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On this episode of MythBusters...

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Wow! Oh, the current is really strong!

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It's bubble, bubble, toil and trauma.

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Like riding a fucking Bronco.

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...as the guys test the fizzy fable that it's impossible to stay afloat in bubbly water.

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You're just not trying to harden up.

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That's more like it. Yeah, baby.

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But will it be a case of sing or swim?

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Swim harder!

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Meantime, Kari, Tori and Grant take aim at a myth that's got them quivering with anticipation.

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Okay, it's lit!

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Can an exploding arrow cleave a mighty pine tree in two?

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With precision explosives and the mother of all pine trees, it's time to split.

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I'm so ready!

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Here we go! Three, two, one!

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Who are the MythBusters?

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Adam Savage

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That's the spirit, soldiers!

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and Jamie Heinemann

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I'll be darned.

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

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Joining them, Kari Byron

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That is messed up!

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Grant Imahara

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Start the car!

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and Tori Bellegi

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Let's trap this car up!

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They don't just tell the myths, they put them to the test.

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The Myth

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Hangover?

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No, I'm setting up a demo for our next story.

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Which is?

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Well, there's a myth going around that it is impossible to swim in bubbly water.

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Whether it's an acid tablet or carbonated, as long as there's bubbles in the water, you won't be able to swim.

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Really?

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The conventional wisdom is that the bubbles make the water overall less dense,

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and so while you'd float in non-bubbly water, when you get to the bubble part, you'd sink like a stone.

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Sounds like we're going for a swim.

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I think so.

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According to the myth, when water is filled with fins, you supposedly sink without trace.

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But does the density difference of bubbly water really mean that swimming in it is impossible?

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Well, since we used up all our an acid breaking out of jail,

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let's say we start with something small like a fish tank and make a bunch of bubbles in it and see what happens.

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Sounds good, let's do it.

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So the myth is that it is impossible to swim in bubbly water because the aerated water is supposed to be less dense than regular water.

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Are you ready for some experimenting?

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I don't think so.

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So I'm about to conduct some scale experiments to see if there is a change in density of water when I run a crap load of bubbles through it.

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Alright, let's try that again.

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It's a great place to start.

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Adam and his 2D mini-meat will test the science at the heart of this myth.

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Do bubbles make a difference to the density of water?

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What I've made here is a crude hydrometer.

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It's actually floating at a very specific depth, depending on the density of the water.

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If I increase the density of this fish tank, it would say, salt, it would float a little higher.

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If I decrease the density with, let's say, air bubbles, it would float a little lower.

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Now, if this myth is true and I put a whole bunch of air bubbles underneath this guy, little Adam there is going to drown.

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So now that 2D mini-meat is neutrally buoyant, it's time to see if he'll sink like the myth suggests.

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Someone's happy, but aside from putting a smile on Adam's dial, what are the results?

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I'm seeing almost no change at all in the hydrometer's level.

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If anything, it's actually rising a little bit.

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And I must admit, I had a little bias going into this.

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I thought that as soon as I turned on the bubbles, that hydrometer was going to drop below the surface.

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I'm fully in the camp of the bubbles lower the density, but there's something else going on here.

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At any rate, in this small-scale test, it's not looking very good for this myth.

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A conviction only confirmed after Janey gets a demo.

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So I see you're fixing into dump water all over my floor.

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No, no, I'm continuing in this lovely tank.

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So what do you think is going to happen?

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I think it's going to sink.

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Check this out.

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It's not sinking.

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Not at all, not even a little bit.

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If anything, it rises up a fraction of an inch.

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You would think that the increased amount of air in the water would make it less dense, so it would sink,

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but that seems to be counteracted and then some by the upwelling current of that movement of those bubbles.

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It's not looking very good for the story at this point.

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No.

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Far from sinking, the hydrometer rose slightly, but it's too early to call this myth yet.

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After all, you can't test a swimming saga without getting wet.

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Next up, a myth that's going to blow you away.

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Alright, so this myth comes from a viewer.

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A guy in Iowa wrote in and said that his uncle used to take a bow and arrow,

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strap a stick of dynamite to it, light it, fire it into a tree,

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and when it would explode, it would split the tree up the middle.

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Okay, are you sure this is a viewer myth and not like a Tory Waleichi family history?

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No, I'm serious, he wrote it in.

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Alright, well I'm willing to try it.

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It sounds like we need a stick of dynamite, an arrow, and a tree.

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As any William Tell fan will tell you, the trick of splitting an apple with an arrow is a blast.

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But according to this myth, an arrow coupled with dynamite can split a much bigger apple,

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but is this band fable bow-beloding?

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Okay, for this experiment, I think we need to just go for it,

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get the biggest log we can find and just anchor it to the ground at the bomb range.

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But remember, we're trying to split this tree down the middle with explosives.

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We don't want to just blow it into pieces.

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Full-scale testing means finding the right tree.

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We're here at the bomb range to find out if our dynamite arrows can split a tree.

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These are our trees. They are pine trees from Recycler.

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Now they're 20 feet long and almost 6,000 pounds.

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So the first step, dig a hole.

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The pine trees' tech specs match the viewer myth almost to the letter.

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Alright, how's it about right here?

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While Carrie gets on with step one,

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So much better than a shovel.

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Getting to grips with the pine's parameters is grand.

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Now we've chosen the pine tree because it's one of the most common trees in America.

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In fact, there are over 35 varieties in North America alone,

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but there are two reasons that might make it easier to split down the middle.

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One, they have vascular bundles that run the entire length of the tree,

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and these are tiny tubes that carry water and nutrients to the top.

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And two, it's got a spiral grain, which goes parallel to the axis of the tree.

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Those things together might just help us get a split.

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That's the theory. Add with the target tree now standing tall.

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Now that's what I call a real stick in the mud.

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The guys turn their attention to the weapon,

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setting up a remote bow and arrow firing mechanism.

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So we need to fire a lit stick of dynamite from a bow and arrow into a tree.

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Now, that is way too dangerous for us to do, so we brought out our remote arrow firing mechanism.

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With the bow ready to go, that just leaves the payload.

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We're not going to use dynamite because actually it's a fairly unstable substance.

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Instead, our experts Frank Doyle and JD Nelson have given us this.

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It's a binary explosive. It's a lot more stable,

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which means it'll go off when and where we want it to,

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and it has exactly the same amount of energy as a stick of dynamite.

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After a quick test fire to make sure their remote bow and arrow is on the money,

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it's time to take aim at this myth.

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It's time to load up our arrow firing machine, shoot it into the tree,

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and see if we can split it down the middle.

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Do I think that's going to happen?

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Sure, absolutely.

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If we leave it in a cartoon.

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Wiley Coyote carry has her doubts, but there's only one way to find out.

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Alright, so the dynamite's lit. Let's see if we can cleave this tree.

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Okay, this is dynamite arrow. Take it.

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Here we go. In three, two,

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one.

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The arrow gets triggered, the fuse burns through,

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and then...

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And the tree still stands.

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That was a good slap.

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It sure was a hefty blast,

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but when the smoke clears, it's clear it wasn't hefty enough.

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The tree appears to be pretty well undamaged.

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Alright, well the tree is still in one piece.

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Yeah, I don't even see a crack.

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Well, maybe we need more explosives.

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Maybe this was more than just like a stick of dynamite.

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Maybe it was extra powerful dynamite.

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That is a great idea.

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After a surprisingly feeble first test, the myth is already on thin ice,

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so it's time to up the addy.

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We're going to double the amount of explosive that we're attaching to the tip of the arrow.

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Same as before, we're going to light the fuse,

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remote fire it into the tree, and see what happens.

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Later on Myth Busters, split in time with a super dynamite arrow.

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But next, bubble, bubble, Adam's in trouble.

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Oh, the current is really strong.

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I don't know, man, it's not looking very good for this story.

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Our hydrometer didn't just not sink in the water, it rose.

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Well, you know, sometimes things as basic as air and water just doesn't scale that well.

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Let's say we bump it up a notch and go larger.

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All right.

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Hey, you know that irrigation tank we use for whirlpool of death?

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What say we fill that full of water and put a bubbler at the bottom of it?

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I think we've still got it.

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I think we do. Let's do it.

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Yep, the small scale wasn't particularly promising.

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It's not sinking.

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But the myth hasn't sunk just yet,

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and as Adam won't fit in that tank, the team is upsizing everything.

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Starting with the bubble maker.

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So this assembly of aquarium bubblers worked pretty well for this test.

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But if we're going to do this in a larger scale, I don't want to have to do all the plumbing

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and you can buy a thousand of these little aquarium thingies.

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I need to figure out some more efficient way of creating lots of little bubbles.

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And the method is typically Jamie-esque in its practical simplicity.

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Compressed air pumped into a canvas pillowcase, forcing thousands of tiny bubbles through the fabric.

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Oh, that is very cool.

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Very cool indeed.

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With the proof of concept pillowcase bubbling away, Adam's on to the next task.

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Well, let's start figuring out how to go full scale with this,

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because I'm dying to get in the water with this.

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If the myth is true, dying could be right.

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But Jamie doesn't seem too bothered by the prospect.

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It's going to be fun.

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But before the fun begins, Jamie has to upscale his prototype into a heavy duty working model.

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So all we've done here is welded together a couple of heavy steel frames,

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and we've sandwiched inside the frames a pillowcase.

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We're pumping air into that pillowcase, and as it pressurizes, it comes through the weave of the fabric.

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That's great.

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It makes little bubbles.

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But not in the shop it won't.

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For that, they're heading for some familiar, queasy scenery.

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Ha, brings back memories, don't it?

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Not very pleasant ones.

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Yep, the last time Adam took a dip in the irrigation tank.

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Well, that's great.

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Things did not go quite to plan.

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I'm done with science for today.

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We've done our small scale tests, and we've learned a thing or two.

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But if we're going to find out if it's possible to swim in fizzy water, we're going to have to swim in fizzy water.

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So we've come back out here to Alameda to this 10,000 gallon tank that we installed a few years ago,

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and we're going to put a larger bubbler in it, and Adam's going to go for a swim.

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Or not.

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Now comes the tricky bit, getting the giant bubbler up and in.

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Alright, take it on up.

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So our bubbler is just about ready to be put in place.

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That's a tight fit.

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Okay, stop.

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What happens next is that we hook up the air supply.

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Okay, go ahead and give us some air.

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Nice.

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And then we slowly lower it, the 20 feet to the bottom of this tank,

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which is full of reasonably clear but quite cold water.

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Then I'll put on some scuba gear, and then we're pretty much ready to do this test,

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which I hope happens quickly because this water right now is about 50, 51 degrees.

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As plans go, it's pretty straightforward.

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I'm above ground, and yet I'm going scuba diving.

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On by ours.

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Alright, here we go.

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How's the water?

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The water is so cold I got an instant headache.

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But you know what's really cool in here?

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Looking out the portholes.

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But before Adam can unhook the bubbler, it needs to be in the right position.

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Is that good enough?

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I think so.

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Will you start to lower it very slowly?

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We'll do.

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The aim is to get the bubbler perfectly level to have an even spread of bubbles at the surface.

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Fire up the generator please.

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Slowly bring it up to the mark.

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As the rig roars into life, a perfect hub above bubbles bursts forth.

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It's a gorgeous stream of bubbles.

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Can't wait to get into it.

237
00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:09,000
With their fully functioning rig in the right position, what's next?

238
00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:17,000
This test is pretty much the same as our small scale experiments, except this time we're going to have a human hydrometer, namely Adam.

239
00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:21,000
Now we're going to try and weight him so he's neutrally buoyant.

240
00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:24,000
And just his head is floating above the water.

241
00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:29,000
And when we turn the air on, if he goes up or down, that'll tell us what's really happening.

242
00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:32,000
It's time to sink or swim.

243
00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:42,000
Carri-Torian Grant are testing the myth that a dynamite arrow can split a tree down the middle.

244
00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:46,000
But so far, it's got the team well and truly stumped.

245
00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:48,000
We'll be treeing.

246
00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:50,000
Still in one piece.

247
00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:52,000
Yeah, I don't even see a crack.

248
00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:56,000
Today's solution, double the dynamite.

249
00:14:56,000 --> 00:15:00,000
So this is two times the explosives that we used on the first test.

250
00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:03,000
Let's see if this is enough to split the tree down the middle.

251
00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:05,000
Arm, we're lit, we're lit!

252
00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:07,000
Alright, Granty, call it.

253
00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:11,000
So this is splitting a tree with dynamite, double the explosives.

254
00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:14,000
In three, two, one.

255
00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:16,000
Whoa!

256
00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:20,000
Yeah, that was a good blast.

257
00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:28,000
Well, I'd say this is looking pretty bad for the myth.

258
00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:32,000
Yeah, I mean, we used twice the amount of explosives as the myth calls for it,

259
00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:35,000
and still we did not get any cleaving whatsoever.

260
00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:41,000
Even with two sticks of modern dynamite, the tree was left with hardly a scratch.

261
00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:43,000
Let alone a cleave.

262
00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:45,000
And Grant thinks he knows why.

263
00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:49,000
Now, my theory is that the dynamite is outside,

264
00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:53,000
and when you explode it, all that energy just gets dissipated away from the tree,

265
00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:56,000
and not where we actually need it to be focused,

266
00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:59,000
which is right on the trunk in order to split it.

267
00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:04,000
And without that focus, the myth, unlike the tree, is looking busted.

268
00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:06,000
So what's next?

269
00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:10,000
Well, any more explosives strapped to that arrow is going to be a little bit more complicated.

270
00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:12,000
So strapped to that arrow, it's going to mess with the aerodynamics.

271
00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:14,000
There's no way it's going to fly.

272
00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:16,000
So why don't we just push an arrow into the tree,

273
00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:19,000
put as many explosives on it as JD will allow,

274
00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:21,000
and just see if we can get anything.

275
00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:23,000
Now you're talking.

276
00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:27,000
For round three, the mythbusters are going gangbusters,

277
00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:31,000
strapping an arrow with as much dynamite as can be crammed on,

278
00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:33,000
but too much for it to actually fly.

279
00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:36,000
So how much is too much?

280
00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:39,000
JD says the amount we can use out here is six sticks of dynamite.

281
00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:41,000
Is that going to split the tree down the middle?

282
00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:44,000
I don't know, but we're going to get a big bang.

283
00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:48,000
Six drops of essence of terror, five drops of sinister sauce.

284
00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:53,000
With the mother of all explosive arrows prepped and embedded in the tree,

285
00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:55,000
mega arrow is in place.

286
00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:57,000
The team is taking no chances.

287
00:16:57,000 --> 00:17:01,000
They'll hunker in the bunker because this is going to be big.

288
00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:06,000
Fire the hole! Fire the hole! Fire the hole!

289
00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:10,000
This is splitting the tree with dynamite. Six sticks.

290
00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:13,000
In three, two, one.

291
00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:20,000
That was a good explosion.

292
00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:23,000
Let's go see if we split the tree.

293
00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:25,000
I don't think so, man.

294
00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:27,000
But we rattled the bunker.

295
00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:34,000
There's just no timber on the timber.

296
00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:39,000
Even with six sticks of dynamite, the shark wave barely scratches the surface,

297
00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:41,000
let alone causes a cleave.

298
00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:43,000
So it's back to the drawing board.

299
00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:45,000
So right now, this myth is looking busted.

300
00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:47,000
We used one stick of dynamite, two sticks of dynamite,

301
00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:49,000
finally six sticks of dynamite.

302
00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:53,000
It was not enough to split the tree up the middle like the myth talks about.

303
00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:55,000
But this is myth buzzers.

304
00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:57,000
We're going to go deeper and not stop here.

305
00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:02,000
We're going to figure out is there a way to use nothing but explosives to split that tree.

306
00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:05,000
Next up, Adam the human hydrometer.

307
00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:07,000
It's like riding a fucking Bronco.

308
00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:10,000
But will he sink without a trace?

309
00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:21,000
In bubble trouble, Adam is about to find out if decreasing the density of water with air

310
00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:24,000
means you'll sink without a trace.

311
00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:31,000
And to do that, Adam's ditched the scuba tank and turned himself into a neutrally buoyant human hydrometer.

312
00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:35,000
My wetsuit makes me quite floatatious.

313
00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:41,000
I'm overly buoyant, so I'm putting weights around my waist so that I will be neutrally buoyant,

314
00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:44,000
ideally floating right around here.

315
00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:48,000
Then we'll be able to see the best effect that the bubbles might have on me.

316
00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:50,000
Alright, let's try it.

317
00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:53,000
I think that's perfect.

318
00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:54,000
It's a simple test.

319
00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:56,000
Let's fire up the compressor.

320
00:18:56,000 --> 00:19:00,000
When Jamie turns on the bubbler, if Adam sinks, the myth is looking good.

321
00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:03,000
Okay, open the valve to the mark, please.

322
00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:09,000
Here they come!

323
00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:15,000
With the bubbles on, Adam does go under, but not quite as planned.

324
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:20,000
He first gets pushed to the side, and only then does he sink.

325
00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:22,000
Oh!

326
00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:31,000
I'll tell you, it's not making me sink like a stone, but it is creating this really strong current

327
00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:36,000
that's throwing me to the side, and I feel like dragging me down a little bit.

328
00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:38,000
You don't seem to be able to stay right there.

329
00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:40,000
No, I definitely can't stay on time with this.

330
00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:44,000
It's very, very...it's a super strong push.

331
00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:45,000
And if I'm...

332
00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:49,000
The push to the side I get dragged under is what he was going to say.

333
00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:55,000
It seems Adam is being lifted up and away from the central column of bubbles.

334
00:19:55,000 --> 00:20:01,000
And then, just like a convection current, there's a downward drag at the outer edge.

335
00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:03,000
Where to from here?

336
00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:09,000
Well, I think if we're seeing this kind of effect where it's an upwelling that drags me down on the outside,

337
00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:12,000
let's turn it up and see if the effect gets more pronounced.

338
00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:13,000
I'm not kind of thinking.

339
00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:17,000
Of course, it's the one instruction that fits all myth-busting occasions.

340
00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:18,000
Ramp it up.

341
00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:24,000
And as they turn it up again...

342
00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:26,000
Let's move it up another notch.

343
00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:30,000
The bigger current pushes Adam to the side faster.

344
00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:32,000
I'm in trouble with the bubbles, man!

345
00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:36,000
In fact, the upwelling of water associated with the rising bubbles...

346
00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:37,000
Wow!

347
00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:39,000
Oh, the current is really strong.

348
00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:45,000
...is pushing him upwards until he reaches the sides, leaving just one further test.

349
00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:47,000
We need more power, Scotty.

350
00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:50,000
Jamie just made a Star Trek reference!

351
00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:52,000
Awesome!

352
00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:55,000
And with the compressor, give it as all she's got...

353
00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:01,000
It's like riding a fucking Bronco.

354
00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:04,000
Jamie and Adam are ready to wrap it up.

355
00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:08,000
Well, I don't feel like we can call it on the basis of this tank.

356
00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:11,000
I think it's actually too small.

357
00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:14,000
This current being everything...

358
00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:18,000
It sort of overwhelms the original story, which is about bubbles.

359
00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:22,000
So I feel like we need to create more bubbles in a much bigger space.

360
00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:25,000
The myth is that you can't swim in bubbles.

361
00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:27,000
There's no swimming going on in there.

362
00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:29,000
It's trending.

363
00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:32,000
We need to go someplace we can do some swimming.

364
00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:37,000
The close proximity of the tank's walls has rendered the results unreliable.

365
00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:42,000
To truly test the myth, they'll need somewhere with much more room to make a splash in.

366
00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:44,000
This was a great test.

367
00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:47,000
It was also an excellent proof of concept for my prototype bubble maker.

368
00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:52,000
It put things in a human scale and showed us a lot about bubbles and how they interact with water.

369
00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:57,000
But given that this myth is about swimming in bubbles to test it properly,

370
00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:00,000
we're going to have to go up yet more in scale.

371
00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:09,000
After three big booms, the myth of a dynamite axe is, well...

372
00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:15,000
100% bust. You're not going to split a tree using one stick of dynamite, let alone six sticks of dynamite.

373
00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:17,000
Yeah, all the energy is going outward. It's completely external.

374
00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:19,000
I think to actually cleave the tree, you need something inside.

375
00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:22,000
Alright, what if we tried reconfiguring the explosives?

376
00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:25,000
Get it closer to the core. Maybe that will split the tree up the middle.

377
00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:29,000
Let's go to a smaller scale so we can experiment with different kinds of explosives.

378
00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:31,000
Great idea.

379
00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:37,000
Much as they love blowing things up, this myth is about dividing the tree, not destroying it.

380
00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:42,000
So in small scale, the guys are going to start by putting two explosives head to head.

381
00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:45,000
The first type is TNT, or Trinitrotoluene.

382
00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:49,000
Now this is a faster moving, more tearing explosive.

383
00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:52,000
The other kind of explosive we're going to be using is Ampho.

384
00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:55,000
That is a slower moving explosive, but it has more pushing power.

385
00:22:55,000 --> 00:23:00,000
We're going to see if either of those is able to split our tree up the middle, just like the myth.

386
00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:07,000
But switching the explosives and using tiny quantities aren't the only changes there drilling down for this test.

387
00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:12,000
So what we've done here is solve what I think is the biggest problem of our previous test,

388
00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:17,000
which is getting the explosive to where it needs to be, which is the strength of the tree, the core, the heartwood.

389
00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:22,000
But will this internal placement cause the cleave that dynamite arrow couldn't?

390
00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:27,000
Well to find out, they're starting by embedding explosive one, the TNT.

391
00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:34,000
Alright, this is TNT in the lily pie tree.

392
00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:36,000
Let's do it!

393
00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:40,000
It's a tense wait for the fuse to burn down until...

394
00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:49,000
It might have had the boon, but did it give the team the kind of break they need?

395
00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:55,000
I see some cracking going on, but not what I would call a split.

396
00:23:55,000 --> 00:24:00,000
Yeah, it seems like it's shredding more than anything.

397
00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:09,000
Tori's on the money. Traveling at more than 21,000 feet per second, the shockwave from the TNT simply ripped the tree to pieces.

398
00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:13,000
Will their low velocity explosive do any better?

399
00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:17,000
This is ANFO, which stands for ammonium nitrate fuel oil.

400
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:24,000
It's a lower velocity explosive than TNT, which means it has a higher likelihood of actually splitting the tree without shredding it.

401
00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:31,000
What I've just done is cut some vertical grooves in the bark of the tree.

402
00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:36,000
That way we can lay up our explosives along the grain, the vascular bundles of the tree.

403
00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:40,000
Because what's happening right now is we have an explosive at the base and it's cross cutting.

404
00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:49,000
What we want is a vertical split. So this way we put the explosives up the line of the tree and that force punches through and hopefully we get that vertical split that we're looking for.

405
00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:55,000
Alright, the grooves are loaded. We're going hot. Alright, we're lit!

406
00:24:55,000 --> 00:25:01,000
Okay, so this is cutting a tree in half with explosives zipper technique.

407
00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:11,000
It didn't go completely to plan, but at least the team gets slightly more than a toppled trunk.

408
00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:16,000
It's kind of a split in the right direction.

409
00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:20,000
Wow, that is definitely a better technique.

410
00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:22,000
Finally, we got a split.

411
00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:33,000
Of sorts, it's still not the clean cleave they wanted, but promising enough to warrant one more go at a mighty grand finale.

412
00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:41,000
What did we do right? Well, on this test, we got our explosives in a line that's parallel to the grain of the tree.

413
00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:46,000
Instead of focusing on one spot, we went all the way up the tree and I think that is what made the difference.

414
00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:54,000
Now, this is a small tree, but that's fine. We proved the concept here. Now it's time for us to go into a big tree and try it full scale.

415
00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:59,000
Coming up, almost a ton of runaway rogue steel heading Adam's way.

416
00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:01,000
This is where things get dangerous.

417
00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:09,000
So far, bubble trouble is looking like a bust.

418
00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:11,000
Wow, I feel it totally looking me.

419
00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:13,000
But Adam and Jamie aren't done yet.

420
00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:14,000
Ow!

421
00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:18,000
I took a pin in the leg.

422
00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:25,000
To put this myth to bed, they're going to sink or swim in a full-sized pool with a super-sized bubbler.

423
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:29,000
One that's four feet wide and 16 feet long.

424
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:38,000
And to get the job done in double time, Jamie welds the massive steel frame while Adam sews the giant canvas bubbler bag.

425
00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:48,000
Well, based on what we saw at the big tank, this new bladder ought to be perfect for the swimming pool.

426
00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:53,000
You know what it looks like? It looks like the world's largest whoopee cushion.

427
00:26:56,000 --> 00:27:01,000
With both bubbler components ready to roll, the truck gets loaded and locked.

428
00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:05,000
So the myth is that it is impossible to swim in bubbly water.

429
00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:08,000
And so far we've tested that in small scale in a fish tank.

430
00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:09,000
It's not sinking.

431
00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:13,000
And in a 10,000 gallon irrigation tank in what is now only medium scale.

432
00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:15,000
I'm in trouble with the bubble, Scott!

433
00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:21,000
In both cases, we found evidence of upwelling and currents that really make us feel like we haven't fully answered this question.

434
00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:25,000
So now it's time for Mondo scale, full-sized swimming pool.

435
00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:26,000
Yeah, that's it.

436
00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:32,000
We've built a bubbler that will give us a swathe of bubbles four feet wide and 16 feet long.

437
00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:35,000
I'm going to get in it and see if I can swim.

438
00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:40,000
Yeah, we recognize that you have a choice of myths and we thank you for flying myth busters.

439
00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:43,000
That's nice and stable.

440
00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:48,000
Remember those little fish tank bubblers and then that little bag that I tested out in the shop?

441
00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:49,000
That's not bad.

442
00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:55,000
Well, this is the final result of all that testing, the granddaddy bubbler.

443
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:59,000
We've got eye beams on it to hold it down against the flotation.

444
00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:06,000
We've got a massive steel frame, the big bladder and not one but two air pumps to supply all the air we need.

445
00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:10,000
We drop it in the pool and you've got yourself a big ass bubbler.

446
00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:15,000
It's big, but will it be big enough to eliminate those supposed edge effects?

447
00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:23,000
Well, to find out, Adam, designated to do the wet work, goes under to guide it into position and make sure it's level.

448
00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:28,000
It's within one or two degrees of level and I'm inclined to start up the pump and see what it looks like.

449
00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:29,000
I'm on it.

450
00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:30,000
Okay.

451
00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:33,000
Okay, go ahead and let some air in.

452
00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:40,000
With the air pump on, things seem to be proceeding smoothly until...

453
00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:42,000
Cut the air.

454
00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:48,000
Luckily, Adam was clear of the rig when it made an unexpected and dangerous break for the surface

455
00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:54,000
and make no mistake, despite the muffled noise and sub-aqua slow motion,

456
00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:59,000
that was 1,600 pounds of runaway rogue steel.

457
00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:00,000
Not enough weight?

458
00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:01,000
Not enough weight.

459
00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:03,000
The whole thing started to float.

460
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:07,000
Well, that's a bummer, but the solution is simple.

461
00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:11,000
It could simply be a matter of just placing the barbell weights in the corners.

462
00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:13,000
Well, that's why we brought the barbells.

463
00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:15,000
I'll start to break them out.

464
00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:20,000
With an additional 100 pounds on each corner totaling 2,000 pounds,

465
00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:23,000
surely they've got this covered.

466
00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:25,000
Q-Test number two.

467
00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:28,000
I see little bubbles starting to come up.

468
00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:32,000
And at first, it all seems to be working beautifully.

469
00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:38,000
But once again, the astonishing force exerted by the buoyancy of the trapped air is evident.

470
00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:39,000
Stop.

471
00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:40,000
Cut the air.

472
00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:42,000
And that's another bummer.

473
00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:43,000
Yeah.

474
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:45,000
It was looking so good.

475
00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:48,000
It was looking so good, but now...

476
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:50,000
I'm going to put it back in the air.

477
00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:51,000
Yeah.

478
00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:52,000
It was looking so good.

479
00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:55,000
It was looking so good, but now...

480
00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:56,000
the whole rigging...

481
00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:58,000
Yeah.

482
00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:02,000
So far, the team has selected option F for failure.

483
00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:07,000
But it takes more than 2,000 pounds of runaway steel to throw the mythbusters off their game.

484
00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:09,000
This is just a minor setback.

485
00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:13,000
All we need are heavier I-beams or bars of steel, some sort, to put on this thing.

486
00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:15,000
We'll be able to weight it down.

487
00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:16,000
We'll fix it.

488
00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:20,000
Look, when you want to rescue big things from the bottom of a body of water,

489
00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:24,000
you use what are called lift bags, these airtight canvas bags.

490
00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:27,000
You fill with air and the air lifts stuff off the bottom.

491
00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:32,000
What we've essentially made here is a captured air bladder.

492
00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:34,000
And we're trying to keep it on the bottom,

493
00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:38,000
which is proving more of a challenge than we surmised.

494
00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:39,000
That's a workout, huh?

495
00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:41,000
Oh, f***.

496
00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:44,000
This is where things get dangerous.

497
00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:46,000
Late in the day.

498
00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:48,000
Let's test them out.

499
00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:49,000
Yeah.

500
00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:50,000
Right in place?

501
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:54,000
Yeah, I'm going to stay far away from this rig while you pressurize it.

502
00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:59,000
Their first unsuccessful test of the rig weighed in at 1,600 pounds.

503
00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:02,000
This time, they've got 4,200.

504
00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:03,000
But will this be enough?

505
00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:06,000
There they come.

506
00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:09,000
Yeah, baby.

507
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:12,000
So, that may have been about halfway.

508
00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:13,000
That's perfect.

509
00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:14,000
Nothing's budging.

510
00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:15,000
It looks gorgeous.

511
00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:16,000
Excellent.

512
00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:18,000
So, we had a few bugs to work out.

513
00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:20,000
So, Sumi, we added more weight.

514
00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:22,000
It took care of the buoyancy problem.

515
00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:24,000
And we're all tested.

516
00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:25,000
Good to go.

517
00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:27,000
I think we're ready for tomorrow.

518
00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:34,000
Next, the Big Bang on the mother of all pine trees.

519
00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:36,000
That is one big tree.

520
00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:38,000
Fire!

521
00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:48,000
Now, we've already busted the myth that you can use a dynamite arrow to split a tree in two.

522
00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:52,000
But we wanted to find out if you can use explosives to create that perfect cleave.

523
00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:54,000
So, we did a few experiments.

524
00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:56,000
We tried TNT, we tried Ampho.

525
00:31:56,000 --> 00:32:00,000
As you can see, it didn't quite work from a singular point.

526
00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:02,000
So, we went and took it one step further.

527
00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:07,000
We made sort of a zipper by perforating the tree with little sluts and filling them with Ampho.

528
00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:09,000
And we did get a split.

529
00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:12,000
So, now it's time to take it to full scale.

530
00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:16,000
We've come out to the forest to make a tree split mythbusters style.

531
00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:20,000
Doing it mythbusters style means driving to an isolated tree farm.

532
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:23,000
Man, this is way out there, isn't it?

533
00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:25,000
And blowing the biggest tree they can see.

534
00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:29,000
With the technique they sort of perfected in small scale.

535
00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:31,000
It's like a winter wonderland out here.

536
00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:34,000
You can't see the trees for the forest.

537
00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:37,000
Here's the tree.

538
00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:40,000
Wow, that is one big tree.

539
00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:41,000
Definitely.

540
00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:44,000
This is a 100 foot tall ponderosa pine.

541
00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:48,000
Now, you might be a little freaked out that we're using a perfectly good tree in our experiment.

542
00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:50,000
But, it's already been earmarked for lumber.

543
00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:53,000
And it will be recycled at the end of the experiment.

544
00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:59,000
Depending on how successful we are, it'll either be lumber, or if we manage to split it, firewood.

545
00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:05,000
Given their early results, splitting this tall tree seems like an even taller order.

546
00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:08,000
But Tori for one is confident.

547
00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:12,000
Now, we learned from our small scale that ampho was the best type of explosive.

548
00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:15,000
It was slower moving, more pushing.

549
00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:20,000
And what we also learned is cutting grooves along the vertical of the tree

550
00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:23,000
will give us a better chance of splitting the tree.

551
00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:25,000
So, we're going to do just that.

552
00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:27,000
We're going to cut a bunch of grooves up the length of the tree

553
00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:29,000
so that way the force of the explosion is vertical.

554
00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:32,000
And hopefully we can replicate the results.

555
00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:36,000
In other words, going big means thinking small.

556
00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:41,000
Cutting lots of vertical slots near the core to house small bags of boom.

557
00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:49,000
Alright, so we finished cutting 15 slots up the length of the tree.

558
00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:53,000
Now, what we're going to do is we're going to fill those slots with ampho, ignite them,

559
00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:56,000
and see if we can split this tree up the middle.

560
00:33:56,000 --> 00:34:02,000
But first, they need to do a serious calculation of just how much bang they need for their buck.

561
00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:06,000
Okay, now when you usually see explosives into the myth busters scene,

562
00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:12,000
you're used to seeing mass quantities like the 850 pounds we used in the cement truck.

563
00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:22,000
Now, for this experiment, we actually want a pushing rather than a huge destruction.

564
00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:26,000
So, we're only going to use about 25 pounds of ampho in small bags

565
00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:29,000
strung evenly up the side of the tree.

566
00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:32,000
That way, hopefully we get a nice clean clean.

567
00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:37,000
It's a delicate operation. Too much ampho and the tree will be blown apart.

568
00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:40,000
Too little and the explosive may not even detonate.

569
00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:43,000
Alright, so, one pound bags.

570
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:44,000
One pound bags.

571
00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:48,000
Luckily, bomb expert Frank is on hand to take charge of the charge.

572
00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:49,000
Okay.

573
00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:50,000
What do you think, Frank?

574
00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:52,000
Am I going to be able to join the bomb squad after this?

575
00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:54,000
Hey, we're signing you up right now.

576
00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:57,000
Alright, ready to decorate the tree?

577
00:34:57,000 --> 00:34:58,000
Right away, you're in.

578
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:03,000
Anpho.

579
00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:04,000
There you go.

580
00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:12,000
Working somewhat gingerly, Carrie and Grant carefully placed the 25 one pound bags along the entire trunk.

581
00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:16,000
You know what, the sap is a natural adhesive to hold the bags in.

582
00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:21,000
So, add wiring explosives at heights to my resume.

583
00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:22,000
Alright, you done?

584
00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:23,000
I'm done.

585
00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:25,000
Add as the saying goes.

586
00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:27,000
Let's make like a tree and leave.

587
00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:33,000
Going down on this level, we have explosives, timber and ladies lingerie.

588
00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:39,000
Okay, this is the very last bag of explosives going in the tree.

589
00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:41,000
We've wired them all the way up.

590
00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:43,000
I think we might actually have a shot at this one.

591
00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:48,000
I mean, we've given it all the advantage we possibly could using this nice low velocity explosive.

592
00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:52,000
We've given it perforation so that it could go really, really well.

593
00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:54,000
I think we might get a nice clean split.

594
00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:57,000
But the guys on the other hand aren't so sure.

595
00:35:57,000 --> 00:35:59,000
So, do I think the tree's going to split?

596
00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:01,000
There's a lot of factors that go into it.

597
00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:05,000
Too much explosive, too little, the weight of the branches.

598
00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:07,000
Given all that, I think we are going to get a split.

599
00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:10,000
Maybe not super clean, but it's going to split.

600
00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:15,000
Looking at all this ampo in this tree, I have a feeling we're just going to blow this tree in a bunch of pieces.

601
00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:18,000
Yeah, this looks safe enough for you.

602
00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:21,000
All right, I guess we're all set. You guys ready?

603
00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:23,000
I'm so ready.

604
00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:27,000
Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole!

605
00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:31,000
Okay, so this is splitting a tree with ampo.

606
00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:37,000
Here we go. In three, two, one.

607
00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:43,000
After the break, Sincor swim in the mythical fable of Fizz.

608
00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:45,000
Swim harder!

609
00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:09,000
Cut the air.

610
00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:15,000
Adam and Jamie are ready to test the myth that it's impossible to swim in bubbly water.

611
00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:17,000
Okay, swimming with bubbles.

612
00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:22,000
In three, two, one, go!

613
00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:29,000
On the first lap, displaying all of his exemplary style and technique, Adam powers through the bubbles.

614
00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:32,000
But on the way back, it's not so easy.

615
00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:37,000
Just like the small-scale tests, the upwelling current pushes into the side.

616
00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:40,000
And outweighs any effect the lower density may have.

617
00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:42,000
No, okay.

618
00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:47,000
At this stage, it seems that the myth that it's impossible to swim in bubbly water is pretty much busted.

619
00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:51,000
It does, however, seem to be more difficult to swim in bubbly water.

620
00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:55,000
And the timings we've been taking from my testing seem to bear that out.

621
00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:59,000
So given that there might be a grain of truth to this story, that it might be more difficult,

622
00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:03,000
but not impossible to swim in bubbly water, we're going to ramp it up as far as we can go

623
00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:06,000
and see if we can't make that artifact more pronounced.

624
00:38:06,000 --> 00:38:09,000
We've done our testing at one-quarter compressor capacity.

625
00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:14,000
And the results were interesting, but perhaps not conclusive.

626
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:17,000
So I think now it's time to ramp it up.

627
00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:19,000
That's more like it.

628
00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:22,000
And that means we're going to go full power with those compressors.

629
00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:24,000
We'll see what happens.

630
00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:27,000
Wow! That's a lot of bubbles!

631
00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:29,000
You ready?

632
00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:30,000
Ready!

633
00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:33,000
All right. Full-scale bubble test.

634
00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:38,000
In three, two, one, go!

635
00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:44,000
With the dial turned to 11, the forces Adam has to deal with are clearly evident.

636
00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:49,000
Despite looking quite serene below, it's a broiling, frothing volcano at the surface,

637
00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:53,000
and the current is just too strong to swim across.

638
00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:55,000
Ah! Swim harder!

639
00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:59,000
Meaning in this case, it is impossible to swim in.

640
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:02,000
Like any good myth, this one has a grain of truth that it's hard.

641
00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:07,000
And that is that when you mix air with water, it is going to make that water less dense.

642
00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:11,000
The thing is that by taking it to ridiculous extremes like we have,

643
00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:13,000
you're just not trying hard enough.

644
00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:15,000
Stop screwing around.

645
00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:23,000
That decrease in density relative to its surroundings causes an upwelling and a very vigorous current, in fact.

646
00:39:23,000 --> 00:39:29,000
That current is so vigorous that it makes it virtually impossible to swim through it.

647
00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:31,000
I swallowed some water.

648
00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:37,000
After small-scale, medium-scale, and full-scale, it wasn't until super-full-scale

649
00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:39,000
that they got the result they were looking for.

650
00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:42,000
And Adam, for one, is buoyant.

651
00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:46,000
This myth is a letter-perfect case for why I love doing this show.

652
00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:49,000
We started out with a myth about it being impossible to swim in bubbly water.

653
00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:54,000
The conventional wisdom being that bubbles make the water less dense and thus you would sink.

654
00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:59,000
When in fact it turns out that the bubbles create this churning upwelling of current

655
00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:07,000
as they rise to the surface and it is the current and not the bubbles that makes it, in fact, impossible to swim in bubbly water.

656
00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:10,000
I love being surprised by results like that.

657
00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:12,000
Well, that's pretty neat.

658
00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:14,000
We had a build that was more difficult than we thought.

659
00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:21,000
A surprise ending and a myth that is, I gotta say, plausible but not for the reasons we originally thought.

660
00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:25,000
And bubbly water is kind of festive, isn't it?

661
00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:27,000
Yes, yes it is.

662
00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:39,000
Busting the myth of the explosive tree split has been a bit of a misfire.

663
00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:41,000
From big-scale failure...

664
00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:44,000
The tree is still in one piece.

665
00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:46,000
To some small-scale success...

666
00:40:46,000 --> 00:40:50,000
Wow, that is definitely a better technique.

667
00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:52,000
But now, the moment of truth.

668
00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:53,000
Here we go!

669
00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:59,000
To replicate the results of this myth, it all comes down to this one-shot wonder.

670
00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:04,000
One monster pine tree filled with 25 bags of explosives.

671
00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:08,000
They're using the smallest amount of anfo that will still detonate.

672
00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:10,000
But will it be small enough?

673
00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:12,000
In three...

674
00:41:12,000 --> 00:41:13,000
Two...

675
00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:14,000
One...

676
00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:16,000
Fire!

677
00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:23,000
Wow, that was a good one!

678
00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:27,000
Well, the tree's down.

679
00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:31,000
Let's see if it's split.

680
00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:33,000
If there's anything left of it...

681
00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:35,000
Wow!

682
00:41:36,000 --> 00:41:39,000
Well, what's clear is the anfo detonated.

683
00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:42,000
But what is not clear is what happened to the tree.

684
00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:46,000
Wow, there are bits of tree everywhere.

685
00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:51,000
With the smoke gone, it's bad news for the myth.

686
00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:57,000
Instead of a split, the tree's been diced into a nice pile of kindling for Bear Grills.

687
00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:01,000
The result that we're looking for for this experiment was two pieces.

688
00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:04,000
One left, one right, split right down the middle.

689
00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:08,000
What we got was 200 pieces.

690
00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:11,000
The tree shattered all over the forest.

691
00:42:11,000 --> 00:42:12,000
There's bits everywhere.

692
00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:15,000
It turns out the anfo was just too much.

693
00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:21,000
Even at the minimum amount to detonate, to sustain that crack all the way to the top.

694
00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:24,000
And that leaves only one conclusion.

695
00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:28,000
Alright, no matter how you look at this myth, this one is busted.

696
00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:29,000
Busted.

697
00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:30,000
Busted.

698
00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:32,000
Can't have all this firewood and kindling now.

699
00:42:32,000 --> 00:42:34,000
This isn't a split. This is a shatter.

700
00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:39,000
The tree and the myth are both shattered.

701
00:42:39,000 --> 00:42:45,000
And let's face it, if this method didn't work, then a dynamite arrow is not even a long shot.

702
00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:49,000
Alright, I got some seedlings.

703
00:42:49,000 --> 00:42:50,000
Okay.

704
00:42:50,000 --> 00:42:52,000
The myth might be busted.

705
00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:53,000
Let's do our part.

706
00:42:53,000 --> 00:42:56,000
But at least the team is given something back to the forest.

707
00:42:56,000 --> 00:42:59,000
Sort of the strange myth buster circle of life.

708
00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:02,000
I think it's a good deal for the forest. I mean three for one.