425 00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:35,440 He's having a wee on the rail, there's no wires around him. 426 00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:38,440 We'll electrify the rail and we'll see what happens to him. 427 00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:43,440 The guys will stand on a rubber mat to insulate them. 428 00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:47,440 O'Malley, well, he probably wishes he'd had that drink. 429 00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:50,440 The electric release is like a human heart. 430 00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:53,440 If it's triggered, he's a dead man. 431 00:27:53,440 --> 00:28:00,440 Let's make this set hot. 432 00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:02,440 Hot set? 433 00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:04,440 Three, two, one. 434 00:28:18,440 --> 00:28:19,440 Nothing. 435 00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:20,440 The release wasn't triggered. 436 00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:22,440 O'Malley lives another day. 437 00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:25,440 Adam's putting on a brave face. 438 00:28:25,440 --> 00:28:27,440 That's exactly what I expected. 439 00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:30,440 He's got rubber-soled shoes, he's on dry ground, 440 00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:34,440 there's no way a mere 600 volts is going to arc through his shoes. 441 00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:39,440 But there's life in this myth yet. 442 00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:43,440 Maybe it was a rainy night, the guy's shoes were wet. 443 00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:45,440 That would help complete the circuit with the ground. 444 00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:49,440 Bladder recharging. 445 00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:53,440 Hot set. 446 00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:55,440 We're electrified, here we go. 447 00:29:01,440 --> 00:29:02,440 Nothing. 448 00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:05,440 Not a thing. 449 00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:07,440 Damn. 450 00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:10,440 I really, he needs to see a doctor. 451 00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:11,440 Set is cool. 452 00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:15,440 Jamie, dry shoes didn't work, wet shoes, wet ground didn't work. 453 00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:16,440 What's next? 454 00:29:16,440 --> 00:29:19,440 Well I guess the only thing left is to take his shoes off 455 00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:21,440 and we'll assume he's barefoot. 456 00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:23,440 Okay. 457 00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:25,440 Okay, there's two. 458 00:29:28,440 --> 00:29:30,440 Stumbling around the train yard late at night 459 00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:32,440 looking for a place to pee barefoot. 460 00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:34,440 Alright, are we good? 461 00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:35,440 Hot set. 462 00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:37,440 Alright, here we go. 463 00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:43,440 Nope, nope, there's no connection going. 464 00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:46,440 The guys are starting to suspect the problem isn't in the feet 465 00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:48,440 but the urine stream. 466 00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:51,440 Perhaps it's not carrying the current. 467 00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:55,440 Yeah, it looks like those are not forming a solid stream. 468 00:29:55,440 --> 00:29:56,440 Yeah. 469 00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:00,440 But suddenly they've got another, more dangerous issue. 470 00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:02,440 What's that sound? 471 00:30:04,440 --> 00:30:08,440 The wet ground beneath their mat is live with electricity. 472 00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:09,440 Yeah. 473 00:30:09,440 --> 00:30:11,440 Off, turn it off. 474 00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:17,440 Again, it just shows what we knew which is that the urine is highly conductive 475 00:30:17,440 --> 00:30:21,440 and that that couldn't have been a continuous stream of urine 476 00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:24,440 because if it was we would have activated the relay, right? 477 00:30:24,440 --> 00:30:26,440 Yeah, we should see that on the high speed. 478 00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:27,440 Yeah. 479 00:30:27,440 --> 00:30:30,440 Sure enough, by the time the urine reaches the rail 480 00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:33,440 it's broken into separate drops. 481 00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:36,440 It needs to be solid to carry a current. 482 00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:39,440 The guys might have a solution for that. 483 00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:42,440 The only thing we have left is to try a larger stream of urine. 484 00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:48,440 You know, maybe that'll be more likely to create a continuous connection there with the ground. 485 00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:52,440 That's what we started out with and that's where we're going. 486 00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:56,440 This could be the best day in O'Malley's life. 487 00:30:56,440 --> 00:30:58,440 Or the worst. 488 00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:04,440 But it's not safe to power up until the ground dries a little. 489 00:31:05,440 --> 00:31:11,440 While they're waiting, there is another rail yard myth worth testing. 490 00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:16,440 Legend has it you can derail a train just by putting a penny on the tracks. 491 00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:20,440 The guys have actually graciously allowed us the use of their engine to test this. 492 00:31:20,440 --> 00:31:23,440 My guess is they don't think it's going to derail the train. 493 00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:25,440 I would agree. 494 00:31:34,440 --> 00:31:36,440 Wow! 495 00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:43,440 Oh, yeah! 496 00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:45,440 Look at this! 497 00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:47,440 Oh my god, they're really hot. 498 00:31:47,440 --> 00:31:51,440 This myth isn't just busted. It's flattened. 499 00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:55,440 It's actually very rare that you'll get more than one. 500 00:31:55,440 --> 00:31:58,440 I mean, it's just a little bit of a mess. 501 00:31:58,440 --> 00:32:01,440 I mean, it's just a little bit of a mess. 502 00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:04,440 It's actually very rare that you'll get more than one. 503 00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:06,440 Rob, the engineer is not too surprised. 504 00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:09,440 So Rob, do you think a penny can derail a train? 505 00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:13,440 Absolutely not. Unless it's lodged in the engineer's eye. 506 00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:16,440 That's good. 507 00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:25,440 The guys are hoping their luck will change. 508 00:32:25,440 --> 00:32:30,440 This is their last chance to prove the third rail myth is possible. 509 00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:37,440 We've gone with a more, perhaps, equestrian stream of urine. 510 00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:38,440 Ahekkk! 511 00:32:38,440 --> 00:32:39,440 Ahekkk! 512 00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:40,440 Ahekkk! 513 00:32:40,440 --> 00:32:41,440 Ahekkk! 514 00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:43,440 I hope we get a continuous stream. 515 00:32:43,440 --> 00:32:46,440 I'd like to see this thing work. I'd like to watch it fall over. 516 00:32:46,440 --> 00:32:49,440 To be honest, I still don't think it's quite going to work. 517 00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:53,440 The ground is dried enough to safely try again. 518 00:32:53,440 --> 00:32:58,440 The larger anatomically dubious stream will stay solid longer. 519 00:32:58,440 --> 00:33:01,440 And they've decided to give the myth another helping hand. 520 00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:03,440 Moving the rail closer. 521 00:33:03,440 --> 00:33:07,440 I always like to hold on tight to whatever I'm f***ing on. 522 00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:13,440 The bladder is full. The rail is set. 523 00:33:13,440 --> 00:33:17,440 The electrics are good. We're good for the close-up test. 524 00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:18,440 Powering up. 525 00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:19,440 Powering up. 526 00:33:19,440 --> 00:33:25,440 If this setup doesn't complete the circuit, trigger the release, and kill O'Malley, 527 00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:28,440 it will certainly kill the myth. 528 00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:33,440 Alright. And three, two, one. 529 00:33:33,440 --> 00:33:36,440 Hey! 530 00:33:36,440 --> 00:33:39,440 Psst, psst. 531 00:33:39,440 --> 00:33:41,440 It worked! 532 00:33:41,440 --> 00:33:45,440 Yeah, it's six inches away from the rail. 533 00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:50,440 It just goes to show, do not grab the third rail with both hands and f*** on it from three inches away. 534 00:33:50,440 --> 00:33:55,440 Oh man! Wait a second. I've got to take a leak. 535 00:33:55,440 --> 00:33:59,440 Woo! 536 00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:02,440 That'll never make it in the show. 537 00:34:05,440 --> 00:34:13,440 It was tricky, but they've successfully jumped a current from the third rail up a stream of urine with lethal results. 538 00:34:13,440 --> 00:34:21,440 So after all the testing we did, Jamie, do you think it's possible to electrocute yourself by peeing on the third rail? 539 00:34:21,440 --> 00:34:30,440 Maybe given the right circumstances, it's raining, it's the ground's wet, shoes are wet, or maybe he's not wearing shoes. Could happen. 540 00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:38,440 In fact, there are no recorded cases of O'Malley or anyone else dying like this in the New York subway. 541 00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:44,440 Watching it break up in every stream that we've photographed just doesn't look like you could make a solid connection. 542 00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:46,440 I'd say that's a myth busted. 543 00:34:46,440 --> 00:34:49,440 Not that I'd be peeing on the third rail anytime soon. 544 00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:52,440 Hey! 545 00:34:55,440 --> 00:34:58,440 You're watching myth busters. 546 00:34:58,440 --> 00:35:00,440 Isn't that right? 547 00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:15,440 Two million dead fish, a demagnetized credit card, more slime than the ghost busters, and Jamie and Adam have a slippery myth by the gills. 548 00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:17,440 Well that's a sight for sore eyes. 549 00:35:17,440 --> 00:35:18,440 Oh my God! 550 00:35:18,440 --> 00:35:21,440 Imagine the wallet that you can make out of this one. 551 00:35:21,440 --> 00:35:38,440 The myth here is that in 1986 reports started to surface that there were problems with credit cards due to eel skin wallets. 552 00:35:38,440 --> 00:35:50,440 Apparently the rumor was that the eel skin wallets were coming from electric eels and therefore electromagnetic currents or something were causing problems with the credit cards. 553 00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:58,440 Eel skin wallets wiping out credit cards? A fishy myth if ever there was one. There's only one place to start. 554 00:35:58,440 --> 00:36:08,440 John McOsker is Dr. Eel. He just loves them and there are plenty among the two million specimens at San Francisco's Steinhardt Aquarium. 555 00:36:08,440 --> 00:36:17,440 I was called about eel skin wallets and the fact that somebody who owned this had on more than one occasion found a credit card that didn't work. 556 00:36:17,440 --> 00:36:19,440 So she asked me, is it an electric eel? 557 00:36:19,440 --> 00:36:26,440 The eel skin myth slipped out of the deep. It was soon shocking readers coast to coast. 558 00:36:26,440 --> 00:36:30,440 Electric eels really pack a wallop. 559 00:36:30,440 --> 00:36:32,440 This is an electric eel right here. 560 00:36:32,440 --> 00:36:35,440 Yeah, it's got about 4 to 500 volts. 561 00:36:35,440 --> 00:36:37,440 I should put you on your keister. 562 00:36:37,440 --> 00:36:46,440 It turns out that there is an electrical discharge and you and me and every fish when they move a muscle mass. 563 00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:55,440 But they have concentrated this in muscle packs so that it builds and stores a very large discharge. 564 00:36:55,440 --> 00:37:03,440 And it's able to release it all at once and when it does it just stuns everything in the water around it and then it just gobbles it up. 565 00:37:03,440 --> 00:37:11,440 The guys know flowing electricity creates a magnetic field but surely leather from a dead eel can't hold a charge. 566 00:37:11,440 --> 00:37:16,440 Their mission is to put a lid on this myth once and for all. 567 00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:28,440 They'll start by making up a bunch of stunt credit cards using a magnetic rider. 568 00:37:28,440 --> 00:37:34,440 The strip on credit cards is made of magnetic particles, each about 20 millions of an inch long. 569 00:37:34,440 --> 00:37:38,440 They record information in the same way as audio cassette tape. 570 00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:45,440 They all have the same information on them and now they're ready to be abused in various ways. 571 00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:48,440 Let's see if we can take the information off. 572 00:37:48,440 --> 00:37:51,440 Where are we going to start? What are we going to test on this one? 573 00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:54,440 Well we've got to put cards in wallets, see what happens. 574 00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:58,440 We'll leave them there for a while, measure the wallets, see what they do. 575 00:38:00,440 --> 00:38:03,440 It seems our myth is quite widespread. 576 00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:10,440 Eelskin has proved to be a natural leather that is harmless to the magnetic strips on credit cards. 577 00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:14,440 They'll be the judge of that. 578 00:38:14,440 --> 00:38:18,440 First, what happens after just a few seconds' contact? 579 00:38:18,440 --> 00:38:20,440 Want a swipe? See if anything happened? 580 00:38:20,440 --> 00:38:21,440 Yeah. 581 00:38:24,440 --> 00:38:26,440 There it is. All the data. 582 00:38:28,440 --> 00:38:31,440 No surprise there. Maybe it needs some wear and tear. 583 00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:35,440 There you go. 584 00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:44,440 While it didn't do anything to it, let's leave those in there for 24 hours or something and see what happens to them after that. 585 00:38:44,440 --> 00:38:59,440 Another theory actually is that during the tanning process, a residue could get left on the wallet that gives it a small charge that could demagnetize a card. 586 00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:05,440 Something like that might have iron particles or something in it that they've impregnated the leather with. 587 00:39:05,440 --> 00:39:08,440 Yeah, and if such a thing is possible, we should be able to test for it. 588 00:39:10,440 --> 00:39:12,440 I can't help myself. I need some satisfaction. 589 00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:23,440 It's like a bad television effect, but it's happening right in my microwave. 590 00:39:23,440 --> 00:39:25,440 Oh, that's the best. 591 00:39:26,440 --> 00:39:29,440 The microwave arcs the metal in the disk. 592 00:39:31,440 --> 00:39:36,440 If the tanning process leaves metal in the wallet, it should do the same thing. 593 00:39:36,440 --> 00:39:40,440 Well, normally we'd see some kind of sparking going on, wouldn't we? 594 00:39:40,440 --> 00:39:43,440 Normally we would. You think it's hot? 595 00:39:44,440 --> 00:39:46,440 It might be warming up a little bit. 596 00:39:46,440 --> 00:39:51,440 No sparks, no metal. The guys need to find another explanation. 597 00:39:51,440 --> 00:39:53,440 It's warm. 598 00:39:53,440 --> 00:39:55,440 That's about it. 599 00:39:55,440 --> 00:39:59,440 You know, Adam, there's a common theme to all this. You're putting it in and out of your pocket. 600 00:39:59,440 --> 00:40:04,440 You're creating a static charge, maybe, that the wallet's retaining and then it's messing with the credit cards. 601 00:40:04,440 --> 00:40:05,440 Yeah. 602 00:40:05,440 --> 00:40:08,440 You know, I don't know, but it's a common theme with all of the stores. 603 00:40:09,440 --> 00:40:16,440 So can Adam use eelskin to generate enough static electricity to wipe out a credit card? 604 00:40:18,440 --> 00:40:21,440 The charge is stored in this capacitor. 605 00:40:21,440 --> 00:40:25,440 Well, okay, I am able to generate a very small amount of static this way. 606 00:40:26,440 --> 00:40:29,440 Maybe some nylon underwear will do the trick. 607 00:40:33,440 --> 00:40:35,440 Let's see what we get. 608 00:40:36,440 --> 00:40:38,440 It works just fine. 609 00:40:41,440 --> 00:40:45,440 They just can't seem to get a grip on this eelskin myth. 610 00:40:45,440 --> 00:40:48,440 Maybe that's because there's a twist in the tail. 611 00:40:48,440 --> 00:40:52,440 So eelskin wallets aren't actually made of eelskin at all, right? 612 00:40:52,440 --> 00:40:56,440 Well, not electric eels, not mori eels, or any other kind of eel. 613 00:40:56,440 --> 00:41:03,440 Actually, made from a disgusting fish called a hagfish called the slime eel. 614 00:41:04,440 --> 00:41:07,440 Now this is a slime eel. 615 00:41:09,440 --> 00:41:11,440 You've got to be a little odd to like slime eels. 616 00:41:11,440 --> 00:41:16,440 Somewhere, somehow, a fisherman discovered this skin makes great leather. 617 00:41:17,440 --> 00:41:20,440 You know, I wouldn't look at this and think, wallet. No. 618 00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:27,440 This is Adam and Jamie's lucky day. The aquarium has live hagfish. 619 00:41:28,440 --> 00:41:31,440 They just look like snot in the bottom of the tank. 620 00:41:32,440 --> 00:41:34,440 Look at this. Wow. 621 00:41:35,440 --> 00:41:37,440 Look at this thing. Looks like the mummy. 622 00:41:39,440 --> 00:41:40,440 Isn't that great? 623 00:41:40,440 --> 00:41:44,440 I'd rather put my hands in formalde than I'd been in a tank full of hagfish. 624 00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:52,440 The slime is a defense mechanism in the wild, which seems to work pretty well in captivity too. 625 00:41:52,440 --> 00:41:54,440 Oh, that's disgusting. 626 00:41:55,440 --> 00:41:57,440 That's really spectacular. 627 00:41:57,440 --> 00:41:59,440 There we go. 628 00:41:59,440 --> 00:42:01,440 There we go. 629 00:42:01,440 --> 00:42:03,440 Guys are hired. 630 00:42:03,440 --> 00:42:05,440 I warned you. 631 00:42:05,440 --> 00:42:07,440 Yeah, no, I know. 632 00:42:07,440 --> 00:42:10,440 They are no closer to busting this myth. 633 00:42:10,440 --> 00:42:13,440 The slime eel left them empty-handed. 634 00:42:13,440 --> 00:42:15,440 Or did it? 635 00:42:20,440 --> 00:42:25,440 In the eel skin wallet myth, John McCosker did some myth-busting of his own. 636 00:42:25,440 --> 00:42:28,440 He's convinced the fish have been framed. 637 00:42:28,440 --> 00:42:36,440 It wasn't until we finally obtained a wallet that had been used that we then realized what the problem was. 638 00:42:36,440 --> 00:42:38,440 What turned out to be the problem? 639 00:42:38,440 --> 00:42:47,440 The problem was geography. There was a magnet right over the band of the card where the signature was located. 640 00:42:49,440 --> 00:42:54,440 Could it be true? Could a small magnetic class be erasing bank details? 641 00:42:54,440 --> 00:42:57,440 How hard is it to wipe out a credit card anyway? 642 00:42:57,440 --> 00:43:00,440 Jamie and Adam vow to find out. 643 00:43:00,440 --> 00:43:04,440 We should point out that the way this holds the bills together is magnetic. 644 00:43:04,440 --> 00:43:06,440 Yeah. 645 00:43:08,440 --> 00:43:10,440 Shall we try and read it? 646 00:43:13,440 --> 00:43:14,440 I read it just fine. 647 00:43:14,440 --> 00:43:17,440 I'm actually really surprised how robust these cards are. 648 00:43:17,440 --> 00:43:22,440 So am I. I would have bet money that they would have messed with them. 649 00:43:22,440 --> 00:43:27,440 So why don't we leave this one for 24 hours as well along with the other eel skins? 650 00:43:27,440 --> 00:43:32,440 There's also a theory you can strip cards by rubbing two together. 651 00:43:34,440 --> 00:43:36,440 That one's good. 652 00:43:36,440 --> 00:43:38,440 Yeah, they're both good. 653 00:43:38,440 --> 00:43:41,440 Rubbing them up and down against each other didn't do anything. 654 00:43:44,440 --> 00:43:47,440 The guys are desperate to erase a card. 655 00:43:47,440 --> 00:43:53,440 They've built an electromagnet so they can find out exactly how much magnetism it takes. 656 00:43:53,440 --> 00:43:55,440 Here, hold still. 657 00:43:55,440 --> 00:44:00,440 By varying the electrical current, they can control the strength of the magnetic field. 658 00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:02,440 That's about eight volts. 659 00:44:06,440 --> 00:44:08,440 That's a magnet all right. 660 00:44:08,440 --> 00:44:12,440 Gauss is the measurement for magnetic strength. 661 00:44:12,440 --> 00:44:14,440 That's the core civility, I believe. 662 00:44:14,440 --> 00:44:19,440 And so we have this little nifty device that reads that. 663 00:44:21,440 --> 00:44:24,440 The Earth's magnetic pull is about one gauss. 664 00:44:24,440 --> 00:44:27,440 They'll be testing well beyond that. 665 00:44:27,440 --> 00:44:29,440 So this is 650 gauss. 666 00:44:29,440 --> 00:44:31,440 Yeah. 667 00:44:33,440 --> 00:44:35,440 One, one thousand. 668 00:44:35,440 --> 00:44:38,440 Okay, let's see. 669 00:44:38,440 --> 00:44:40,440 Card number one is good. 670 00:44:40,440 --> 00:44:42,440 It'll go into 700? 671 00:44:42,440 --> 00:44:43,440 Yeah. 672 00:44:43,440 --> 00:44:47,440 They'll step up the magnetic field until they get a failure. 673 00:44:47,440 --> 00:44:48,440 Fine. 674 00:44:48,440 --> 00:44:51,440 800 gauss, man, are you crazy? 675 00:44:51,440 --> 00:44:53,440 Nothing. 676 00:44:53,440 --> 00:44:58,440 Looks like the everyday credit card is tougher than they thought. 677 00:44:58,440 --> 00:45:01,440 Time to step on that gauss. 678 00:45:01,440 --> 00:45:03,440 Okay, 1600 gauss. 679 00:45:03,440 --> 00:45:09,440 Something tells me that nothing's gonna happen. 680 00:45:09,440 --> 00:45:11,440 It's good. 681 00:45:11,440 --> 00:45:16,440 Now, wave this card like half a centimeter above the magnet. 682 00:45:20,440 --> 00:45:22,440 Let's see what that did. 683 00:45:24,440 --> 00:45:25,440 Hey, we got a read error. 684 00:45:25,440 --> 00:45:26,440 Read error. 685 00:45:26,440 --> 00:45:28,440 We got a read error. 686 00:45:28,440 --> 00:45:31,440 Swiping the card has proved the key. 687 00:45:31,440 --> 00:45:37,440 By moving it through the field, the tiny magnetic particles in the strip are dragged out of alignment. 688 00:45:37,440 --> 00:45:39,440 A thousand gauss. 689 00:45:41,440 --> 00:45:44,440 Number four is totally screwed. 690 00:45:44,440 --> 00:45:46,440 Number four is bad. 691 00:45:46,440 --> 00:45:51,440 I would say that we could call a thousand gauss the point at which the cards regularly start to fail. 692 00:45:51,440 --> 00:45:55,440 There's nowhere near that much magnetism in the water. 693 00:45:55,440 --> 00:45:59,440 So could the person in the myth have come into contact with it some other way? 694 00:45:59,440 --> 00:46:04,440 Calling this cell phone, I didn't get anything above 30 gauss. 695 00:46:04,440 --> 00:46:06,440 No, nothing. 696 00:46:06,440 --> 00:46:10,440 It's going up to around 16 at most. 697 00:46:10,440 --> 00:46:11,440 That's a speaker. 698 00:46:11,440 --> 00:46:13,440 That's about 70 gauss. 699 00:46:13,440 --> 00:46:16,440 Nothing comes close to a thousand gauss. 700 00:46:18,440 --> 00:46:20,440 That's a wallet with a class? 701 00:46:20,440 --> 00:46:25,440 Even after a day's exposure, it's doubtful a wallet could generate that sort of feel. 702 00:46:26,440 --> 00:46:29,440 Fine, all the information's still there. 703 00:46:29,440 --> 00:46:31,440 Try this one. 704 00:46:31,440 --> 00:46:33,440 Go. 705 00:46:33,440 --> 00:46:35,440 Nope, all the information's still there. 706 00:46:35,440 --> 00:46:37,440 No ill effects at all. 707 00:46:37,440 --> 00:46:41,440 Let's try the eel skin money clip that has magnets in it. 708 00:46:44,440 --> 00:46:46,440 Nope, all the information's still there. 709 00:46:46,440 --> 00:46:52,440 All right, Jamie, so yeah, there's no effect on these cards after 24 hours in a genuine eel skin wallet. 710 00:46:52,440 --> 00:46:55,440 This myth is all but busted. 711 00:46:55,440 --> 00:46:59,440 But there's one challenge left. 712 00:46:59,440 --> 00:47:02,440 John, do you have an electric eel we can go visit? 713 00:47:02,440 --> 00:47:03,440 A live one? 714 00:47:03,440 --> 00:47:07,440 And a hungry one and it's storing its charge waiting for you. 715 00:47:07,440 --> 00:47:12,440 We have some live electric eels that have caused some workers' cop injuries. 716 00:47:12,440 --> 00:47:18,440 The guys feeding the fish got shocked, knocked backwards off the rail and banged their head. 717 00:47:19,440 --> 00:47:22,440 But you can see it really hurts the fish. 718 00:47:22,440 --> 00:47:23,440 They kind of wince. 719 00:47:23,440 --> 00:47:25,440 They go zap. 720 00:47:26,440 --> 00:47:31,440 There's enough power swimming around the bottom of that tank to stun a horse. 721 00:47:31,440 --> 00:47:35,440 Let's put this card in the tank with the electric eel who's right inside here. 722 00:47:35,440 --> 00:47:38,440 Got the gauss meter set up all the way at the end. 723 00:47:38,440 --> 00:47:41,440 So if he gives a jolt, you should be able to read it. 724 00:47:48,440 --> 00:47:50,440 Electric eel's looking at me right in the eye. 725 00:47:51,440 --> 00:47:55,440 Are you getting any kind of reading at all? 726 00:47:55,440 --> 00:47:56,440 No. 727 00:47:56,440 --> 00:47:58,440 I'm just getting minuscule variations. 728 00:47:58,440 --> 00:47:59,440 Nothing at all really. 729 00:48:05,440 --> 00:48:06,440 Whoop! 730 00:48:06,440 --> 00:48:08,440 He just flinched. 731 00:48:08,440 --> 00:48:09,440 Oh! 732 00:48:09,440 --> 00:48:11,440 He just bit the card. 733 00:48:11,440 --> 00:48:13,440 You didn't see any sparks fly or anything? 734 00:48:13,440 --> 00:48:18,440 I didn't see any sparks fly and thank goodness I didn't feel anything. 735 00:48:18,440 --> 00:48:20,440 Now he swung by it again. 736 00:48:20,440 --> 00:48:21,440 He's really very confused. 737 00:48:21,440 --> 00:48:22,440 You not getting anything? 738 00:48:22,440 --> 00:48:23,440 Not a thing. 739 00:48:23,440 --> 00:48:25,440 Maybe one gauss. 740 00:48:25,440 --> 00:48:26,440 One gauss? 741 00:48:26,440 --> 00:48:27,440 That's nothing. 742 00:48:27,440 --> 00:48:29,440 You have more gausses than that. 743 00:48:29,440 --> 00:48:31,440 I have more gausses walking into a room than that. 744 00:48:31,440 --> 00:48:33,440 Now he's just resting at the bottom of the tank. 745 00:48:33,440 --> 00:48:35,440 I'd say definitively he's sulking. 746 00:48:35,440 --> 00:48:40,440 Look if people think eel skin wallets can erase a card, stick it in a card in a tank with an electric eel, 747 00:48:40,440 --> 00:48:42,440 this ought to prove this once and for all. 748 00:48:42,440 --> 00:48:43,440 I mean this is the ultimate test. 749 00:48:43,440 --> 00:48:44,440 Yeah. 750 00:48:44,440 --> 00:48:45,440 Okay. 751 00:48:46,440 --> 00:48:48,440 Myth busted. 752 00:48:48,440 --> 00:48:51,440 All the evidence is still in the card, completely not demagnetized at all. 753 00:48:51,440 --> 00:48:52,440 Myth busted. 754 00:48:52,440 --> 00:48:54,440 I'd say yeah, myth busted. 755 00:49:15,440 --> 00:49:17,440 Myth busted.