1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,240 on this episode of myth busters don't tell them which ones we have adam and 2 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:12,000 jayney outside their comfort zone in a footballing myth that we would you know 3 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:18,520 aspire to not be idiots they head for a hanger and hurl hail Mary's bang to see 4 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:27,640 it hang time really is higher with helium and grant carry and Tory take a 5 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:35,600 pot shot at a deadly myth as they aim to catch a bullet in their teeth oh my 6 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:47,040 god and bluest teeth out Adam Savage and Jamie Heineman aren't trace around 7 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:53,440 illegal between them over 30 years special effects experience that's what 8 00:00:54,200 --> 00:01:01,280 joining them Tory Bellachie science is fun carry Byron guess what I did today and 9 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:07,720 grant imahara you guys ready for this they don't just tell them it's they put 10 00:01:07,720 --> 00:01:10,520 them to the test 11 00:01:10,520 --> 00:01:24,280 Adam we have a sporting myth only our second one and it's surprising given 12 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:28,920 that we're such jocks exactly my thoughts when you kept into the flag team in 13 00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:34,560 Indiana back in like the 20s no wrong Jamie the myth is that if you fill a 14 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:39,560 football with helium and you kick it or throw it that because it's lighter it 15 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:44,240 will have more hang time and therefore it'll travel farther on the old helium 16 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:52,360 football trick let's get going helium is lighter than air that's the scientific 17 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:57,880 cornerstone of this sporting conundrum fill a blimp with it and you'll float but 18 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:02,280 will it make a football fly further 19 00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:09,920 it's game day at the science bowl San Francisco City College 20 00:02:09,920 --> 00:02:14,760 that a long time since you walked on the gridiron huh I know I'm out of shape 21 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:19,720 when just walking to the end of this field makes me out of breath luckily 22 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:24,800 the kicker for today's test is fighting fit and ready to punt his way into the 23 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:29,120 myth busters Hall of Fame yeah this is our punter Tim Sonneberg Tim Adam nice 24 00:02:29,160 --> 00:02:33,480 to meet you Tim Jamie nice to meet you so thinking give us a couple lessons and 25 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:37,840 kicking the football got a few tips for you guys today the myth that we've heard 26 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:42,200 that we're testing is that filling a football with helium will somehow make 27 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:46,840 it fly farther than just a regular regulation football have you heard that 28 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:50,840 oh that's that's been going on for eons as far back as I can remember and I 29 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:55,640 don't even know where the heck I got it from but I that's been the rumor for 30 00:02:55,680 --> 00:03:00,400 years what kind of improvement do you think helium would land I believe helium 31 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:06,280 would add a good five to ten yards to a good kick Tim's confident but is his 32 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:12,240 opinion based on science or urban myth he's about to find out but first a 33 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:18,320 crash course in kicking there's two types of kick in American football the 34 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:23,320 kickoff features the end over end variety which gives maximum hang time and 35 00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:30,800 is hard to catch the punt is for distance and accuracy by imparting spin to 36 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:36,520 the ball off the foot this spiral kick generates less drag and so flies further 37 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:43,400 making it spot-on for this myth Jamie I know it's been like 40 or 50 years but 38 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:49,120 you ready to put on your old armor and what is the point of this I could see 39 00:03:49,560 --> 00:03:53,560 you bringing some shoes but the helmet and the shoulder pads are going to be 40 00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:56,560 for what purpose it's just amazing to me that you still don't realize we're 41 00:03:56,560 --> 00:04:03,280 shooting a TV show well yeah but we would you know aspire to not be idiots 42 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:10,520 and yet we would fail all right let's start the lesson okay so walking through 43 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:14,640 like I'm your kid nephew it's about my skill level 44 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:24,720 dude that's amazing you made that look way too easy it would is if you just if 45 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:29,560 you walk into it a couple of handy hints and the rookies ready for his premier 46 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:36,920 punt just normal steps all right and before you can say hang time no spiral 47 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:44,560 the balls back on the ground all right your turn okay let's your foot go 48 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:51,800 kick the ball sports fans may want to look away now that's all coming back to 49 00:04:51,800 --> 00:05:00,320 you isn't it yeah that was so bad it's worth another look well I totally sucked 50 00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:06,520 at that but you know football is not my sport in fact there really aren't any 51 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:12,680 sports that are mine it seems that just as white men couldn't jump myth busters 52 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:21,880 can't putt oh I see except in this case there's no twist to the tail they just 53 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:26,080 can't hard if I was doing the kicking for this test we would be able to draw 54 00:05:26,080 --> 00:05:30,520 some conclusions and those conclusions would be that I suck at kicking oh I 55 00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:38,520 think we should get Tim to kick the balls for us because he's really good hmm 56 00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:43,840 big sense Tim takes care of the kicking while Adam and Jamie take care of the 57 00:05:43,840 --> 00:05:48,240 nerding I brought a bunch of meters for the weather conditions just to make sure 58 00:05:48,240 --> 00:05:51,080 you know we've got comparisons on everything and I think we should just 59 00:05:51,080 --> 00:05:55,000 keep on checking the wind speed okay well while you're doing that I'll break 60 00:05:55,000 --> 00:06:01,800 out the brand-new regulation balls are filled to exactly 13 psi which is what 61 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:07,880 is required oh excellent never been used but is that 13 psi of helium or air 62 00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:13,880 ball feels a little light so filled with helium well we can tell you that 63 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:19,640 could we are we skew the results so we'll tell you afterwards how's that here 64 00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:25,800 we go test number one punt number one Tim does his best to produce five 65 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:34,040 identical kicks downfield Adam records the distance of each one for test 66 00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:39,120 number two the balls are emptied then refilled with the other gas once again 67 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:44,640 it's crucial to the experiment that its identity remains secret okay these are 68 00:06:44,640 --> 00:06:54,760 ready don't tell them which ones we have see how far they go yeah four yards 69 00:06:54,760 --> 00:07:00,880 Tim puts up another five punts this time with helium filled balls so what were 70 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:06,040 the results and did he spot the difference from your standpoint what do 71 00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:08,920 you think between the first two sets of balls what were you kicking first and 72 00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:13,000 what were you kicking second it felt like the first set of balls I kicked were 73 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:16,320 filled with helium your first set of balls were actually regulation balls 74 00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:21,880 filled 13 psi with just regular air wow I would have thought that those were the 75 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:27,120 helium balls well the second set was the helium balls that's surprising what's 76 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:31,800 more even though Tim didn't pick them the helium balls did travel further than 77 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:38,080 the airfield ones by an average of three yards but is that data reliable it 78 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:43,200 looks like it supports the myth that helium does fly farther than air but 79 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:47,440 unfortunately kick-to-kick we're looking at a difference of like up to 20 yards 80 00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:52,400 sometimes and when I see a difference of that between two data points I just 81 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:56,720 don't look at my average as being a real number I'm not ready to call this one 82 00:07:56,760 --> 00:08:02,560 busted plausible or confirmed yet I don't think we have enough real data 83 00:08:04,480 --> 00:08:13,040 three back at the myth busters lot it's a splatter fest carries up before the 84 00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:17,160 paintball firing squad but she's taking it on the chin 85 00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:19,480 oh 86 00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:28,920 I'm fine is this just pointless but enjoyable victimization or might there be 87 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:38,400 some myth busting in there somewhere my guess a little of both 88 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:47,840 grant what myth have you brought us today the myth is you can catch a bullet 89 00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:52,000 that's fired at you in your teeth I always thought that that was just a 90 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:55,800 magic trick that people did well there are people out there that claim that 91 00:08:55,800 --> 00:08:59,240 they can do it so what are you guys gonna do Tori and you are gonna fire guns 92 00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:05,560 at each other's faces and get some target practice well almost that's 93 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:10,880 exactly what the boys in the bullet catching business claim they do here's 94 00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:16,760 a clip from the 1952 show you asked for it would you now give the bullet to mr. 95 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:23,520 shores like to have him place it in the gun and then in firing position if you 96 00:09:23,520 --> 00:09:32,840 will ready aim fire make up your own minds is this superman in disguise or 97 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:36,600 did he have more than just his tongue in his cheek but I see that bullet please 98 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:42,200 Carrie Grant and Tori are going to find out they'll run a three-part experiment 99 00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:48,680 first they'll run tests to see if teeth can withstand the force of a bullet 100 00:09:49,680 --> 00:09:54,960 next put human reflexes under the gun to see if they're quick enough to catch a 101 00:09:54,960 --> 00:10:00,280 bullet it's a little scary and just in case they find that shock horror it is 102 00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:04,720 only a conjuring trick they're going to try and build a rig to catch a bullet 103 00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:14,440 traveling at almost a thousand feet per second first up the teeth strength test 104 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:23,640 and Tori's found a set of dentures so we're gonna do is put a bullet in a 105 00:10:23,640 --> 00:10:28,840 pair of teeth with average biting strength and give it the amount of kinetic 106 00:10:28,880 --> 00:10:34,840 energy that a bullet would have if it were fired from a gun and we'll see if 107 00:10:34,840 --> 00:10:40,880 the jaws can hang on to the bullet then you do and you are able to dissipate 108 00:10:40,880 --> 00:10:45,120 that kinetic energy if you're not able to dissipate it the bullet will come 109 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:49,160 flying out of the teeth here's the plan the bullet will be clenched in the 110 00:10:49,160 --> 00:10:54,240 dentures which will be held shut using air pressure from a pneumatic cylinder 111 00:10:55,000 --> 00:11:00,080 a weighted pendulum will swing down to strike a metal pin which will hit the 112 00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:05,640 bullet delivering the same amount of force as a shot fired from a gun Grant 113 00:11:05,640 --> 00:11:10,160 explains now of course the bullet is very small and it's traveling very fast 114 00:11:10,160 --> 00:11:14,920 we won't be able to have whatever we're making travel quite that fast so we have 115 00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:21,560 to compensate by having it be much heavier something else to chew over the 116 00:11:21,600 --> 00:11:25,960 teeth have to be biting down on the bullet with regular human force but how 117 00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:33,160 strong is that Tori wraps his jaws around a force gauge 117.10 his best 118 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:41,120 bite 117 newtons or 85 pounds of pressure Grant calculates that to match the 119 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:46,960 kinetic energy of a bullet the pendulum must carry a 50 pound load and swing 120 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:53,560 from a height of four feet it's enough to set your teeth on edge Grant 121 00:11:53,560 --> 00:11:58,560 pressurizes the choppers to match Tori's bite strength 122 00:12:02,720 --> 00:12:08,320 and all these jaws want for Christmas is their two front teeth time for a 123 00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:14,760 rethink take two with the bullet at the back of the jaws the pin is lined up to 124 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:20,720 hit the slug head on 50 pounds comes swinging in from four feet 125 00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:21,720 one 126 00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:28,600 Wow is the bullet still in there? 127 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:29,800 Well it's still in the teeth 128 00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:33,800 let's take a look at the high speed and see exactly what happened okay 129 00:12:35,300 --> 00:12:40,800 the bullet's still there and the teeth apart from one or two chips are still intact 130 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:47,160 that is some really unexpected results I hadn't I wouldn't have predicted that in a 131 00:12:47,160 --> 00:12:53,120 million years the dentures with Tori's bite force were actually able to hang 132 00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:58,480 on to the bullet which is very surprising result and it lends a little 133 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:02,840 bit of credence to something that so far we are all assuming is an illusion 134 00:13:02,840 --> 00:13:07,520 hanging on to the bullets one thing but you have to be fast enough to catch it 135 00:13:07,560 --> 00:13:13,560 in the first place could anyone really bite down on a speeding slug 136 00:13:13,560 --> 00:13:16,560 which one of you is Granny Mahara? 137 00:13:16,560 --> 00:13:21,560 the team's going to test human reaction time to a pistol shot 138 00:13:21,560 --> 00:13:26,760 as soon as you hear or see something that tells you that I fired the gun 139 00:13:26,760 --> 00:13:30,080 you're gonna try to close down your mouth and see if you could physically 140 00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:35,560 possibly catch it by the way so Grant doesn't die they're using blanks and a 141 00:13:35,600 --> 00:13:40,080 bullet proof plastic sheet in three two one 142 00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:50,760 we all know that Carrie's quick on the draw when it comes to opening her mouth 143 00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:55,480 but it turns out she can shot it fairly smartly too 144 00:13:55,480 --> 00:14:00,760 Carrie had the fastest reaction time with nine milliseconds 145 00:14:00,760 --> 00:14:04,360 no is that with or without the countdown that is with a preemptive 146 00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:07,880 countdown well I mean we've shown that it's possible that you could time it so 147 00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:11,920 you could grab the bullet but that's a total crapshoot I mean it's it's luck 148 00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:15,920 so why don't we do a test where we could see if you could actually grab a 149 00:14:15,920 --> 00:14:22,080 projectile a projectile like a paintball perhaps I think you got a real 150 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:25,960 good chance of catching these Tari's gonna fire paintballs from the distance of 151 00:14:25,960 --> 00:14:31,080 25 feet and Carrie's gonna try to catch them now we've already seen what a 152 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:36,640 well-aimed paintball can do I know you want to keep aiming at that spot but 153 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:43,680 can you not aim right at that spot again in a previous episode Adam and Jamie 154 00:14:43,680 --> 00:14:49,720 held a paintball duel to see who could withstand the most pain and claim the 155 00:14:49,720 --> 00:14:57,240 title of ultimate myth buster this sucks I don't want to do this anymore 156 00:14:57,280 --> 00:15:02,920 needless to say Adam lost yeah I keep forgetting that you're like actually 157 00:15:02,920 --> 00:15:09,560 have no heart or soul and given the smirk neither has Tori it might pay to 158 00:15:09,560 --> 00:15:17,280 don some suitable protection undaunted Carrie steps up to the plate suddenly 159 00:15:17,280 --> 00:15:22,040 this seems sort of like a bad idea is he gonna be fine Carrie you just gonna 160 00:15:22,080 --> 00:15:27,320 have a few welts you're gonna love it do a test fire I want to see how fast it 161 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:35,000 goes you got it the answer 300 feet per second holy it's gonna take a few trials 162 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:40,240 here that's okay I don't mind I could do this all day you know here on myth 163 00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:45,200 busters one tries not to approach any experiment with a preconceived notion as 164 00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:53,560 to the outcome good luck thanks fire but in this case one thinks one can make 165 00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:57,520 an exception fire 166 00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:05,360 that's close really no I can't even see it if you can't catch this there's no 167 00:16:05,360 --> 00:16:09,240 way you're gonna be able to catch a bullet at 200 miles per hour a paintball 168 00:16:09,240 --> 00:16:14,080 is only traveling one-third the speed of the slowest bullet I can see it coming 169 00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:18,800 at me but by the time I can process the fact that my hand needs to grab on to it 170 00:16:18,800 --> 00:16:22,520 it's already hit me I'll see if I can't take the force for the projectile and 171 00:16:22,520 --> 00:16:28,560 stop it from breaking that's it yeah go ahead tell us how that works out three 172 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:37,840 two one oh that look pretty cool oh getting shot in the hand is one thing 173 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:43,160 palming a paintball is quite another the guys better think quick if they want to 174 00:16:43,200 --> 00:16:47,960 catch a bullet if you can't do their hands there's no way I'm gonna do it 175 00:16:47,960 --> 00:16:56,200 Adam and Jamie have been taking a punt at the myth that a helium filled 176 00:16:56,200 --> 00:17:01,840 football will fly further than an air filled one but even with a specialist 177 00:17:01,840 --> 00:17:09,800 kicker the data were all over the park back at m5 the guys are having a rethink 178 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:18,960 and that done they have a discussion the best place kicker in the world really 179 00:17:18,960 --> 00:17:24,200 can't make a football land in the same spot twice in a row there's too much too 180 00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:29,120 much variance between the kicks we need to go back to the shop and get a lot 181 00:17:29,120 --> 00:17:33,560 more scientific about this well let's look at the very first part of this does 182 00:17:33,560 --> 00:17:38,000 helium actually make a football lighter let's carefully weigh some helium filled 183 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:42,080 footballs and some air filled footballs and see what if any difference there 184 00:17:42,120 --> 00:17:47,800 actually is to weigh gases they'll need some precision equipment and they have a 185 00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:53,560 gem of an idea a specialist store for jewelers we're here to purchase a scale 186 00:17:53,560 --> 00:17:59,040 that's extremely accurate and these kinds of places specialize in jewelry and 187 00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:02,480 such so you know stuff like gold you kind of want to be accurate about how much 188 00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:07,840 it weighs with helium versus air in the balance the scales must be super 189 00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:14,840 sensitive think we should weigh my wedding ring that's huge look at that 190 00:18:14,840 --> 00:18:20,560 11 grams of solid gold let's see whether it will pick up a pig whoo whoo 191 00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:25,240 it measures a post it well it goes to a tenth of a gram that's that's point oh 192 00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:32,000 oh oh two five pounds yeah that's like a quarter of a thousandth of a pound all 193 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:36,920 right we'll take it the jewelry store job goes like clockwork and it's back to m5 194 00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:42,160 for the weigh in footballs can vary in weight by up to seven grams so they 195 00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:48,480 numbered the balls and record their dead weight then they fill them up with the 196 00:18:48,480 --> 00:18:54,600 regulation amount of air 13 psi well this is actually pretty cool I'm getting 197 00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:59,080 almost exactly a difference of 3.2 grams which means we're filling this with 3.2 198 00:18:59,080 --> 00:19:03,160 grams of air I never would have guessed that I would have thought it was like 199 00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:08,000 one tenth of a gram maybe yeah yeah it's it's pretty amazing air weighs more 200 00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:13,160 than you'd think put a cylinder around the Eiffel Tower and the air inside will 201 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:20,440 weigh more than the tower itself food for thought okay so what's next I think 202 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:24,400 we have to deflate these and fill them with helium next as everyone knows 203 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:29,200 inhaling lighter than air helium gives you a high-pitched voice it's 204 00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:34,480 predictable juvenile and dangerous behavior in other words irresistible 205 00:19:34,480 --> 00:19:41,040 it's weird talking without any oxygen in your system wow 206 00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:44,040 hmm 207 00:19:45,040 --> 00:19:48,400 you could die that way yeah I know I always have to stop when my lips get 208 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:53,760 blue so two issues there helium makes your voice sound funny and it can kill 209 00:19:53,760 --> 00:19:59,180 you yeah that seems just fine first the funny bit it's all to do with the 210 00:19:59,180 --> 00:20:04,180 speed at which the sound of your voice travels through air I reject your 211 00:20:04,180 --> 00:20:08,740 reality and substitute my own and through helium I reject your reality and 212 00:20:08,740 --> 00:20:13,100 substitute my own helium is only half as denses air so sound travels through it 213 00:20:13,100 --> 00:20:18,340 almost twice as fast this doubles the frequency making it sound squeaky the 214 00:20:18,340 --> 00:20:23,740 second issue is much simpler humans don't work on helium so don't try it at 215 00:20:24,740 --> 00:20:31,780 back at the way it it's actually almost seven grams different between the helium 216 00:20:31,780 --> 00:20:35,300 filled football at regulation pressure and the air filled football at 217 00:20:35,300 --> 00:20:40,300 regulation pressure and what's more it turns out that even an empty ball weighs 218 00:20:40,300 --> 00:20:44,900 more than a helium filled one even though I know a helium balloon will flood up 219 00:20:44,900 --> 00:20:48,300 in the air because helium is lighter than air I didn't expect that helium even a 220 00:20:48,300 --> 00:20:52,660 small amount like three and a quarter psi of helium would actually reduce the 221 00:20:52,700 --> 00:20:57,100 weight of the football by probably almost a full percentage point it doesn't 222 00:20:57,100 --> 00:21:01,820 sound much but if the myth's correct the weight loss provided by helium could 223 00:21:01,820 --> 00:21:05,740 turn an ordinary kick into an extraordinary one 224 00:21:05,740 --> 00:21:07,740 this one out the back of the end zone again 225 00:21:11,340 --> 00:21:15,020 amazingly our researchers might have actually turned up the source of this 226 00:21:15,020 --> 00:21:20,340 myth which is a punter who played for the Oakland Raiders from 73 to 1986 by the 227 00:21:20,380 --> 00:21:26,260 name of Ray Guy yeah his punts stayed in the air so long and they went so high 228 00:21:26,260 --> 00:21:30,900 that the NFL actually had to come up with a statistical term for it which they 229 00:21:30,900 --> 00:21:37,740 called hang time during the course of the day and that everything I hit was at 230 00:21:37,740 --> 00:21:42,100 least five seconds or better hang time and it was going exactly where I wanted 231 00:21:42,100 --> 00:21:46,460 to go as the story goes during a game in the 70s against the Houston Oilers one 232 00:21:46,500 --> 00:21:51,660 of his punts hung so long in the air that the ball was immediately collected 233 00:21:51,660 --> 00:21:56,620 and tested for the presence of helium once I hit it the ball just took off and 234 00:21:56,620 --> 00:22:00,740 seemed like he just stayed up there forever Billy a few years later told me 235 00:22:00,740 --> 00:22:04,660 that bum hollered at him told him say they get that football we're gonna take 236 00:22:04,660 --> 00:22:07,940 it back and have it analyzed because they thought I had helium in it you know 237 00:22:07,940 --> 00:22:15,100 which we have a pretty much a standing joke about it now there was no helium but 238 00:22:15,140 --> 00:22:19,820 despite the lack of evidence the myth persisted which is why it's found itself 239 00:22:19,820 --> 00:22:26,060 on this show that's enough historical background time for a gratuitous 240 00:22:26,060 --> 00:22:31,300 explosion the question we're gonna answer here is how much pressure can a 241 00:22:31,300 --> 00:22:35,740 football actually take before it bursts we don't really need to answer that 242 00:22:35,740 --> 00:22:41,500 question but you know get to blow something up okay you ready 243 00:22:49,500 --> 00:22:57,740 that was great oh look at that that was about 110 pounds per square inch so 244 00:22:57,780 --> 00:23:06,660 there's your answer at 110 psi you'll lose a football that's really cool but 245 00:23:06,660 --> 00:23:16,980 gain a hat what are you doing put everything on my head the bullet in 246 00:23:16,980 --> 00:23:21,820 the teeth myth hasn't quite bitten the dust but it's shot full of holes now 247 00:23:21,860 --> 00:23:27,660 grads come up with a plan and he's aiming high I think we need to build 248 00:23:27,660 --> 00:23:31,620 something that'll be able to catch a bullet and so you're gonna build some 249 00:23:31,620 --> 00:23:36,340 kind of a rig that'll catch it yeah be able to sense when the bullet comes and 250 00:23:36,340 --> 00:23:41,940 time it so that it closes the teeth at the exact right moment he's planning a 251 00:23:41,940 --> 00:23:48,260 25-foot course with a gun at one end and a set of metal jaws at the other when 252 00:23:48,300 --> 00:23:52,860 the guns trigger is activated by a remote firing mechanism it sends a signal 253 00:23:52,860 --> 00:23:58,780 to a digital timer on the pneumatic jaws by calculating how long it takes for the 254 00:23:58,780 --> 00:24:04,260 bullet to reach them grant can program a delay so the jaws fire at precisely the 255 00:24:04,260 --> 00:24:09,660 right moment building the rig isn't the problem grant has plenty of experience 256 00:24:09,660 --> 00:24:16,900 with remote controls and pneumatic actuators from his robot designs like 257 00:24:16,940 --> 00:24:25,420 great comedy one the secrets in the timing okay using the high-speed camera 258 00:24:25,420 --> 00:24:30,820 grant works out that the bullet will reach the jaws in just 23 milliseconds 259 00:24:30,820 --> 00:24:39,580 the punchline is that's exactly how long it takes for the jaws to shut so the 260 00:24:39,580 --> 00:24:44,300 next question is how long does it take the bullet to exit the muzzle after the 261 00:24:44,300 --> 00:24:48,980 trigger has been squeezed I have a little light in there that turns on when I 262 00:24:48,980 --> 00:24:53,100 trigger it so we're gonna see the time delay between when the light turns on 263 00:24:53,100 --> 00:25:01,420 when a bullet actually comes out of the muzzle three two one that's 43 264 00:25:01,420 --> 00:25:06,100 milliseconds so maybe I do trigger them both at the same time and it'll be really 265 00:25:06,100 --> 00:25:11,260 close while grant crunches the numbers Tari wants a second bite at the 266 00:25:11,300 --> 00:25:16,860 pendulum test he's got doubts about the dentures the test was a kick in the 267 00:25:16,860 --> 00:25:21,220 teeth for the skeptics as the acrylic choppers coped with the kinetic energy 268 00:25:21,220 --> 00:25:26,700 of a speeding bullet but real teeth might not be so resilient they've got a 269 00:25:26,700 --> 00:25:34,300 hard enamel coating but the inside is a soft material called Denton so where to 270 00:25:34,300 --> 00:25:39,020 get some real choppers to chew on well we can always go get a pig head we could 271 00:25:39,060 --> 00:25:41,940 you know take the jaws from the pig and that would be a much better 272 00:25:41,940 --> 00:25:45,700 representation than the plastic teeth I mean they're a lot stronger than a 273 00:25:45,700 --> 00:25:50,100 human's but I mean if we can prove that the pig head can't hold a bullet and 274 00:25:50,100 --> 00:25:53,120 there's no way a human could can we find a story where we don't work in dead 275 00:25:53,120 --> 00:25:58,820 animals for real sure Carrie when pigs fly not it I don't want to go pick them 276 00:25:58,820 --> 00:26:06,900 up not it I got something else to work on which makes Tari lucky last and he's 277 00:26:06,940 --> 00:26:14,440 the only one with the stomach to cut out the jaws Tari gets gory 278 00:26:21,260 --> 00:26:25,020 Carrie did you want the snout because I was gonna throw it away unless you 279 00:26:25,020 --> 00:26:30,300 wanted that is probably one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen and I'm 280 00:26:30,300 --> 00:26:35,620 trying to stay in my happy place as they say on the cooking shows here's one 281 00:26:35,660 --> 00:26:40,100 we prepared earlier I have my jaws my teeth from the pig and I have the 282 00:26:40,100 --> 00:26:45,260 cylinder through it all I have to do now is mount it to our rig and then we'll 283 00:26:45,260 --> 00:26:49,900 test it see if it can actually hold a bullet biting the bullets not a problem 284 00:26:49,900 --> 00:26:54,420 but the teeth in front of it have to be filed down so the steel rod has a clear 285 00:26:54,420 --> 00:26:59,780 path to the slug that is the creepiest looking rig you made a meat puppet 286 00:26:59,780 --> 00:27:04,700 Carrie's trying to stay composed which is more than can be said of the pigs 287 00:27:04,740 --> 00:27:09,580 remains under the hot television lights getting right the pig heads start to 288 00:27:09,580 --> 00:27:14,860 smell right time to unleash that pendulum once more with 50 pounds of weight 289 00:27:14,860 --> 00:27:26,020 from a height of four feet it matches the force of a bullet three two one that 290 00:27:26,020 --> 00:27:33,460 was cool see the bullet flew right out of his mouth 291 00:27:34,740 --> 00:27:39,220 pig jaw is a lot stronger it has a lot more integrity than a human jaw this is 292 00:27:39,220 --> 00:27:42,980 this is a great test because if he couldn't hold on to a bullet there's no 293 00:27:42,980 --> 00:27:48,060 way a human can wait a human can hold on to a bullet quite probably but just to 294 00:27:48,060 --> 00:27:53,260 be sure let's see what happens when the pendulum is replaced by a 357 magnum 295 00:27:53,260 --> 00:27:58,740 with a 38 watt cutter round an old shipping container is now the myth 296 00:27:58,780 --> 00:28:05,460 musters very own firing range we have a bullet in the pigs teeth biting down at 297 00:28:05,460 --> 00:28:09,900 my bite pressure it's a lot like what we were doing with the pendulum test 298 00:28:09,900 --> 00:28:15,500 except we're gonna be firing a live round onto the bullet that's in the teeth 299 00:28:15,500 --> 00:28:22,780 all right here we go fire in the hole in three two one that settles it if a 300 00:28:22,780 --> 00:28:28,460 bullet does this to a pigs pegs that a human jaw has no chance oh my god it 301 00:28:28,500 --> 00:28:35,540 blew his teeth out it just blew his teeth out oh god so what if we learn 302 00:28:35,540 --> 00:28:40,460 from all this well one thing's for certain the so-called most dangerous 303 00:28:40,460 --> 00:28:45,820 trick in the world is just that a trick not a stunt I have one little warning 304 00:28:45,820 --> 00:28:50,020 now this is serious four men have been killed in attempting this feat it's a 305 00:28:50,020 --> 00:28:55,540 neat trick but let's leave it right there good idea let's face it it's humanly 306 00:28:55,580 --> 00:29:01,500 impossible to catch a speeding bullet but on this show that's no reason not to 307 00:29:01,500 --> 00:29:12,180 try and Grant's bullet catching rig is right on track in the high flying myth 308 00:29:12,180 --> 00:29:16,500 of the helium football Adam and Jamie have been weighing up the differences 309 00:29:16,500 --> 00:29:21,980 between air and helium not surprisingly we found the first element of truth in 310 00:29:22,020 --> 00:29:26,380 the story a helium filled football is shockingly lighter than a football filled 311 00:29:26,380 --> 00:29:30,220 with air yeah well now we need to determine whether that translates to a 312 00:29:30,220 --> 00:29:35,700 farther distance when it's kicked right yeah more hang time absolutely it's time 313 00:29:35,700 --> 00:29:39,780 for an indoor test indoor some large building where we can eliminate the 314 00:29:39,780 --> 00:29:43,620 weather variable and maybe we'll get one of those kicking machines to eliminate 315 00:29:43,620 --> 00:29:48,860 the human element in the kick which is probably a really big thing oh yeah the 316 00:29:48,900 --> 00:29:58,500 myth busters mechanical boot arrives that is scary it's usually used for 317 00:29:58,500 --> 00:30:06,820 catching practice but on this special team it's the big game kicker pretty 318 00:30:06,820 --> 00:30:16,740 scary thing this looks dangerous Jamie sets up a target at its first intent 319 00:30:18,900 --> 00:30:24,940 that's almost an exact replica of Adam's throwing arm for the second down he 320 00:30:24,940 --> 00:30:32,700 turns up the muscle ready yeah hey we hit the target but it's still not we're 321 00:30:32,700 --> 00:30:38,060 not getting a spiral Jamie consults the manual Adam dives straight in that's 322 00:30:38,060 --> 00:30:41,300 how things work around here 323 00:30:41,540 --> 00:30:47,660 hey that's a spiral was it it was a beautiful spiral pretty soon Adams as 324 00:30:47,660 --> 00:30:55,980 accurate as a seasoned quarterback now he's all excited I am excited 325 00:31:05,500 --> 00:31:10,460 who knew sport could be so much fun well that's good enough for me what's next 326 00:31:10,460 --> 00:31:14,820 what's next is we take that machine and a bunch of these balls and some helium and 327 00:31:14,860 --> 00:31:20,580 some air out to indoor stadium it's got to be indoors away from the weather and 328 00:31:20,580 --> 00:31:26,220 it's got to be big so the guys head for a location that's got all the space they 329 00:31:26,220 --> 00:31:35,060 need NASA's Ames facility at Moffitt Field this hanger should be big enough 330 00:31:35,060 --> 00:31:48,900 I've got vertigo just from the sheer size it's like not moving the way it should the 331 00:31:48,900 --> 00:31:55,380 hangar is so big the airplanes parked in it look like toys and this is the 332 00:31:55,380 --> 00:31:59,540 largest building I have ever been in it's about 230 feet to the ceiling it's 333 00:31:59,580 --> 00:32:05,900 nearly a quarter of a mile long and they parked blimps in these things even 334 00:32:05,900 --> 00:32:09,580 though a building this large can develop its own micro-weather systems and I'm 335 00:32:09,580 --> 00:32:14,060 not kidding there is no breeze there's no wind so it's the perfect place to test 336 00:32:14,060 --> 00:32:17,540 our football throwing machine and see if there is a difference in the hang time 337 00:32:17,540 --> 00:32:25,540 between helium and air and other stuff first they assemble today's MVP the 338 00:32:25,540 --> 00:32:28,540 kicking machine 339 00:32:30,420 --> 00:32:41,900 then Adam paces out the test area that's the length of a football field 100 340 00:32:41,900 --> 00:32:47,500 yards I can't imagine it's gonna fire farther than this 341 00:32:48,500 --> 00:33:00,180 that's kind of like a little too up in the air I think either the kickers 342 00:33:00,180 --> 00:33:05,860 having an off day that was not a spiral at all or there's a flag on the play of 343 00:33:05,860 --> 00:33:12,820 this myth-busting method it landed like this this is a problem we're gonna work 344 00:33:12,820 --> 00:33:17,060 this one out the way it's going now it's like a total disaster they're just 345 00:33:17,100 --> 00:33:21,780 landing all over the place yeah one's like 50 feet the other's 200 feet I was 346 00:33:21,780 --> 00:33:25,820 keeping my hand on every single one without that okay ready I'm gonna I'm 347 00:33:25,820 --> 00:33:32,100 gonna try this one it actually looks like a good spiral yeah it looked pretty 348 00:33:32,100 --> 00:33:39,660 good the hands-off approach is the way to go that's one of the farthest throws 349 00:33:39,660 --> 00:33:44,620 yeah that's beautiful and by jury rigging a firing mechanism with a bungee cord 350 00:33:44,660 --> 00:33:51,580 they maximize their chances of consistency I love it this is beautiful 351 00:33:51,580 --> 00:33:56,260 these are all landing just where I want with each kick on the same ballpark the 352 00:33:56,260 --> 00:33:59,460 first test can begin 353 00:34:00,340 --> 00:34:06,820 air 13 psi bungee cord ball number one 354 00:34:06,820 --> 00:34:18,860 haha doesn't get better than that hit the 200 foot mark okay ready Adam marks 355 00:34:18,860 --> 00:34:26,180 the landing spot of each ball all 10 are right on the money or close enough at 356 00:34:26,180 --> 00:34:34,660 least to get a suitable sample size they shoot off a second set of 10 to Adam 357 00:34:34,700 --> 00:34:40,420 satisfaction very very happy with that that bungee really evened everything out 358 00:34:40,420 --> 00:34:45,940 there's still a couple of anomalies but out of 10 only had three that's good 359 00:34:45,940 --> 00:34:54,660 enough for myth busters the myth that you can catch a bullet in your teeth has 360 00:34:54,660 --> 00:35:01,500 been shot to pieces but Grant's been building a rig that can do the trick for 361 00:35:02,260 --> 00:35:08,060 his pneumatic gnaz is are ready to bite the bullet and with live ammo involved 362 00:35:08,060 --> 00:35:12,620 the guys head for the firing range of the south San Francisco police department 363 00:35:12,620 --> 00:35:16,260 oh man this brings back memories 364 00:35:16,260 --> 00:35:19,260 yeah 365 00:35:22,260 --> 00:35:26,460 exactly 25 feet right there 366 00:35:26,460 --> 00:35:32,300 chief firearms instructor Sergeant Alan Normandy has agreed to supervise he's 367 00:35:32,300 --> 00:35:37,100 aided unabetted before when the guys busted the blown away myth it was 368 00:35:37,100 --> 00:35:43,340 Sergeant Normandy who finally not bust her off his perch unfortunately he's 369 00:35:43,380 --> 00:35:48,060 also had firsthand experience with would be bullet catchers I've seen the 370 00:35:48,060 --> 00:35:52,740 aftermath of someone who's attempted that the damage is fairly devastating at 371 00:35:52,740 --> 00:35:55,940 a distance of 20 feet or so I would imagine that you're gonna have primarily 372 00:35:55,940 --> 00:36:01,460 just a puncture wound with a pistol round but still certainly go through the 373 00:36:01,460 --> 00:36:06,780 mouth cavity and whatever's behind it without much difficulty in this case the 374 00:36:06,780 --> 00:36:12,220 mouth is made of metal grants robotic jaws are designed to snap shot with just 375 00:36:12,260 --> 00:36:16,660 the right amount of delay to catch a speeding bullet fired from a remotely 376 00:36:16,660 --> 00:36:25,500 triggered gun 25 feet away the range is yours okay and loaded up you want it 377 00:36:25,500 --> 00:36:30,220 looks pretty good first they need to run some tests they fire a few rounds at the 378 00:36:30,220 --> 00:36:40,340 target to make sure they're hitting the same spot every shot all right it went 379 00:36:40,380 --> 00:36:45,020 right through the same hole that's good then they position the jaws in the 380 00:36:45,020 --> 00:36:50,460 firing line pressurizing the system and Grant activates the pneumatic actuator 381 00:36:50,460 --> 00:36:57,700 which will snap them shut and we are armed then he captures them closing on 382 00:36:57,700 --> 00:37:08,340 high-speed camera three two one and works out to the millisecond how long it 383 00:37:08,380 --> 00:37:13,500 takes them to shine I know how long it takes from when I trigger the gun to 384 00:37:13,500 --> 00:37:17,060 when the bullet comes out of the muzzle I know how long it takes from when I 385 00:37:17,060 --> 00:37:20,820 trigger the teeth to when they actually close and I know the distance and the 386 00:37:20,820 --> 00:37:25,140 speed of the bullet that's gonna tell me exactly how long I have to wait to 387 00:37:25,140 --> 00:37:30,380 trigger the jaws so that the bullet gets there exactly as they close Grant does 388 00:37:30,380 --> 00:37:39,060 the math based on a bullet traveling at over 850 feet per second so 857 feet 389 00:37:39,060 --> 00:37:45,140 per second and he comes up with a delay time on the jaws of 82 milliseconds 390 00:37:45,140 --> 00:37:51,820 okay he punches in the magic number so that 82 thousands of a second after the 391 00:37:51,820 --> 00:37:58,940 gun fires the teeth will start to close everything is set Sergeant Normandy may 392 00:37:58,940 --> 00:38:04,500 I load absolutely good for the first time ever the bullet in the teeth trick 393 00:38:04,500 --> 00:38:19,100 is ready to be tried for real three two one you hit it wow wow it looks like it 394 00:38:19,100 --> 00:38:27,060 closed a little too soon Tori's right but that's pretty good for a first try 395 00:38:27,420 --> 00:38:33,020 looks like the jaws are closing a little soon so I'm gonna increase my delay by 396 00:38:33,020 --> 00:38:38,580 four and three-quarter milliseconds call it five and we should be ready to try it 397 00:38:38,580 --> 00:38:51,580 again in three two one I saw a little debris pop off there dude it's a perfect 398 00:38:51,580 --> 00:38:56,300 track where the lead has rubbed off against the steel that is really close 399 00:38:56,500 --> 00:39:01,300 Grant uses the high-speed camera to fine-tune the delay mechanism on the jaws 400 00:39:01,300 --> 00:39:06,620 by tracking the bullets progress frame by frame he can estimate how many 401 00:39:06,620 --> 00:39:12,220 milliseconds the jaws are missing by and make the correct adjustment okay one 402 00:39:12,220 --> 00:39:21,100 millisecond there we go in three two one the jaws are still missing by the 403 00:39:21,100 --> 00:39:25,660 skin of their teeth but the bullet either splatters on steel or goes straight 404 00:39:25,700 --> 00:39:29,500 down the gullet I don't think with these you're gonna see it's stuck in the 405 00:39:29,500 --> 00:39:32,500 mouth like a magician just caught it I think it's just gonna squish right on 406 00:39:32,500 --> 00:39:37,540 through even with precision timing down to thousands of a second it's still 407 00:39:37,540 --> 00:39:41,820 proving to be one tough trick to pull off there's absolutely no way the human 408 00:39:41,820 --> 00:39:46,780 response time could remotely catch a bullet it's it's I mean we've got 409 00:39:46,780 --> 00:39:49,900 timers this is the closest thing to a short thing that we could possibly have 410 00:39:49,900 --> 00:39:55,020 time to try a different set of metal mandibles these duck bills have a 411 00:39:55,060 --> 00:39:59,220 greater surface area maybe they'll be better able to hang on to the bullet 412 00:39:59,220 --> 00:40:10,180 three two one it's agonizingly close I can't say I'm totally surprised with 413 00:40:10,180 --> 00:40:14,420 the results but this is as close as welcome to our world this is this is as 414 00:40:14,420 --> 00:40:18,020 close I think is we're gonna get it it can be done we're right there on the 415 00:40:18,180 --> 00:40:29,100 threshold of it lots of shrapnel six shots in success that's gotta be it it 416 00:40:29,100 --> 00:40:33,820 looked like it just exploded that's gotta be it exploded inside the mouth when 417 00:40:33,820 --> 00:40:39,660 soft lead struck steel the bullet basically melted good job you guys we 418 00:40:39,660 --> 00:40:43,340 caught a bullet not much left of the bullet but we caught it I don't know 419 00:40:43,380 --> 00:40:48,700 that smear of lead well it's so unsatisfying it'd be better if the 420 00:40:48,700 --> 00:40:53,740 bullet still looked like a bullet at the end so a slight change of tack this 421 00:40:53,740 --> 00:40:58,500 series of tests we've switched from the lead slug to a full metal jacket this is 422 00:40:58,500 --> 00:41:03,060 a flat nose full metal jacket it's got a thin copper shell and we think this is 423 00:41:03,060 --> 00:41:07,420 going to give us a better chance of having an intact bullet at the end our 424 00:41:07,420 --> 00:41:11,500 test with the lead slug it's like trying to catch a raw egg as soon as you clamp 425 00:41:11,540 --> 00:41:18,460 down everything squirts out the back duck bill full metal jacket 99 milliseconds 426 00:41:18,460 --> 00:41:22,060 delay three two one 427 00:41:26,860 --> 00:41:31,860 once again it takes a little time that looks like we close too early but 428 00:41:31,860 --> 00:41:39,180 eventually bullseye where in your face it's no use the forces at work are just 429 00:41:39,220 --> 00:41:44,620 too great for the bullet to stay in shape still that's a good bullet that is 430 00:41:44,620 --> 00:41:49,740 a caught bullet just in case anybody disputes the high speed whatsoever I'd 431 00:41:49,740 --> 00:41:55,460 like to point out these wonderful track marks and a little exploded bullet right 432 00:41:55,460 --> 00:42:02,260 here this this is amazing evidence we actually got to catch a bullet by way 433 00:42:02,260 --> 00:42:10,420 of celebration they take a pot shot at a set of pearly whites in three two one 434 00:42:10,420 --> 00:42:22,180 oh but the teeth bite back I got hit in the face with a tooth I guess now that 435 00:42:22,180 --> 00:42:26,420 would wipe the smile off any magician's face all right guys catching a bullet 436 00:42:26,420 --> 00:42:30,860 with your teeth is it busted well we know that human reaction time isn't fast 437 00:42:31,060 --> 00:42:34,620 or accurate enough we had to use electronic timers and even then it was 438 00:42:34,620 --> 00:42:37,860 tough and human teeth just aren't strong enough we found that out from the pig 439 00:42:37,860 --> 00:42:42,100 experiment but any case on impact a bullet will explode and that's what it's 440 00:42:42,100 --> 00:42:48,420 designed to do so that sounds fully busted busted 441 00:42:53,860 --> 00:42:59,380 back at NASA the mythbusters are testing whether helium filled footballs fly 442 00:42:59,420 --> 00:43:05,740 further they fired 20 air filled balls and measured the distance of each one 443 00:43:05,740 --> 00:43:12,700 now it's time to fill the balls with lighter than air helium oh 13 pounds on 444 00:43:12,700 --> 00:43:19,740 the first try they fire off the first set of 10 445 00:43:21,900 --> 00:43:28,580 bang and the exit poles not looking good for helium off the top of my head just 446 00:43:28,620 --> 00:43:33,060 looking at how things landed it looks like the regulation ball filled to 13 447 00:43:33,060 --> 00:43:41,940 psi regulation pressure flies better than filling it with helium 10 final helium 448 00:43:41,940 --> 00:43:49,580 balls finish off the experiment dead on the money with its predecessor I love 449 00:43:49,580 --> 00:44:01,220 that I like consistent data I love consistent data when they're done 450 00:44:01,220 --> 00:44:06,820 they've got 60 data points for analysis but first impressions are that this myth 451 00:44:06,820 --> 00:44:11,500 is coming up short look I mean the myth is a helium filled football will fly 452 00:44:11,500 --> 00:44:16,260 farther than an air filled football they don't mean by an inch or something they 453 00:44:16,300 --> 00:44:20,660 don't mean by a foot that's there's the myth is that there's a significant 454 00:44:20,660 --> 00:44:24,340 improvement I think we could all assume that that improvement we something with 455 00:44:24,340 --> 00:44:27,820 everyone ago whoa why did the ball fly that far wait check it hey it's filled 456 00:44:27,820 --> 00:44:32,260 with helium kind of thing we're not talking tiny little differences what 457 00:44:32,260 --> 00:44:36,700 we're seeing is tiny little differences and even though they've yet to crunch 458 00:44:36,700 --> 00:44:41,420 the numbers early indications are that the helium balls have lost out to the 459 00:44:41,460 --> 00:44:47,140 air filled one based on what I'm seeing so far this is exactly what I would 460 00:44:47,140 --> 00:44:52,580 expect there's not much of a difference but in spite of what you might think a 461 00:44:52,580 --> 00:44:56,580 lighter ball is going to be easier to travel farther physics determines that 462 00:44:56,580 --> 00:45:00,940 it if we launch the ball at the same speed and it has more mass that's 463 00:45:00,940 --> 00:45:07,260 actually going to go further so it's all to do with inertia which according to 464 00:45:07,300 --> 00:45:12,300 Newton's first law of motion states that the heavier an object the more inertia 465 00:45:12,300 --> 00:45:18,900 it has and the more resistance to drag in other words a helium filled football 466 00:45:18,900 --> 00:45:24,780 should not fly as far as an air filled one fired at the same speed so does the 467 00:45:24,780 --> 00:45:30,020 experiment back up Newtonian physics or have the mythbusters blown a hole in the 468 00:45:30,020 --> 00:45:35,340 laws of science statistician Deborah Nolan concludes that the results are in 469 00:45:35,420 --> 00:45:40,900 conclusive well unfortunately the difference between helium and air filled 470 00:45:40,900 --> 00:45:47,500 balls is not statistically significant so that doesn't mean there isn't a 471 00:45:47,500 --> 00:45:50,900 difference that but I can't see the difference in the data that you've 472 00:45:50,900 --> 00:45:55,900 provided to get a clear statistical result would require a sample of 473 00:45:55,900 --> 00:46:00,340 thousands of kicks which just isn't possible I think today we end up with 474 00:46:00,340 --> 00:46:03,220 time to do thousands of trials and something Jamie's mustache is going to 475 00:46:03,260 --> 00:46:08,100 fall off but there is time for one final experiment just to make sure that 476 00:46:08,100 --> 00:46:14,300 every angle of this myth has been well and truly covered the whole time we've 477 00:46:14,300 --> 00:46:17,900 been testing a myth about hang time and maybe it's about something totally 478 00:46:17,900 --> 00:46:23,100 different like transfer of energy I mean suppose helium is springier at 13 psi 479 00:46:23,100 --> 00:46:26,900 than air and would allow a kicker's foot to impart more energy to the ball and 480 00:46:26,900 --> 00:46:30,300 make it go further the machine we were using in the hangers seem to me to 481 00:46:30,340 --> 00:46:34,500 replicate more of a throw than a kick so maybe it's about time that we actually 482 00:46:34,500 --> 00:46:41,020 build a kicking rig so this myth goes into extra time and to nail it once and 483 00:46:41,020 --> 00:46:46,860 for all they're gonna use a hammer there's your kicker okay the a-frame from 484 00:46:46,860 --> 00:46:52,660 the bullet in the teeth pendulum test should do nicely some minor modifications 485 00:46:52,660 --> 00:46:58,100 a high-speed camera and soon the sledgehammer is ready to crack this 486 00:46:58,140 --> 00:47:03,700 sporting nut all right let's try that Jamie we've got the camera cranked up to 487 00:47:03,700 --> 00:47:07,540 a thousand frames per second we're looking for how fast that ball takes 488 00:47:07,540 --> 00:47:11,580 off what the exit speed is if it's faster means there's a better transfer of 489 00:47:11,580 --> 00:47:16,900 energy we're gonna try and find that out so first test this is a air-filled 490 00:47:16,900 --> 00:47:26,100 ball to 13 psi okay it's high speed ready and three two one 491 00:47:28,460 --> 00:47:34,060 thrilling thrilling stuff let's bring the hammer down by studying the high 492 00:47:34,060 --> 00:47:37,940 speed footage they can calculate the speed of the ball as it leaves the 493 00:47:37,940 --> 00:47:41,820 frame the hammer speed which I'm measuring just to make sure each of our 494 00:47:41,820 --> 00:47:48,460 tests is consistent was 18.5 feet per second the balls exit speed this is 495 00:47:48,460 --> 00:47:55,780 good was 31.25 feet per second that's the baseline for comparison now for a 496 00:47:55,820 --> 00:48:02,580 helium football's last hurrah okay there it is 13 psi helium if this 497 00:48:02,580 --> 00:48:06,900 football's exit speed is higher than the air-filled one then the myth is still 498 00:48:06,900 --> 00:48:18,180 possible in three two one if not then it's game over so what's the final score 499 00:48:18,180 --> 00:48:25,060 it's exactly the same speed as before the 16 frames to travel six inches 32 500 00:48:25,100 --> 00:48:32,380 frames per foot equals 31.25 feet per second identical the games up for the 501 00:48:32,380 --> 00:48:39,540 myth of the helium football so finally the myth that a helium filled football 502 00:48:39,540 --> 00:48:42,780 flies farther than a football filled with air what's the verdict it's 503 00:48:42,780 --> 00:48:47,340 absolutely busted it's not about being lighter than air it's about having the 504 00:48:47,340 --> 00:48:52,420 ability to push through the air so actually being a little heavier as an 505 00:48:52,460 --> 00:48:57,620 advantage yeah no we found doing the math that if you kick a ball 70 yards one 506 00:48:57,620 --> 00:49:01,940 filled with helium and one filled with air the advantage is to the ball filled 507 00:49:01,940 --> 00:49:06,940 with air but it's only about an inch that's over 250 feet one inch of 508 00:49:06,940 --> 00:49:11,620 advantage it seems that the designers and manufacturers of these footballs have 509 00:49:11,620 --> 00:49:15,020 already figured all this out for some strange reason and these balls are 510 00:49:15,020 --> 00:49:18,660 pretty much maxed out in their ability to travel through the air there are the 511 00:49:18,660 --> 00:49:23,500 ideal balance of weight and size and shape well I don't think this is the 512 00:49:23,500 --> 00:49:27,020 last we've heard of this but I'm willing to call this one totally busted 513 00:49:27,020 --> 00:49:29,740 busted