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On this episode of Mythbusters, Adam and Jamie have a data with Destiny.

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I have totally psyched about numbers.

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They're testing the myth that during an underwater explosion, lying prone on the surface will increase your chances of survival.

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Whoa, go hide that place!

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Then, Carrie Grant and Tori tackle an ancient armor saga.

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Oh, I felt that one.

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Is the firefetch theory that paper armor...

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Well, you couldn't find me a giant pair of scissors to run with.

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...protects as well as steel...

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Well, that is one dangerous looking machine.

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...fact or pulp fiction.

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Who are the Mythbusters?

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Adam Savage.

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Come on, let's go!

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Here comes chaos!

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And Jamie Heidemann.

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Relax. This one hurt a bit.

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

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Carrie Byron.

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This should be fun.

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Tori Bellachy.

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We survived.

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And Grant Imahara.

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Start the car!

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They don't just tell the myth.

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They put them to the test.

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Check this out.

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Navy divers who find themselves in the water when an explosion, like a depth charge or something,

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is supposed to go off underwater, are instructed specifically that the safest position for them to be in,

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in the case of an underwater explosion, is flat on their back on the surface.

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And that that's significantly safer even than treading water in an upright position.

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Hmm, that's interesting. You wouldn't think there'd be any difference at all.

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You wouldn't. And that's why I think it's something that we should test.

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I'm up for it.

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Navy SEALs and Walruses are advised that if in danger of a depth charge disaster,

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their best chance of survival is to float on the surface rather than treading water or diving down.

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But would it really make a difference?

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Adam, Jamie and the bomb squad are primed to find out.

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Ultimately, of course, I foresee a large-scale quarry like big explosions, very cool high-speed shots.

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But where do we begin?

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Well, let's say we start with some underwater shockwave testing here in the shop

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and see if we can collect some data, see if there are any problems, see if there's anything to the myth.

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Sure, that shouldn't be that hard.

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Okay.

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We're going to need three things. A tank full of water, an explosion, and a means of measuring the shockwave.

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It sounds deceptively simple, but setting off and measuring underwater explosions in the shop is anything but simple.

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I'm thinking this requires a brainstorming sequence with an inevitable tense discussion.

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It would fail catastrophically.

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Obligatory technical jargon.

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15 psi.

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Equidistant from the sensors.

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Blast pressure.

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7 psi.

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That can work.

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And after a final audio crossfader too.

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And we create our shockwave guns.

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So I just grab a draw.

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And we got sensors.

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There's a resolute conclusion signaling a solution.

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I think that seems like a plan.

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I think so.

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This here is our tank.

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15 feet tall, it's going to hold 1,300 pounds of water.

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Inside that tank, we will place four shock sensors.

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I will detonate a pistol, dead center in the tank.

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That pistol will generate a shockwave that will travel up and down through the tank.

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If depth plays no role in the propagation of a shockwave underwater,

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we should see an identical reading between sensors B and C,

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because they are each the same distance from the source of the shockwave.

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If depth does play a significant factor in the force of a shockwave underwater,

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then we should see a difference in the force measured by these two sensors.

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And that's where this story gets really interesting.

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But it gets interesting before that,

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because Jamie has an ingenious plan of a tank.

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We're going to need a very tall, narrow tank for this test.

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We built one of these before for firing bullets into water.

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But let's just say there was a serious problem with that one.

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Water is heavy and keeping it contained is a tricky task.

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That was a tank, man!

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Oh, criminy.

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Now, with that in mind, I've come up with an entirely new way of building a tank

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that we've never tried before.

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It uses very thick vinyl.

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Well, that ought to do it.

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You're up!

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Another six inches.

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It's in!

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In a few minutes, we're about to fill that tube with 1,300 pounds of water.

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Will it hold?

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I can't detect any leaks.

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I hope so.

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So does Jamie, because nothing scares the Heinemann more than a mess in potentia.

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It's terrifying. Put yanking on it.

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With the tank holding, they're about to tempt fate by introducing the explosive ingredient.

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The role of our shock producer in the small-scale test will be played by this,

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a .357 magnum pistol to which I'm going to make some modifications

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so we can fire it remotely and underwater.

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Okay, Kerry, what do you got for us?

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I've got historical myth, and I love this one.

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Now, in ancient times, even up to the 1800s, some armies in China actually made armor out of paper.

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Paper armor? That is cool. I mean, paper's the last thing you would think of to make armor.

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I like this one.

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And the cool thing is that paper was supposed to perform as well as steel.

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Wait a minute.

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Paper armor performing as well as steel armor?

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I'd like to see that.

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That's why I want to test it.

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Throughout history, material science has been at the cutting edge of advancements in armor.

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But is it really possible that the ancient Chinese manufactured paper armor

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capable of performing as well as its contemporary steel equivalent?

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To find out, Kerry, Grant and Tori are arming themselves with the facts, and then the armor.

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Well, first up, I'd like to do some research.

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Talk to an expert, find out how the paper armor was possibly made

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and what the steel counterpart would be.

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Yeah, I mean, when we think of steel armor, we think of medieval armor like this,

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but Chinese steel armor of the period may not have been like this at all.

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So it sounds like we're going to need to get some steel armor of the period

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and make ourselves some paper armor.

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Then we'll run them through some tests and see how the paper compares to the steel.

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I'm looking forward to this.

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For a paper armor myth, I've come up to the Napa Valley so that I can talk to Greg Martin.

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Now, he's an antique arms and armor expert.

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Hopefully, you'll have a little insight for me.

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And his first interesting insight is that the existence of paper armor is no myth at all.

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Historically, paper armor is traced back to the Tang Dynasty, 600 BC.

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And of course, the Chinese were very big developers of paper.

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So it was stand to reason that paper armor would develop there.

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So how would paper armor likely have been constructed?

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By using what we call laminator paper was laminated together into squares

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and then attached piece by piece and then would cover the entire body.

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So, laminar paper armor really was used in ancient China.

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There are records of multiple manufacturing methods and designs.

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But the myth is that it was as effective as the steel armor of its day.

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An outrageous claim.

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And the team is skeptical, but there is some cause for hope.

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Now, we know from historical sources that they used a mulberry paper.

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Look at this. You can see the fibers. This is strong stuff.

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What they would do is they would stack layers of it together and that was enough to stop errors.

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Now, one source told us that they would take these layers of paper and laminate it with resin or some kind of shellac or even glue.

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Another source says that they would cover it with a cotton cloth and sew around the edges.

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What we're going to do is we're going to take all those techniques, find out which works best.

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Once we have that, then we'll be able to put that up against steel and see which one does best.

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And to test our armor pieces, we're going to use this.

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Ow!

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This is a sharpened tip on the end of a pneumatic cylinder.

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Here we have a chunk of ballistic material.

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Put each sample underneath and then fire the cylinder like this and see how each sample performs as a result of the puncture.

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And the best one will go on to make our final armor pieces.

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This is folded paper with cotton.

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So, the goal is to compare the range of historically accurate manufacturing methods.

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One. Wow, look at that.

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Wow.

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It actually stopped it.

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And decide which will give the steel the best run for its money.

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Each paper piece, regardless of its construction method, is one half inch thick.

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A dimension discovered in the research.

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Lacker made it more brittle and it actually went all the way through.

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And although shellac, an organic resin, may double up as an effective weapon.

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That actually stuck.

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The result that emerges is that hardened squares like lacquer lack the penetrative protection of the winning sample.

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Okay, and folded paper.

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Whoa!

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Oh my God, look at how well that works.

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This absolutely works the best. Simplicity.

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Now that we've found our winning paper construction, which is simply folded up paper, it's time to put it up against steel.

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So, we're going to be putting both of these materials against common weapons of the time.

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We're going to be doing blunt force, some kind of a club or a mace, a sword, and then finally an arrow.

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See which one performs the best.

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Later in depth charge disaster.

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Oh yeah.

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Adam and Jamie have a data with destiny.

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First, that is one dangerous looking machine.

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It's steel paper sword.

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Our trio of mythbusters have a martial mystery from Oriental history.

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Supposedly as a material for making armor, paper matches steel.

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So far the team has discovered that of all the historically recorded manufacturing techniques, simple folded squares provide the most protection.

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This absolutely works the best.

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But they're still skeptical of paper's ability to match steel.

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So before they go all out and build a full suit of paper armor, paper will have to prove itself in an authentic setting.

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Greetings friends.

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Though this looks like an entirely authentic Tang dynasty household, it is in fact the best reproduction we could come up with for under $10. Cue the gong.

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And here's how this proof of concept will work.

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Paper will go up against steel in a series of weapons tests.

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And if the damage to a clay block beneath is reasonably comparable, only then will they move on to a full scale testing with full suits of armor.

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Now the way we're choosing our thickness of armor is we've done some research and the Lammelar armor was about 1.32 of an inch steel.

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As far as the paper armor goes, we found out that it was about a half inch thick.

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And a half inch thick equals about 28 sheets of the paper.

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To get things rolling, Grant wheels out a familiar robotic swinger.

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Calibrated to human swinging speeds, that's 125 miles per hour for the Data Divas out there.

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She's ready for weapon number one.

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So for our blunt force trauma test, we're going to use this. This is a reproduction of an ancient Chinese weapon called a chewy.

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That's going to do some damage, isn't it?

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Hopefully.

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First up, for a taste of the mace is the steel control. The material the mythical paper armor has to match.

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Trauma test in three, two, one.

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Wow, that did really well.

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Yep, the clay indentation is slight and shallow, but now for the all important comparison.

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Alright, let's see how paper armor can do.

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Okay, this is the trauma test.

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Oh, that looks good.

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That looks like it would hurt.

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And a look at the side by side impressions only enforces the impression that this myth belongs in the waste paper bin.

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I'd rather be wearing steel at this point.

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Alright, I think the steel wins in this situation.

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But there are two more chances to find out if paper cuts it as armor.

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See, I just cut my eyebrow.

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First, the sword.

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That is one dangerous looking machine.

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Just for reference, let's first see what the sword does to the unprotected clay.

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Ouch.

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Alright.

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Okay.

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It looks like it went in about an inch.

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Now for the cold hard steel.

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Three, two, one.

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Oh!

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Alright, you see here, the sword hit the steel armor and it put a dent in the clay, but it didn't actually cut through wounding the person.

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So now what we're going to do is we're going to switch out the steel armor for the paper armor and see what kind of damage it does on the clay.

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Wow.

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The result is astonishing. The damage is minimal.

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It's similar to the steel at a vast improvement on the inch deep slice experienced by the unprotected clay.

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It only cut like maybe two or three layers.

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That is crazy.

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Paper for armor.

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It could work.

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I'm impressed.

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It's looking great.

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Which brings us to the third and final weapons test, the arrow.

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Oh, it bounced back.

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Let's see how far it went in.

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That's it.

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That's it.

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That is less than a quarter of an inch.

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So paper has one final chance to prove it's metal against the metal.

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In three, two, one.

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And hold on to your skeptics hat because despite the arrow's penetration into the paper, the clay beneath survived better than it did against the steel.

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Wow.

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Look at that.

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I think the arrow went deeper on the steel armor.

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Yep.

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It's concept proof.

242
00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:57,000
The paper more or less matched the metal and this myth can move on.

243
00:14:57,000 --> 00:15:07,000
To best avoid injury from an underwater depth charge, would it really make a difference lying supine on the surface?

244
00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:14,000
Intent on investigating, Adam and Jamie will set off an underwater shockwave and measure it at various depths.

245
00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:15,000
All right.

246
00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:19,000
This is my finished shockwave producing remote firing pistol.

247
00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:27,000
It will fire only blank rounds because I have put a little shockwave disperser in so that it disperses the shockwave both exactly up and exactly down.

248
00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:35,000
I put a blank round in it, cock it, and then from above the water, I can fire it, generating the shockwave we need for instrumentation.

249
00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:40,000
To measure the shockwave from the handgun blank is the final item on Jamie's list.

250
00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:43,000
Four pressure sensors held in place by magnets.

251
00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:45,000
Here we go.

252
00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:47,000
Hey, it worked.

253
00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:50,000
So what's the water tube going to tell us after this test?

254
00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:53,000
Are we going to get a much higher blast pressure here than here?

255
00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:59,000
It's an interesting question because the pressure here is already at 4.2 pounds per square inch.

256
00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:04,000
Up here, it's only two pounds per square inch and that's just from the weight of the water.

257
00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:05,000
It feels like a bank heist.

258
00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:11,000
So that combined with the explosion, I think it's going to inherently give us a higher blast pressure down there.

259
00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:17,000
But will that equate to death while treading water, while life, while lying flat on your back?

260
00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:18,000
I don't think so.

261
00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:20,000
Okay, we're hot.

262
00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:28,000
The question we're trying to answer here is whether there's some feature to do with depth underwater and the associated pressures,

263
00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:31,000
the greater the depth, the more intense the shockwave.

264
00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:33,000
That is perfect.

265
00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:37,000
The shallower the depth, the less intense the shockwave and the safer you'll be.

266
00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:39,000
What do I think?

267
00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:42,000
I don't think there's going to be much of a difference.

268
00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:47,000
So both mythbusters are skeptical, but science is an evidence-based discipline.

269
00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:52,000
This is depth charge, disaster, small scale test.

270
00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:54,000
Hopefully not making me too wet.

271
00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:57,000
In three, two, one.

272
00:16:58,000 --> 00:16:59,000
Nice.

273
00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:04,000
Well, the sensors did register a result and the tank didn't spring a leak,

274
00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:07,000
but a close look reveals the numbers aren't ideal.

275
00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:08,000
So what did we get?

276
00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:13,000
Well, it's looking awfully noisy, but we're getting some interesting numbers.

277
00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:19,000
Unfortunately, the close proximity of the walls of the tank to the explosion is affecting those pressure waves

278
00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:24,000
and creating noise, which is obscuring the measurements that we're looking for.

279
00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:29,000
That noise, the reflected shockwaves bouncing around in the narrow tank,

280
00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:31,000
Is it still noisy?

281
00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:36,000
Means the peak pressure wave for each individual sensor is difficult to determine.

282
00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:38,000
Let's run it again.

283
00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:44,000
But three man's later and they have enough data points for a pattern to emerge.

284
00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:47,000
Alright kids, put down your juice boxes and pay attention.

285
00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:49,000
It's time for the moment you've been waiting for.

286
00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:51,000
It's time to interpret the numbers.

287
00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:54,000
Remember that if there was anything to this story at all,

288
00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:58,000
if depth, you didn't play a factor in increasing the force of a shockwave,

289
00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:02,000
we should see that the deeper sensors would give us a higher reading

290
00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:05,000
than the shallower sensors at the same distance.

291
00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:06,000
And that is what we're seeing.

292
00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:12,000
In every one of our tests, the sensor 3 readings are higher than the sensor 2 readings.

293
00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:16,000
The sensor 4 readings are higher than the sensor 1 readings.

294
00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:21,000
That tells me at least that in small scale, there might just be something to this story.

295
00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:28,000
So paper armor has potential.

296
00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:30,000
I think it might be time for us to go full scale.

297
00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:34,000
Let's make armor out of paper and put it up against steel in a series of challenges.

298
00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:37,000
I love it. We'll put each of the armor on and then run through a series of tests.

299
00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:40,000
Maybe we'll test speed, agility and endurance.

300
00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:43,000
And we'll have to have some kind of ultimate battle between the two suits.

301
00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:45,000
Not worrying, of course.

302
00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:46,000
Pick a number.

303
00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:50,000
So cue the full scale monumental mission.

304
00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:52,000
You're a dork.

305
00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:55,000
To make a full suit of paper armor.

306
00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:58,000
Only 850 to go.

307
00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:03,000
And the less taxing task of having a real steel one delivered.

308
00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:09,000
So to put our paper armor to the test, we're going to pit it against a metal suit of armor from the same period.

309
00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:15,000
Now, because this is hard to make, we ordered it from a modern armory company in the Ukraine.

310
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:17,000
And it's battle ready.

311
00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:20,000
Who wants some?

312
00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:24,000
Else, we do parties.

313
00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:28,000
Meanwhile, Tori gets busy pulling the paper armor design together.

314
00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:34,000
A design based on these ancient drawings and Grant's period accurate steel replica.

315
00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:39,000
Now, if you look at the steel armor, the scales have holes drilled into them and they're tied together with leather straps.

316
00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:41,000
Plus, they are overlapping.

317
00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:44,000
Now, there are no gaps in the armor.

318
00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:46,000
I think we need to do the exact same thing.

319
00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:52,000
Take our paper scales, drill some holes into them, overlap them and tie them together with cotton cord.

320
00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:56,000
Producing this season's hot new paper armor is a huge job.

321
00:19:56,000 --> 00:20:00,000
So the Mythbusters sweatshop is open for business.

322
00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:12,000
And after a week's hard work, hundreds of lamellar plates have been sewn together to form a full suit of armor that, after some minor tailoring, will be ready to go into battle.

323
00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:16,000
Oh, Kerry, I just don't know about this paper motif.

324
00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:20,000
I don't know if the judges are really going to like it or not.

325
00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:22,000
Oh well, make it work.

326
00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:25,000
The question is, will it work as well as steel?

327
00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:29,000
To find out, the team is signing up for basic battle training.

328
00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:31,000
Hang up!

329
00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:36,000
Now that we have our full suits of armor made, it's time to put them to the test.

330
00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:40,000
We're going to put our suits head to head in the types of things that you would find in battle.

331
00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:45,000
Namely, speed, agility and endurance.

332
00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:48,000
Oh, my back.

333
00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:54,000
First event in the Armor Olympics is the 50 yard sprint with sword.

334
00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:56,000
Well, you couldn't find me a giant pair of scissors to run with.

335
00:20:56,000 --> 00:21:01,000
Well, you will be wearing a suit of armor. This season's must have safety gear.

336
00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:05,000
Here on Mythbusters, we are making science.

337
00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:07,000
Cool.

338
00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:12,000
So I'm about to take my speed run in the paper armor.

339
00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:16,000
Alright, this is sprinting in paper armor. Are you ready?

340
00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:20,000
And I'd say I do think that the paper armor is going to encumber me a little bit,

341
00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:24,000
just because I've got the armor right down here where my legs are.

342
00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:28,000
Here we go. On your mark, get set.

343
00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:30,000
We'll see how I do.

344
00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:41,000
So eight seconds is the benchmark.

345
00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:46,000
And although the paper is undoubtedly bulkier, the steel is twice as heavy.

346
00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:51,000
Meanwhile, Tori, looking for revenge for past transgressions,

347
00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:54,000
fails to dent Grant's defenses.

348
00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:59,000
Call that a kick. Let's do this.

349
00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:02,000
Now to make sure that Grant is testing these armors fairly,

350
00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:04,000
we're going to let him rest in between tests,

351
00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:07,000
so that way he has full energy for each of the runs.

352
00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:10,000
Kind of reminds me of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

353
00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:15,000
On your marks, get set.

354
00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:20,000
I'm just saying I'm really surprised at how little of a difference there is

355
00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:23,000
between the paper and the steel armor.

356
00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:26,000
I can't believe there's only a second difference.

357
00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:31,000
Yep, the bulkier, more restrictive paper armor performed fractionally better.

358
00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:35,000
But with so little in it, conclusions can't be drawn just yet.

359
00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:37,000
Q-Test 2.

360
00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:41,000
Now for the endurance part of this test, I will be running a mile through these hills

361
00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:43,000
and then ending up on that side of the moat.

362
00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:48,000
At which point I will try to jump up onto the rope and cross over.

363
00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:50,000
So that's the course.

364
00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:51,000
Go!

365
00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:54,000
Now for the time trial in paper.

366
00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:56,000
I don't know if I'm going to have the energy to fight when I get there.

367
00:22:56,000 --> 00:23:00,000
With the armor weighing in at close to 30 pounds, it's tough going.

368
00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:03,000
Now the running wasn't so bad in the paper armor.

369
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:06,000
I mean it is awkward you have all this bulk on you.

370
00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:08,000
I am tore, part of the paper clamp.

371
00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:11,000
But climbing over the rope, I get too old for this.

372
00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:13,000
I thought I had it.

373
00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:17,000
But about midway there, my legs fell off the rope.

374
00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:19,000
Once I lost my legs.

375
00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:21,000
You pull yourself back up?

376
00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:22,000
Do it!

377
00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:24,000
I knew that was it, I was going in.

378
00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:27,000
It's fresh!

379
00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:28,000
Ah!

380
00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:29,000
F***!

381
00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:31,000
Gleep indeed.

382
00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:34,000
Because paper and water don't necessarily mix.

383
00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:38,000
But luckily it has a chance to dry out overnight.

384
00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:43,000
Whether it will retain its structural integrity for the test to come is another matter.

385
00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:45,000
And speaking of tests to come,

386
00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:51,000
Tori's time to beat tomorrow while wearing steel is just short of 12 minutes.

387
00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:53,000
Boom!

388
00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:58,000
Coming up on Mythbusters, we replace this cardboard boom with the real McCoy.

389
00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:04,000
So where do we stand?

390
00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:10,000
Well, our data is a little noisy, but it does seem to be supporting the central tenant of this myth,

391
00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:15,000
which is that depth does seem to be a factor in increasing shockwave strength.

392
00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:18,000
Yeah, but the data is just too noisy, I don't trust it.

393
00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:20,000
I think we need to go full scale.

394
00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:21,000
To a quarry lake?

395
00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:22,000
Could be.

396
00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:26,000
Oh, look at you, aren't you Mr. Television?

397
00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:28,000
Come on, let's get to work.

398
00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:32,000
To test this story, we're going to set off a series of explosions 15 feet underwater

399
00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:36,000
and measure them with sensors placed at different depths nearby.

400
00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:43,000
I claimed it short in the name of Mythbusters and Science in general.

401
00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:47,000
Now for all this to be accurate, we need to be able to locate the explosives

402
00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:50,000
and the sensors in a precise orientation to each other.

403
00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:55,000
What'd you let it go for?

404
00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:58,000
I didn't realize it would pull so hard.

405
00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:01,000
To pull that off, we're going to use a variety of ropes and anchors.

406
00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:05,000
Alright, that's our sensor array, booey.

407
00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:09,000
The sensor array with its PCB sensors at five different depths

408
00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:13,000
will be positioned at three distances from the site of the explosion

409
00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:18,000
and that spread of 15 data points is designed to answer the question

410
00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:22,000
how best to survive a depth charge disaster?

411
00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:27,000
And with the lake rigged with all the relevant anchors and buoys, the bomb boys arrive.

412
00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:30,000
Now whenever we use explosives, we bring in the professionals.

413
00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:35,000
Retired FBI Special Agent Frank Doyle and the Calaveras County Bomb Squad.

414
00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:41,000
Sporting a look available at www.shadesanduniforms.bomb,

415
00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:47,000
these are the guys that will make sure all three big booms happen safely.

416
00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:52,000
Meanwhile, Adam with his sensitive mast is focusing on data acquisition.

417
00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:54,000
This is my sensor mast.

418
00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:57,000
These five devices are my sensors.

419
00:25:57,000 --> 00:25:59,000
In a few minutes, I'm going to join them all together

420
00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:02,000
and put them in the water to make the largest piece of data gathering scientific equipment

421
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:06,000
we have yet built and used in the history of the show.

422
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:08,000
That's no exaggeration.

423
00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:12,000
Attached to a floating rig will be five high-tech pressure transducers

424
00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:17,000
at five different depths, all linked to a central command center.

425
00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:21,000
Let's talk about the constants and variables in this experiment.

426
00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:25,000
As far as the constants go, we're always going to be using TNT.

427
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:28,000
We're going to be using 10 pounds, which is five of these things,

428
00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:32,000
and they're going to be hanging at 15 feet below the surface of the water

429
00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:34,000
where the explosion will occur.

430
00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:35,000
Boom!

431
00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:37,000
Also a constant are the sensors.

432
00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:41,000
They're going to be placed at five different depths, both above and below water,

433
00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:44,000
and they'll be the same for every blast.

434
00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:46,000
I feel safer already.

435
00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:48,000
As far as variables, there's only one,

436
00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:51,000
and that's the distance of the sensor array from the explosion.

437
00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:54,000
Now we're going to start at 150 feet away

438
00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:59,000
and move progressively closer, recording the readings that we get off the sensors at each stage.

439
00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:02,000
Hey, look at that. It's working beautifully.

440
00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:07,000
All right. How are we going to use our sensors to represent a body lying flat on its back

441
00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:09,000
versus a body treading water?

442
00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:11,000
Here's what we're thinking.

443
00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:16,000
We determined that the torso of a person lying flat on their back on the surface

444
00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:18,000
has an average depth of about six inches.

445
00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:21,000
We also determined that the torso of a person treading water

446
00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:24,000
has an average depth of about two feet.

447
00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:25,000
Why the torso?

448
00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:28,000
No, because that's where the air pockets are.

449
00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:30,000
That's where our sensors are going.

450
00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:34,000
Yep, it's a gruesome but important detail.

451
00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:38,000
Injuries from underwater explosions are primarily caused

452
00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:44,000
when shockwaves pass through internal air cavities, such as the lungs and intestines.

453
00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:47,000
Hence the focus on the depth of the torso.

454
00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:50,000
Ten pounds of underwater fun.

455
00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:52,000
Well, everything's prepped.

456
00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:55,000
Yep, nothing left but an explosion.

457
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:57,000
Unfortunately, you're going to have to wait for that explosion

458
00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:00,000
for these commercial messages and perhaps some other bitbusters.

459
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:08,000
Tori is rested, ready and looking not so hot.

460
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:12,000
You know what, this thing will protect me from arrows and getting dates.

461
00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:16,000
Come on Tori, you can do it!

462
00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:17,000
Go!

463
00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:22,000
The question is, how will Tori's time in steel compare to the 12-minute paper run?

464
00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:24,000
And will he even survive?

465
00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:27,000
No, there's actually a little jeopardy to this test

466
00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:30,000
because first of all, the run is going to be really hard.

467
00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:32,000
It's going to be slow, that thing is heavy.

468
00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:34,000
This sucks big time.

469
00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:40,000
But, climbing this rope over this water, he's wearing 60 pounds of steel.

470
00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:43,000
He goes into the drink that's six feet deep.

471
00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:44,000
How do you extra-

472
00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:45,000
Look at the weight!

473
00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:49,000
There's no way you're making it across that rope.

474
00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:51,000
I don't think I'm going to make it.

475
00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:55,000
Somebody stick a spear in me, I'm done.

476
00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:57,000
The weight of the steel was the killer.

477
00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:03,000
Tori took an additional five minutes to complete the run and then couldn't climb the rope.

478
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:10,000
So an army traveling any kind of distance on foot would be at a distinct disadvantage in the heavier steel,

479
00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:12,000
which means paper wins that round.

480
00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:19,000
For the final event in the Armour Olympics, agility, courtesy of some time-bending editing,

481
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:24,000
Kari will simultaneously tackle the Assault Course in steel and paper.

482
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:29,000
After drying out overnight, the paper doesn't appear to have suffered any damage,

483
00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:31,000
but it's still just as awkward.

484
00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:35,000
It's definitely not as heavy as the steel Armour.

485
00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:36,000
Not a lot of give here.

486
00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:39,000
Okay, here we go. In three, two, one.

487
00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:45,000
Go, go, go, pick up those feet! Pick up those feet!

488
00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:48,000
On the first obstacle, the paper already has an advantage.

489
00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:54,000
The weight difference is clearly the key factor.

490
00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:59,000
Halfway into the course, and paper-clad Kari has already opened up a big lead.

491
00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:02,000
Come on, Byron! Go, go, go, go, go, go!

492
00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:06,000
And while crawling, the paper may well be slowing Kari down.

493
00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:09,000
Uh-oh, she's having a little trouble with the sand pit.

494
00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:12,000
But the steel almost brings her to a halt.

495
00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:16,000
The paper's in the way!

496
00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:19,000
Which pretty much sums it up for the rest of the Agility Course.

497
00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:24,000
The paper may be awkward, but the weight of the steel seals the deal.

498
00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:26,000
Good work.

499
00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:31,000
So with the first three events in the Armour Olympics complete, the conclusion is clear.

500
00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:34,000
Paper is outperforming steel.

501
00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:37,000
But now is the real test, the battle test.

502
00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:42,000
We're going to use weapons from the period and see if it can still stand up to metal.

503
00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:50,000
Welcome back. Let me walk you through our setup.

504
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:57,000
Out there in the middle of the lake, tied to a buoy, we've got ten pounds of explosives floating 15 feet below the surface.

505
00:30:57,000 --> 00:31:00,000
Oh, it does nicely. Great.

506
00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:07,000
150 feet away from our explosives, we have our sensor mask with five sensors that detect shock waves mounted to it.

507
00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:10,000
One above the water and four below at the following depths.

508
00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:15,000
One at six inches below the water. This simulates someone lying flat on their back at the surface of the water.

509
00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:19,000
One two feet under the water. This simulates our person who is treading water.

510
00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:23,000
One 15 feet below the surface at the exact level of the explosives.

511
00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:29,000
And one deeper than the explosives mounted all the way down 25 feet below the water surface.

512
00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:36,000
Each explosion will cause movement in the sensors, which will be translated into electrical energy, which will be sent as data through these wires.

513
00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:42,000
That data will find its final resting place here in the equipment man by David Harding, who will crunch our numbers.

514
00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:47,000
After three blasts, we'll end up with 15 data points and hopefully the answer to our question.

515
00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:54,000
Now, normally we would do something like set off a blast, look at the data, set up another blast, look at the data, etc.

516
00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:56,000
I think we're good to go, huh?

517
00:31:56,000 --> 00:32:01,000
In this case, we're not going to do that. We're going to set up all three of our blasts in as short a period of time as possible.

518
00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:03,000
I don't know!

519
00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:08,000
We're doing this for two reasons. One, so that the condition the explosions happen under is really, really similar.

520
00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:10,000
That makes our data much more consistent.

521
00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:12,000
I don't know!

522
00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:18,000
Second reason is the numbers we're going to be looking at might be quite subtle and only by correlating across all three blasts.

523
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:21,000
Are we going to be sure that we're telling a proper story?

524
00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:24,000
Here we go for data acquisition stage one.

525
00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:27,000
Or the first big boom of the day.

526
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:31,000
150 feet in three, two, one.

527
00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:34,000
Yeah!

528
00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:36,000
Wow!

529
00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:38,000
That was a hell of a thud!

530
00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:47,000
That blast was really unexpectedly cool. It had three distinct kind of whumps to it, like a boom, boom, boom.

531
00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:49,000
Very cool.

532
00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:51,000
Oh, look at that.

533
00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:53,000
That is just lovely.

534
00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:56,000
I'm always astonished by how fast the shock wave maps.

535
00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:59,000
Yeah, it's done and gone before you actually see anything happen.

536
00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:04,000
You think that this is all the explosion and actually that's way after that's the aftermath.

537
00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:09,000
The blast one went off perfectly and David says we got good data from all the sensors.

538
00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:14,000
We are going to withhold looking at them for now. We're going to go right into blast two from 70 feet.

539
00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:16,000
Okay, that ought to do it.

540
00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:21,000
Firing in three, two, one.

541
00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:23,000
Whoa!

542
00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:25,000
Whoa, look how high that went!

543
00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:27,000
Wow!

544
00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:29,000
Alright, well let's go look at the high speed.

545
00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:32,000
So what actually happens during an underwater explosion?

546
00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:40,000
Well, the explosion creates a rapidly expanding gas bubble that pushes water in front of it and that creates a pressure wave.

547
00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:45,000
It's that pressure wave that we're looking at because that is what could potentially hurt a human.

548
00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:53,000
But the question is, does that hurt potential and your very survival depend on a difference in depth?

549
00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:54,000
That's truly awesome.

550
00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:56,000
It's pretty.

551
00:33:56,000 --> 00:34:02,000
To answer that, the race is on for numbers and the third and final data point.

552
00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:06,000
But David says we got good data from the first two blasts. Shall we prep for the last one?

553
00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:07,000
Great, I'll set it up.

554
00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:08,000
Alright.

555
00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:13,000
Want to know why we did what we did and didn't do what we didn't do? Check out the after show.

556
00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:17,000
Log on to Discovery.com slash MythBusters after show.

557
00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:29,000
As incredible as it sounds, paper armor is holding up against its contemporary steel equivalent.

558
00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:33,000
But the team has yet to put paper in front of the firing squad.

559
00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:34,000
Good work.

560
00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:43,000
So now that both steel and paper armor have passed through the agility tests, it is time to see how well they protect under a full-scale attack.

561
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:45,000
What we are going to do is set up some mannequins.

562
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:48,000
Grim up is going to get dangerous.

563
00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:57,000
Cover those mannequins with both armors and then attack them on a full-scale with swords, arrows and even an ancient gun.

564
00:34:57,000 --> 00:35:02,000
Then we'll be able to find out once and for all, is paper armor as good as steel armor?

565
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:09,000
But perhaps paper's biggest test will come not from our trio of weapon-wielding barbarians, but a second soaking.

566
00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:11,000
This time from the heavens.

567
00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:15,000
Or more accurately, the condensation of atmospheric water vapor.

568
00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:22,000
The rain may indeed weaken the paper and favor the steel, but it's a real-world problem.

569
00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:28,000
If paper is to prove itself as protective armor, it'll have to cope with a light shower.

570
00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:29,000
We're all set.

571
00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:33,000
Now we're going to start with the arrow test and just throw a barrage of arrows at them.

572
00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:34,000
Remember the watcha?

573
00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:36,000
Watcha!

574
00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:38,000
I'm going to watcha them.

575
00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:39,000
So watcha this.

576
00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:41,000
And so the barrage begins.

577
00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:46,000
Carry Torian Grand Lett loose from 20 feet at both sets of armor.

578
00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:54,000
And despite being soaked, softened and sodden, the paper protects our male model mannequins as well as the steel does.

579
00:35:57,000 --> 00:35:58,000
Holy work!

580
00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:01,000
That is phenomenal!

581
00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:02,000
That's the worst!

582
00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:04,000
The paper armor is stopping the arrows.

583
00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:07,000
We have not got one arrow to penetrate through.

584
00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:12,000
I mean, it doesn't look as good as the steel armor, but the important thing is, it's working.

585
00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:15,000
Next up, the sword test.

586
00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:17,000
Slicing, dicing, jabbing, stabbing.

587
00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:21,000
I'm just going to go and try to maim those guys.

588
00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:22,000
Alright, carry.

589
00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:24,000
Just swing wildly.

590
00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:29,000
Using both an edge slicing stroke and a stabbing action.

591
00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:32,000
Oh, I felt that one.

592
00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:37,000
Carry finds the dial marked crazy and turns it up to 11.

593
00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:38,000
I'll tell you one thing.

594
00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:41,000
It's interesting the sound you make when you're attacking.

595
00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:43,000
I didn't actually mean to verbalize all the eh.

596
00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:48,000
Working out some issues there?

597
00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:54,000
I'm going to get myself a stabbing mannequin for home, because it's a really good way to work out aggression.

598
00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:59,000
And speaking of aggression, where does that leave the mannequins and the myth?

599
00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:03,000
It looks like it's separating through, but it's stopping before it even gets halfway through the tile.

600
00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:05,000
That's great.

601
00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:08,000
Yes, the paper armor is working.

602
00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:16,000
On any individual stab, slice, or arrow shot, a previously undamaged scale clearly matches the metal.

603
00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:21,000
But Tori sees a key armor attribute where steel trumps paper.

604
00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:25,000
Now, right now the paper armor is stopping the sword attacks, just like the steel armor.

605
00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:29,000
However, after multiple attacks, the paper armor starts to break down.

606
00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:32,000
It's looking like the steel armor is a lot more durable.

607
00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:33,000
Next weapon.

608
00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:40,000
And this is where we surely draw the line on paper, because gunpowder has just been invented.

609
00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:46,000
Okay, Greg, so for our experiment, we need a firearm that would have been of the era of the paper armor.

610
00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:47,000
What do you have?

611
00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:51,000
Well, a paper armor was used up to the 19th century.

612
00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:58,000
Let's try something from the 18th century, which is this French flintlock pistol from about 1750.

613
00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:00,000
Okay, let's do it.

614
00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:05,000
And first up, facing the flintlock is the metal.

615
00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:07,000
Nice shot.

616
00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:10,000
Followed by its fibrous franning.

617
00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:14,000
Now to assess the results.

618
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:15,000
Ouch, did it go through?

619
00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:17,000
It didn't go through.

620
00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:19,000
The paper armor stopped.

621
00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:21,000
The paper armor stopped the bullet.

622
00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:23,000
And it looks like the steel stopped the bullet as well.

623
00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:26,000
Both these armors are effective against this weapon.

624
00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:33,000
With paper once again in the same league of steel, this myth requires a further fast forward in time.

625
00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:38,000
So now we're going to try our 19th century gun, the Colt 45, 1200 foot pounds of muzzle energy.

626
00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:41,000
This should put our paper armor to the test.

627
00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:46,000
This is 19th century gun versus steel and paper armor.

628
00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:50,000
Here we go. In three, two, one.

629
00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:55,000
And neither stood a chance.

630
00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:59,000
Well, it's obvious it punctured the steel and it looks like it went through the paper as well.

631
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:07,000
With both sets of armor succumbing to the souped up firepower, it's time to conclude this ancient Chinese conundrum.

632
00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:13,000
Okay, paper armor performed the same as steel with every test we've done and it failed in the same place as well.

633
00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:17,000
Yeah, it just seems that the guns got too powerful for the armor.

634
00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:21,000
I've really been wanting to do this story for a long time because it seems so outlandish.

635
00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:27,000
But it's super impressive. Paper armor is actually a viable option in warfare.

636
00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:30,000
Viable, but there is one notable drawback.

637
00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:36,000
As you can see, it doesn't have the same durability as the steel, but it still works.

638
00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:38,000
So this one is plausible.

639
00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:39,000
Plausible?

640
00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:42,000
Plausible it is. Unbelievable.

641
00:39:44,000 --> 00:39:49,000
Welcome back.

642
00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:54,000
Jamie and I have been spending this episode exploring the idea that if you're in the water during an underwater explosion,

643
00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:59,000
you are far safer lying flat on your back at the surface than you are even treading water.

644
00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:01,000
We've done some small scale experiments.

645
00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:04,000
We've done some large scale blasts in this here quarry lake.

646
00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:06,000
Not yet. Looked at our data.

647
00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:09,000
We have one more data point to get. One more blast.

648
00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:15,000
And then we're going to look and see if it actually correlates to what the Smith purports to say.

649
00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:17,000
Okay, 30 feet. Are you good to go?

650
00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:18,000
I'm good to go. Let's do it.

651
00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:21,000
In three, two, one.

652
00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:32,000
Those of you keeping score, 10 pounds of explosives, 15 feet under the water,

653
00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:37,000
130 feet from where you're standing on land feels exactly like an earthquake.

654
00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:43,000
Well, it all comes down to this. David's crunching our last set of numbers,

655
00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:47,000
and that's the final piece of the puzzle that we need to answer our question.

656
00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:56,000
Remember, the question is, during an underwater explosion, does it really make a difference lying on your back compared to treading water?

657
00:40:58,000 --> 00:41:02,000
And the threshold number to keep in mind is...

658
00:41:02,000 --> 00:41:10,000
What our research has uncovered is that people exposed to a pressure of 87 PSI or higher have a greater than 50% chance of dying.

659
00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:16,000
That's our threshold then. Anything below 87 PSI milliseconds is alive. Anything above it equals dead.

660
00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:21,000
And hot off the portable printer, the figures make for a pair of happy mythbusters.

661
00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:25,000
Remember, Jamie smiles on the inside.

662
00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:27,000
Dude!

663
00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:29,000
Check that out!

664
00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:32,000
Nicely done!

665
00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:34,000
It doesn't get any clearer than that.

666
00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:35,000
It totally does not.

667
00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:39,000
I have to admit we have rarely gotten data this lovely.

668
00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:45,000
We had five sensors, three blasts for 15 separate data points, and this whole story comes down to two data points.

669
00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:51,000
The sensor we had at six inches versus the sensor we had at two feet for the blast from 30 feet away.

670
00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:58,000
That blast would have killed you if you were treading water and you would have lived through it if you were lying flat on your back.

671
00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:03,000
That's the story we came to tell, and that's the story the data tells. It's lovely.

672
00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:10,000
It's a definitive set of data, all right, but to really put this myth to bed, Jamie reads it a story called Why.

673
00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:14,000
All this data is great, but what it doesn't tell us is why.

674
00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:17,000
Now, I did a bunch of digging around, and this is what I found.

675
00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:22,000
Energy doesn't like to transition from one material to another if they're different.

676
00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:25,000
The more different they are, the more it doesn't like it.

677
00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:32,000
So in the case of an explosion underwater, as that pressure wave travels towards the surface, it bounces off because it can't pass through it.

678
00:42:32,000 --> 00:42:42,000
And what it does is it transitions from a pressure wave to a tensile wave, and therefore it's able to neutralize a lot of the energy, especially in that surface zone.

679
00:42:42,000 --> 00:42:44,000
And that's why it's safer there.

680
00:42:44,000 --> 00:42:51,000
So soldiers in the military are told that in the case of an underwater explosion, they are far safer if they are lying on the surface of the water flat on their back.

681
00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:54,000
Then if they're treading water, what is our answer to that?

682
00:42:54,000 --> 00:42:57,000
That's exactly what we found. They got it right. It's confirmed.

683
00:42:57,000 --> 00:42:59,000
Totally confirmed. Let's go.

684
00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:05,000
I'll tell you, even though that last blast would have been survivable if I was lying on the surface, I wouldn't want to try it.

685
00:43:05,000 --> 00:43:08,000
Yeah, that was like being in an earthquake.