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On this epic episode of Mythbusters, Adam and Jamie go Newton cradle crazy.

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Even these two and a half inch balls are making you get going.

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As they find out if this viral video is wrecking Bob the Loney from big beginnings to a colossal conclusion.

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Looks beautiful.

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But will their mother of all Newton's cradles really work?

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That's like just Newton cradle.

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In three, two, one.

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Also toying with big machines are Carrie, Grant and Tori.

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As they test a cliffhanger of a myth.

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I've had nightmares like this.

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If your car is teetering over a gorge.

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With even a breeze that car is going to go over.

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And a burden landing on the hood really cause you to totter over the edge.

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Don't make any sudden moves.

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Who are the Mythbusters?

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Adam Savage.

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It's a delicious memory.

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And Jamie Heinemann.

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One and down.

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C4.

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Between them more than 30 years of special effects experience.

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Together with Tori Pelleici.

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Well the name of science.

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Grant Imahara.

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The mix of techman.

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And Carrie Byron.

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This should be fun.

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They don't just tell the myths.

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They put them to the test.

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What are you doing?

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An equation.

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Go on.

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Does one of these plus one of these equal this?

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It's a simple equation taken from this viral video.

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Take five cranes and five wrecking balls.

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And you've got a desktop toy taken to the max.

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But is it really possible to supersize a Newton's cradle?

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A wrecking ball size Newton cradle.

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That is fantastic.

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Ain't it sweet?

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It's my favorite.

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How do you want to proceed?

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Well we all know where this is going to end up.

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It's going to be with full sized wrecking balls.

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And that is going to be a huge build.

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Well since this is all about scaling the Newton's cradle effect.

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There's no need to go stampeding towards the full on wrecking balls.

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Why don't we do it gradually?

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You mean it's going to be a huge build?

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Well since this is all about scaling the Newton's cradle effect.

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There's no need to go stampeding towards the full on wrecking balls.

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You mean incrementally bumping up the size of our Newton's cradles?

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Exactly.

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And see if we can tease out any kind of problems dealing with the increase in scale.

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That sounds perfect. Let's do it.

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Okay.

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So after the first of many cheap gags.

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You need to stop playing with your balls and get back to work.

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Adam sets sail on small scale.

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Now the Newton's cradle is effectively an instant lesson in energy transfer.

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And energy transfer is the soul of this story.

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For when we bring this up to full scale wrecking balls.

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The biggest problem we could encounter is that the energy transfer doesn't work.

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That when we lift ball one of the wrecking balls.

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It does not send ball five like you'd expect a Newton's cradle to work.

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So how are we going to know how we're doing as we scale this up incrementally?

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This is how.

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I will pull ball one up to this block.

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Which is the exact same distance from ball one as this block is from ball five.

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I release ball one.

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It sends ball five a certain distance that I can measure and compare against my subsequent Newton cradles.

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It's a simple but short lived setup.

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All right.

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So let's see it again in slow motion.

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Adam releases ball one.

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And in a clear demonstration of this cradle's efficiency.

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Ball five almost kisses the blue block.

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What'd you get?

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The energy transfer was surprisingly clean.

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Ball five traveled 98% the distance that ball one did.

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Wow.

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Only 2% loss after one hit.

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Why don't we take it up a notch next size up?

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Absolutely.

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Let's do it.

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Now I've got to make one of these with five of these.

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Now clearly all I have to do is attach some string to this but that's no mean feat.

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I don't know if you've ever tried to drill into a chrome steel bearing but I have.

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It sucks.

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And with that complete a quick montage later and Newton 2.5 is ready to roll.

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And roll it does.

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It's not easy being me some times.

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But after a quick restring.

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Shall we try it out?

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It's got Adam dancing with excitement.

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Oh that's cool.

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And while both he and Janie get particularly pleased at something a little low key.

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Isn't that nice?

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It's definitely a build to be proud of.

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It's funny even these two and a half inch balls are making me giggle.

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I love it.

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But in my mind's eye I'm already seeing the larger and larger ones that we're going to be building.

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And it's going to be hilarious.

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But before that hilarity it's time for scale test two.

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Two and a half inch ball Newton cradle in three two one.

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Let's check it out on high speed.

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Like last time Adam releases ball one before measuring where ball five maxes out.

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And the results are very encouraging.

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It looks like it's going to touch.

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It's three eighths away which is three percent which means it's pretty frigging efficient.

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The desktop model the ball went ninety eight percent of the original distance.

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This is ninety seven percent of the original distance.

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It's scaling beautifully.

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And what that means is that going ludicrously large like the myth may just yet work.

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Next up a cliffhanger of a myth.

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All right so I have a classic physics meets Hollywood myth.

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All right let's hear it.

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So cargo's skidding off the road and is about to go over a cliff when it's saved by stopping precariously at the edge.

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It's perfectly balanced but a little bird comes and lands on the hood and the whole car goes crashing off the cliff.

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A little bird causing the car to go over the cliff.

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Like I'm skeptical but you know what sounds like a good test.

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It's a favorite in many a script writers handbook.

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But if a car comes to a standstill on the very edge of a cliff can an inquisitive bird be enough to tip the balance.

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All right so obviously we're going to have to balance a car on the edge of a cliff.

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Why don't we build our own cliff.

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That way we know it can hold the weight of car and if we go over we won't get killed.

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Good idea.

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And then for the fun part getting a bird to land on the hood.

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I don't think that's going to be as easy as we think.

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No I think balancing the car is going to be the easy part.

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So with tipping over a real cliff ruled out for obvious reasons.

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At the bomb range the mythbusters are going to build their own.

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I think we mean business.

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We got a lot of work.

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Luckily we have the big tools today.

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All right let's do it.

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All right let's move some earth.

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What we got here is a front load.

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Big toys for big boys.

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This thing is very powerful it's got to move a lot of weight.

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Let's see what I can break with this.

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We are going to be doing.

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We're going to be moving a lot of earth to get our slope up to our cliff.

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Not better than playing with big machinery.

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Although it may look a little bit precarious.

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No!

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The goal here is to build a solid cliff edge courtesy of a shipping container.

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Enter one portable clip.

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Which a car can then be balanced on.

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It's taking a while.

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Well it took mother nature like hundreds of thousands of years.

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So really we're right on schedule.

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Beyond the cliff edge they're making a sloping escape ramp.

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Which should make a survivable descent when the car tips over.

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A little more likely.

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It may look like we've been out here all day playing.

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I mean I've been up and down this ramp probably about a hundred times.

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But there's a very good reason.

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And that reason is we're going to be in the car that goes off this container.

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And down that ramp.

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So we want this thing to be perfect.

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And grand better hope 100 times was enough.

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Because with the cliff car delivered and pimped.

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Just in case there was any confusion who was pushing a car off a cliff out in the middle of the bomb range.

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It's all systems go for the pre-bird testing.

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Finding out the precise balance point of the car.

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Okay you guys ready?

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No!

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Binding the tipping point in three two one.

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Okay so you're just going to ease forward right?

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Um man.

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Tori's first task is to carefully drop the front wheels over the edge.

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Okay slow your back.

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Get the tire off.

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You can make it.

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There's a nightmare like this.

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And once there the balance point test can begin.

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But it's a delicate operation.

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Okay slowly slowly.

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Little less on the accelerator.

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Too little throttle and they won't budge.

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Okay we're not tipping yet.

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Too much and they'll flip over the cliff without finding the tipping point.

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We got no more traction on the back wheel.

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And that was too much.

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Holy crap that was scary.

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It was like one second we were on the edge and then boom we were off.

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I think we need to do that again.

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I think so.

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Good news and bad news.

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Our safety ramp worked.

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We were able to get the car to go off the cliff and land safely and we didn't die.

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Bad news is though I hit the gas too hard and instead of finding that teetering point we just went off the cliff.

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So we don't know exactly where that tipping point is yet.

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We're going to do the test again to find that.

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This is going to be fun.

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Still to come.

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Bird balance gets bizarre.

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There's a conor.

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But next wrecking ball baloney.

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It's a hurdle.

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Uh oh.

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It's potentially very bad.

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Is this crazy construction site's viral video really real?

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Or is this myth headed to the wrecking yard?

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Well so far it's so good.

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I love it.

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Because scaling up the Newton cradle with bigger ball bearings appears to be working.

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It's scaling beautifully.

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But now it's time to go bigger again.

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Next up we're going to go to a 6 inch diameter ball bearing.

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This is 33 pounds.

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And that means that it's 323 times as massive as these little ones.

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Like the 2 1 half inch version it's Adam who's in charge of the bill.

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Another day, another Newton cradle stand.

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From the stand that this time is more heavily reinforced.

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Nice rack.

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To the ball securing system.

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Oh yes.

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Wow that's heavy.

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I've been obsessing about this story ever since I first came across it.

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I'm finding it difficult to describe how much fun it is.

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So the only thing I could come up with was to just show you.

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The little balls.

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Bigger balls.

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And really big balls.

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Need I say anything more?

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Actually yes Jamie.

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How about you give us a countdown to the efficiency test.

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Three, two, one.

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Nice. That was a good clean one.

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Shall we check out the high speed?

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Yep.

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Alright Jamie, ball five went to 94.1% of the distance of ball one.

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Yeah that's an additional 3% loss.

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I'm still feeling pretty good about this thing.

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Yeah, still working.

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So it's increasing the mass causing us a problem.

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Well we are seeing an increase in losses the more we scale these balls up.

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But here's the thing, it's not proportionate.

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These balls are over 200 times the mass of the original small balls on the toy.

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And yet we're only seeing a total of about a 6% loss.

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It's not very much.

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Although there is drop off with increasing size,

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it's so slight that the bigger cradles still work as hoped.

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And that means that full scale may not be so far fetched.

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Provided of course that real wrecking balls perform the same as ball bearings.

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To find out if a bird can tip a car over a cliff,

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the mythbusters first need to find their car's balance point.

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Which is proving harder than expected.

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Hey you guys are safe!

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For a ride!

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Bad news is that was a little too dumb on Louise.

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So we have to put you back up there.

255
00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:35,000
Alright, yeah!

256
00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:37,000
I didn't think you'd disagree.

257
00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:41,000
After a somewhat epic but really fun failure,

258
00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:43,000
we decided to change our methods.

259
00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:45,000
We actually put the car back into place

260
00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:48,000
and now we're going to inch that car forward.

261
00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:50,000
So with the car engine off...

262
00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:51,000
Okay we're ready.

263
00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:54,000
Alright, begin the tipping point test.

264
00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:57,000
The forklift will instead gently ease it forwards.

265
00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:00,000
Oh, oh, okay stop, stop, stop.

266
00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:03,000
But will it have the required control?

267
00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:05,000
Right about five and a half feet.

268
00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:06,000
How's it feel?

269
00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:08,000
There's no tipping.

270
00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:11,000
Okay give them just another tiny little nudge.

271
00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:17,000
Well so much for plan B.

272
00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:20,000
Because like plan A, the cars tip too soon.

273
00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:23,000
And without finding that tipping point,

274
00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:25,000
they can't bring on the birds.

275
00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:27,000
Alright, plan C.

276
00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:29,000
We're actually going to need to strap this time

277
00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:31,000
so that if we go too far off the edge,

278
00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:34,000
we can pull the car back to the tipping point.

279
00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:36,000
Hope this one works.

280
00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:38,000
With resets taking too long...

281
00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:41,000
I can't tell you how many times I get myself into these situations.

282
00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:44,000
The guys are hoping that the strap system

283
00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:47,000
will let them find the balance point a little more quickly.

284
00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:50,000
Get a little bump, give me your angry inch.

285
00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:52,000
But as it turns out,

286
00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:56,000
it still takes an entire afternoon of pushing and shoving.

287
00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:58,000
Alright, now pull it back to five and a half,

288
00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:00,000
I'll tell you when to stop.

289
00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:02,000
Before they think they've cracked it.

290
00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:05,000
Grant, we are at the point of no return.

291
00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:08,000
After a lot of tinkering and a lot of trial and error,

292
00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:10,000
we have found the exact tipping point.

293
00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:12,000
I feel like we're going to go at any second.

294
00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:14,000
I think at this point with even a breeze,

295
00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:16,000
that car is going to go all the way up.

296
00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:18,000
Don't make any sudden moves.

297
00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:22,000
So now when the guys start to sway and move their weight,

298
00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:24,000
I think they're going to go over the edge.

299
00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:26,000
Ready? Let's do it together. One, two, three.

300
00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:28,000
Oh!

301
00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:30,000
Ah!

302
00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:32,000
Yes!

303
00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:35,000
Finally, they've hit paydirt.

304
00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:37,000
Okay, I think we found our teetering point.

305
00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:39,000
Wobbling at the six and a half foot mark,

306
00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:41,000
the car was so finely balanced

307
00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:43,000
that a slight lean from Grant and Tori

308
00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:45,000
was enough to send it over to the other side.

309
00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:47,000
That was enough to send it over the edge.

310
00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:50,000
But could a landing bird also tip that balance?

311
00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:52,000
Now, it takes a long time to get our car

312
00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:54,000
to that perfect balance point.

313
00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:57,000
But after seeing how easy the car went over the edge,

314
00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:00,000
I think if a bird were to land on the front end of the car,

315
00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:02,000
we're definitely going over.

316
00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:06,000
Well, in that case, let's unleash the beast.

317
00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:08,000
Later on, Myth Musters.

318
00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:10,000
World's largest Newton cradle.

319
00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:12,000
And three, two, one.

320
00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:14,000
But next.

321
00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:16,000
Who knows?

322
00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:46,000
Full-sized wrecking balls.

323
00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:49,000
Which, somewhat unexpectedly, turns out to be impossible.

324
00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:52,000
But all is not lost.

325
00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:56,000
There is nobody who has five identical wrecking balls.

326
00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:58,000
Well, you know what that means.

327
00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:00,000
I think I do.

328
00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:02,000
We're going to have to build our own.

329
00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:04,000
How do you want to do it?

330
00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:06,000
Big steel balls filled with concrete.

331
00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:08,000
That could work.

332
00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:10,000
Shall we try the scale first?

333
00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:12,000
Sure.

334
00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:15,000
First, that's because that's what you see in the video.

335
00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:17,000
But second and more importantly,

336
00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:19,000
their mass needs to be identical

337
00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:21,000
because that gives us the best energy transport possible.

338
00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:23,000
Not only their mass, but also their surfaces

339
00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:25,000
have to be as round as we can get them.

340
00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:27,000
So we've got to make our own.

341
00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:29,000
And we're going to use the building blocks of real wrecking balls,

342
00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:31,000
steel and concrete.

343
00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:33,000
Before we go to full scale, we're going to try a scale experiment

344
00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:35,000
with the simplest arrangement of this possible.

345
00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:38,000
A steel sphere filled with concrete.

346
00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:41,000
So I have sourced some six inch hollow steel balls

347
00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:43,000
I'm going to drill a hole in them

348
00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:46,000
and fill them with ceramically hard plaster

349
00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:49,000
that matches the compressive strength of concrete.

350
00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:51,000
I'm going to build a Newton cradle out of that

351
00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:53,000
and that really ought to give us a good guidance

352
00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:56,000
to the viability of our concept for the large scale one.

353
00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:58,000
And once the fillings hardened,

354
00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:00,000
everything's set to see if they work.

355
00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:02,000
Here we go.

356
00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:04,000
Uh-oh.

357
00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:06,000
Hey, Jamie, you better come take a look.

358
00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:08,000
I'm going to try to get a little bit of the concrete

359
00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:12,000
Hey, Jamie, you better come take a look at this.

360
00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:14,000
What's up?

361
00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:16,000
Check this out.

362
00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:21,000
It doesn't last very long.

363
00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:23,000
Clearly, we're going to have to come up with something

364
00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:25,000
other than just filling our wrecking balls with concrete.

365
00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:28,000
Yeah, that's kind of dead.

366
00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:30,000
This is just what I was afraid of.

367
00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:34,000
These mild steel balls are filled with an ultra-hard gypsum-based product,

368
00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:37,000
but they're still not passing enough energy through to do the job we want.

369
00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:39,000
They're absorbing it somehow.

370
00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:42,000
Personally, I'm bummed.

371
00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:44,000
Now I know that when you look at the high-speed shot here,

372
00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:46,000
it looks like the energy transfer you expect from a Newton cradle

373
00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:48,000
is actually happening.

374
00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:50,000
Ball one goes down, ball five comes up,

375
00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:52,000
but here's the thing that makes a Newton cradle awesome.

376
00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:54,000
The energy transfer continues.

377
00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:56,000
Tick, tick, tick.

378
00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:58,000
What I'm getting from this isn't tick, tick, tick.

379
00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:00,000
It's tick, tick.

380
00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:02,000
And everyone seems to want to go home.

381
00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:04,000
I don't know what we're going to do.

382
00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:06,000
With real wrecking balls unavailable

383
00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:09,000
and the most simple do-it-yourself design falling flat,

384
00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:12,000
what this myth needs is a brainstorm.

385
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:19,000
So, giant Newton cradle, how do you want to do it?

386
00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:21,000
Well, we've got this problem, right?

387
00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:24,000
This is going to be probably 20 feet high.

388
00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:26,000
I mean, we can't forge these solid steel.

389
00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:27,000
Yeah.

390
00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:29,000
There's just no way we can go...

391
00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:33,000
And yet we can't have just a big sphere that we fill with something like concrete.

392
00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:37,000
It's a slow start, so let's speed things up.

393
00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:41,000
Their goal is to design a wrecking ball stand-in

394
00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:44,000
that transfers energy better than their earlier effort.

395
00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:47,000
Jamie gets a bolt from the blue.

396
00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:50,000
Oh, oh, I know.

397
00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:53,000
All you need is a plate to go right through the metal.

398
00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:57,000
And then we get some metal spheres and weld them top and bottom,

399
00:19:57,000 --> 00:19:59,000
then fill the rest with three-bar and concrete.

400
00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:03,000
Don't they make buoys that are made of steel?

401
00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:05,000
Yeah, that's the ticket.

402
00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:07,000
Then we get one of those, we put the plate in the middle,

403
00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:11,000
we end up with something where it's a solid steel transfer from ball to ball,

404
00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:14,000
but no one could look at them and say, that's not a wrecking ball.

405
00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:15,000
Like that.

406
00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:16,000
That is perfect.

407
00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:18,000
I think we've got a plan.

408
00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:19,000
Let's do it.

409
00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:21,000
Eureka, they've cracked it.

410
00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:24,000
But for the rest of us, here's a graphic.

411
00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:28,000
They're going to take a 28-inch navel buoy and cut it in half.

412
00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:32,000
Across the center, they'll weld a three-inch thick hardened steel plate

413
00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:35,000
that should be able to transfer the energy of the swing.

414
00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:39,000
Inside the buoy, they'll add rebar and concrete,

415
00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:41,000
just like some old-fashioned wrecking balls.

416
00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:43,000
That leaves two questions.

417
00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:46,000
With five in a row, will it work?

418
00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:48,000
And can they build them?

419
00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:53,000
Well, with the delivery of buoys, the guys get that ball rolling.

420
00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:56,000
These things are going to get cut in half,

421
00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:58,000
and then we're going to weld the plates right down the middle.

422
00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:03,000
This thing's going to be the center of our wrecking balls.

423
00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:07,000
It's a three-inch thick piece of specially hardened steel that we've chosen

424
00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:11,000
because it's going to be the contact point from ball to ball.

425
00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:14,000
And because it's really hard, hopefully it's going to transfer the energy

426
00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:16,000
just like the Newton's cradle does.

427
00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:20,000
We're also going to weld structural stuff that we need onto it,

428
00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:22,000
like a bunch of reinforcing bars,

429
00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:24,000
and the rest of this space will be filled with concrete.

430
00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:28,000
It's definitely an all-hands-on-deck type build,

431
00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:31,000
even if a couple of those hands get distracted.

432
00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:41,000
But once Adam and Jamie chime back in,

433
00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:43,000
their fearsome spheres,

434
00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:47,000
the kind of hybrid of real wrecking balls and giant ball bearings,

435
00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:49,000
take shape fast.

436
00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:53,000
And off we go.

437
00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:57,000
And while the concrete fills start chaotically,

438
00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:02,000
It's not long before the team

439
00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:08,000
has this part of the build in the can.

440
00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:10,000
Oh, messier than I thought.

441
00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:13,000
Isn't that the title of your autobiography?

442
00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:15,000
Lovely. Look at that.

443
00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:20,000
And after two weeks to cure, plus a quick paint job, they're all set.

444
00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:22,000
But will they actually work?

445
00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:27,000
After a couple of weeks' work, this is either 10,000 pounds of awesome

446
00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:29,000
or 10,000 pounds of failure.

447
00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:32,000
Coming up next on Mythbusters.

448
00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:34,000
A wrecking ball-sized Newton cradle.

449
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:37,000
But the question is, will it work?

450
00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:47,000
A precariously balanced car is no laughing matter.

451
00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:51,000
But can a landing bird really send you over the edge?

452
00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:53,000
So we're back at the bomb range.

453
00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:57,000
Now it took a really long time to get our car perfectly balanced on our cliff.

454
00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:02,000
But now that we've done it, it's time to bring in some birds.

455
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:07,000
We have our expert Jim coming in to use progressively bigger and bigger birds.

456
00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:09,000
It should be really interesting today.

457
00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:12,000
So essentially this myth is all about leverage.

458
00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:15,000
Now imagine that this block is the cliff,

459
00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:17,000
and this break is the car,

460
00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:20,000
and this rock is the bird because of leverage

461
00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:24,000
out here at the edge, a small bird can land there

462
00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:28,000
and cause the giant car to go over just like this.

463
00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:35,000
That's the theory, but will bird 1, a classic yet humble pigeon, provide enough leverage?

464
00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:38,000
Alright, so now we're going to start testing with the birds,

465
00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:40,000
but we're going to test it a little bit differently this time.

466
00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:42,000
We're still going to put the car on the edge of the cliff,

467
00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:45,000
right where it's bouncing just ready to fall over.

468
00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:47,000
Should have paid more attention to the sides.

469
00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:48,000
Cliff ahead.

470
00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:50,000
But this time we're going to tether the car,

471
00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:53,000
so that way if it does go off the cliff by the weight of the bird,

472
00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:55,000
it doesn't go down the hill, because let's face it,

473
00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:56,000
we don't want to hurt these birds.

474
00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:59,000
We don't care about ourselves, we still want to hurt the bird.

475
00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:04,000
With Grant and Tori sitting anxiously in the hot seats of their balancing car,

476
00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:10,000
Come on, wrangle them birds.

477
00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:13,000
Jim flips the birds, and...

478
00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:16,000
Okay, the birds are in place.

479
00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:18,000
Yep, and we haven't gone over the edge.

480
00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:20,000
There's not a hint of tibbage,

481
00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:24,000
but to be sure, the guys shoe the birds down the hood.

482
00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:27,000
Go away, go ahead, shoot, shoot, go.

483
00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:29,000
Yeah, but you have a park to poop on.

484
00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:31,000
Because the further they are from the fulcrum,

485
00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:34,000
the greater the chance of a tip.

486
00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:37,000
Two pigeons, not happening.

487
00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:39,000
Nope, we are not going over the edge.

488
00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:40,000
Ain't that the truth.

489
00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:45,000
The two pounds of pigeon is just not enough to cross their balanced car

490
00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:48,000
to tilt up and over, which means...

491
00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:50,000
I think it's time for a bigger bird.

492
00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:54,000
Okay, so we didn't get any tipping from the pigeons,

493
00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:56,000
so we're going to move on to hawks.

494
00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:58,000
Now, not only are we going to get the extra weight,

495
00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:00,000
but also the momentum of the hawk's landing.

496
00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:04,000
I still don't think it's going to be quite enough to tip the car.

497
00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:05,000
You guys ready for the birds?

498
00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:07,000
It's time to let the hawks go.

499
00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:10,000
Alright, hawk number one, ready to deploy.

500
00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:12,000
Murray lands in a hurry,

501
00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:15,000
but there's no wobble to their wheels.

502
00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:17,000
That didn't send us over the edge.

503
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:19,000
Alright, bring out another hawk.

504
00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:24,000
Doubling the mass to almost five pounds does seem to make a difference.

505
00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:27,000
I can see that the hood kind of wobbled in there.

506
00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:29,000
But it is still not enough.

507
00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:32,000
Alright, that's two hawks at the end of the car,

508
00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:34,000
and we have not gone over the edge.

509
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:35,000
We're not going over.

510
00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:37,000
We did not follow.

511
00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:39,000
And when two hawks fail...

512
00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:41,000
You got some work to do, are you ready?

513
00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:45,000
It's time to bring in the big guns, the giant eagle owl.

514
00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:49,000
You know, many cultures, the owl is the harbinger of death.

515
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:51,000
Harbinger of death?

516
00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:53,000
Thanks for the encouragement, Jim.

517
00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:57,000
And with those wise words, it's go time.

518
00:25:57,000 --> 00:26:00,000
Alright, let's see if this owl will send us over the cliff.

519
00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:02,000
He's big. He's really big.

520
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:07,000
We survived.

521
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:10,000
He's at the edge of the car, and we did not go over the cliff.

522
00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:13,000
Yep, once again, the car's balance is unaffected,

523
00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:17,000
even with this seven pounder right at the front of the hood.

524
00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:19,000
The owl's not going to do it?

525
00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:21,000
I don't know what he is.

526
00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:24,000
Grant for one is not that surprised.

527
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:26,000
Okay, so why don't I think this works?

528
00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:30,000
Well, imagine that you're at a playground, and you have a perfect seesaw.

529
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:33,000
Theoretically, if you have a mass, which is the bird,

530
00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:35,000
landing far enough away from the pivot,

531
00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:38,000
it should be able to move the seesaw no problem.

532
00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:42,000
The only problem here is that this seesaw weighs 3,000 pounds,

533
00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:44,000
and it's on a metal pivot.

534
00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:47,000
And the bird isn't heavy enough,

535
00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:50,000
and it's not landing with enough force to cause it to move.

536
00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:54,000
In other words, it's going to take an even bigger bird to tip this car.

537
00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:57,000
And for that, it's back to the shot.

538
00:26:57,000 --> 00:26:58,000
Did you hear that?

539
00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:00,000
That's a call of the wild.

540
00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:02,000
Kakar! Kakar!

541
00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:12,000
Adam and Jamie's wrecking balls are ready.

542
00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:14,000
Let's move them out.

543
00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:15,000
Alright.

544
00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:20,000
Now they just need to be strung up into the world's largest Newton's cradle.

545
00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:22,000
This is our location.

546
00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:24,000
It's a dry dock in Vallejo, California,

547
00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:27,000
and we've used it a number of times before for experiments.

548
00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:29,000
Check this out.

549
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:35,000
I don't mind saying I'm hyperventilating.

550
00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:37,000
So why this location?

551
00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:40,000
Well, for the wrecking ball scale version of the Newton's cradle,

552
00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:43,000
we need to be able to suspend the balls at quite a height.

553
00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:46,000
Now we could do it on top of a large building,

554
00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:51,000
or we could do it by suspending them over a big hole, like this one.

555
00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:56,000
As well as the big hole, the dry dock also comes complete with its own cranes.

556
00:27:56,000 --> 00:28:01,000
But unlike the video, the guys won't be swinging their balls from them.

557
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:04,000
Now in the clip, our wrecking ball Newton cradle is actually suspended

558
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:08,000
from five adjacent tower cranes next to each other.

559
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:10,000
There's two problems with this picture.

560
00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:14,000
One is they don't use tower cranes to swing wrecking balls.

561
00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:18,000
And two, we were never ever going to find five tower cranes that we could park

562
00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:20,000
right next to each other.

563
00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:23,000
So this I-beam and four others quite similar to it

564
00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:26,000
are going to be a figure eight structure which we are going to hang our wrecking ball

565
00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:28,000
in the cradle from.

566
00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:30,000
This is about to weld it in place.

567
00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:33,000
That's it.

568
00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:34,000
That was fast.

569
00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:35,000
Let's get it in the air.

570
00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:36,000
Yeah.

571
00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:39,000
With the frame secured so that it juts out over the dry dock,

572
00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:43,000
the guys then need to attach their wrecking balls to it.

573
00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:45,000
I'm going to go over here.

574
00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:49,000
Which given their combined weight of over five tons,

575
00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:50,000
Aren't they pretty?

576
00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:54,000
is something which is easier said than done.

577
00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:56,000
Given that each of these balls weighs about a ton,

578
00:28:56,000 --> 00:28:59,000
it's going to be quite a process to hoist them and maneuver them into place.

579
00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:02,000
So I'm going to be on the ground with the forklift

580
00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:06,000
and I'm carefully going to cradle them and pick them up and put them in place.

581
00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:07,000
Okay.

582
00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:09,000
How's the look up there?

583
00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:11,000
Looks beautiful.

584
00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:13,000
While Adam is overhead on a boom lift,

585
00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:15,000
arranging the slings and the cables,

586
00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:19,000
and we'll carefully scooch them all in so they precisely fit

587
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:23,000
because if this thing's going to work, that's the way it's going to have to be.

588
00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:24,000
I think it's good.

589
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:26,000
It looks perfect.

590
00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:30,000
And once that's sorted, the guys get on with the finishing touches.

591
00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:32,000
Does that add something to them?

592
00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:33,000
Totally.

593
00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:35,000
Yeah, it makes them pop a little bit, huh?

594
00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:39,000
But some viewers may be wondering why there's not two strings attached.

595
00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:41,000
Why oh why you might be asking,

596
00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:44,000
are we hanging these wrecking balls from single cables

597
00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:47,000
when every Newton cradle we've thus far built in this episode

598
00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:50,000
hangs from two cables in a V-formation?

599
00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:54,000
That's because this is the arrangement that we see in the clip.

600
00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:57,000
We're testing the circumstances of the clip first,

601
00:29:57,000 --> 00:30:01,000
and only if that doesn't work do we go to two cables.

602
00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:05,000
With the string theory sorted, everything's finally ready for a test.

603
00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:09,000
All right, you ready?

604
00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:11,000
I've been waiting for this, you know.

605
00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:12,000
I know me too.

606
00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:14,000
The world's largest Newton cradle.

607
00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:16,000
Test number one and three.

608
00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:17,000
Two.

609
00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:18,000
One.

610
00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:21,000
Oh.

611
00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:22,000
Oh.

612
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:23,000
Oh.

613
00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:24,000
Oh.

614
00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:25,000
Uh-oh.

615
00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:26,000
Uh-oh.

616
00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:28,000
We had a little rig settling there.

617
00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:30,000
Yeah, it wasn't very exciting, though.

618
00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:32,000
No, it wasn't.

619
00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:33,000
It was one hit.

620
00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:35,000
A one hit wonder.

621
00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:38,000
A one hit wonder indeed.

622
00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:40,000
And not a good one at that.

623
00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:42,000
But all is not lost.

624
00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:45,000
I don't need this high speed camera to tell me that that one was,

625
00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:47,000
shall we say lackluster?

626
00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:48,000
Where did the energy go?

627
00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:51,000
The middle of every one of these balls was a big hardened steel plate.

628
00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:54,000
Well, some of the energy was absorbed by the balls,

629
00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:58,000
but some of it was absorbed by our framework actually moving.

630
00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:00,000
The amount of force from ball one hitting ball two

631
00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:03,000
moved our entire multi-thousand pound framework.

632
00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:06,000
So we've secured it, and we're going to go again.

633
00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:09,000
With the framework secured to within an inch of its life,

634
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:13,000
it's onwards and upwards, because this time,

635
00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:14,000
I think that's good.

636
00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:17,000
they're pulling ball one back as high as it will go

637
00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:20,000
to try to maximize the energy of the swing.

638
00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:28,000
Single string, maximum pullback in three, two, one.

639
00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:37,000
That was a hell of a hit.

640
00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:42,000
That was a hell of a hit and a very sad, sad story.

641
00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:46,000
They're all just sort of swinging together.

642
00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:48,000
That's kind of a let down.

643
00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:49,000
That is a real let down.

644
00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:52,000
Yep, despite ball one hitting ball two

645
00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:56,000
with an impact in excess of 150,000 psi,

646
00:31:56,000 --> 00:32:00,000
there's still no catching to the swing.

647
00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:03,000
Hear that?

648
00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:07,000
Hot is the sound of failure.

649
00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:11,000
This thing is so awesome.

650
00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:13,000
I wish you could see it.

651
00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:18,000
Unfortunately, all we've got to show for it is some swinging shiny balls.

652
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:22,000
They're not ticking like the Newton cradle of our dreams.

653
00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:23,000
Sorry.

654
00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:25,000
No need to be sorry, Adam,

655
00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:29,000
because this myth's grand finale is still to come.

656
00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:41,000
A pigeon cannot cause a precariously balanced car to tip over the edge,

657
00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:44,000
but could a much, much bigger bird.

658
00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:48,000
All right, despite what they say about working with animals,

659
00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:50,000
those birds are really cooperative.

660
00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:53,000
But since we don't have access to any bigger flying birds,

661
00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:55,000
I think we need to come up with another plan.

662
00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:58,000
Yeah, and it's starting to get a little dangerous for these birds.

663
00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:00,000
What if we went with a model helicopter?

664
00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:03,000
We get one that's the same weight as the biggest flying bird

665
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:05,000
and have it land on the front of the car.

666
00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:06,000
That's a great idea.

667
00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:08,000
Not only can we match the mass of the bird,

668
00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:10,000
but we also get the down force from the rotors,

669
00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:12,000
just like the bird flapping its wings.

670
00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:13,000
Awesome.

671
00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:16,000
Weighing over 20 pounds,

672
00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:19,000
the California Condor is majestic.

673
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:23,000
A far cry from the Mythbusters helicopter standing.

674
00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:27,000
But while it won't win any prizes for elegance,

675
00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:32,000
what's key is that the Condor Copter weighs the same as the real deal.

676
00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:35,000
So I've slightly altered an RC helicopter

677
00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:39,000
to emulate the heaviest flying bird in North America.

678
00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:41,000
It should not only be the same weight,

679
00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:43,000
but also it should represent its flight path.

680
00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:45,000
When it lands on top of the car.

681
00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:49,000
And that flight path is something that's been studied by Grant.

682
00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:52,000
Now I found something very interesting about the way large birds land.

683
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:55,000
Check out this video of our giant owl.

684
00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:58,000
See how he swoops down right before he lands?

685
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:01,000
He rears up and then lands very softly.

686
00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:03,000
He's minimizing his landing speed,

687
00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:06,000
minimizing that momentum that he imparts on the target zone.

688
00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:10,000
And that's exactly what we're going to want our helicopter to do on the hood of the car.

689
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:13,000
Well, with the boys all buckled up.

690
00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:15,000
Alright, time to go to work.

691
00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:18,000
An expert pilot wolf went chomping at the bit.

692
00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:23,000
It's time for this myth to lift off.

693
00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:27,000
That bird is just trying to psych us out.

694
00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:29,000
I know! I know! Here it comes!

695
00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:33,000
The very precise landing route that the hell he must adhere to

696
00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:36,000
is making life very difficult for pilot wolf.

697
00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:40,000
Get away! There's a condor.

698
00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:44,000
And when the wind kicks out, things get harder still.

699
00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:50,000
Oh, he's playing games with us.

700
00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:52,000
But eventually...

701
00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:56,000
Eagle has landed.

702
00:34:56,000 --> 00:34:59,000
He did it! He did it! We didn't go over!

703
00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:02,000
Woo! We survived!

704
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:04,000
Still there!

705
00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:06,000
20 pounds just like the condor.

706
00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:10,000
The biggest flying bird in North America still didn't tip the car.

707
00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:15,000
So to get that elusive drop off,

708
00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:19,000
the team's finishing up with some poultry in motion.

709
00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:23,000
You want to see bird-wise what it takes to get that car to tip off the cliff.

710
00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:27,000
So, I spent all morning training 80 of my best hens

711
00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:29,000
to land gently on the hood of that car.

712
00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:31,000
They're going to single file line up at the front

713
00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:34,000
and work their way back until it finally goes off.

714
00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:37,000
Okay, you guys ready?

715
00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:38,000
We're ready.

716
00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:39,000
No laughing.

717
00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:42,000
Each hand weighs a pound and a half.

718
00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:46,000
They just sit and play dead. It's incredible.

719
00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:49,000
So by keeping tally of the number on the hood...

720
00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:51,000
How many you got on there?

721
00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:52,000
Five.

722
00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:54,000
Oh! Bird down!

723
00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:57,000
The guys will know how much weight it would take.

724
00:35:57,000 --> 00:35:58,000
Twenty-two.

725
00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:00,000
I'm starting to get a little nervous.

726
00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:02,000
To unbalance the car.

727
00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:04,000
Sixty.

728
00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:07,000
You believe this? Sixty game hens.

729
00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:09,000
That's 90 pounds, man.

730
00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:13,000
90 pounds and still we are hanging on to the cliff.

731
00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:16,000
Yet incredibly, even with all 80 hens on there...

732
00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:20,000
That's like a small person standing on the hood.

733
00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:22,000
The car still doesn't go.

734
00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:24,000
I know this is getting stupid.

735
00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:25,000
That's totally stupid.

736
00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:28,000
But Tori came prepared for this eventuality.

737
00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:31,000
I don't like it! I don't like it!

738
00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:33,000
Oh my God! That's crazy!

739
00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:37,000
And brought a 20 pound robotic turkey,

740
00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:40,000
which dances and jigs until...

741
00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:41,000
Oh!

742
00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:42,000
Oh!

743
00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:43,000
Oh!

744
00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:44,000
Oh!

745
00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:45,000
Oh!

746
00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:46,000
Oh!

747
00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:47,000
Oh!

748
00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:48,000
Oh!

749
00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:49,000
Oh!

750
00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:50,000
Oh!

751
00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:51,000
Oh!

752
00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:52,000
Oh!

753
00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:53,000
Oh!

754
00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:54,000
Oh!

755
00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:55,000
Oh my God!

756
00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:56,000
That was crazy!

757
00:36:56,000 --> 00:37:00,000
I wish you could see the trail of bird destruction behind you.

758
00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:02,000
You have to make that stop.

759
00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:03,000
It's so creepy!

760
00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:06,000
Alright, it is not looking good for this myth.

761
00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:09,000
I know that movie version where a tiny little bird just kind of

762
00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:11,000
lands at the end and the whole thing goes.

763
00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:13,000
Looking a little busted to me.

764
00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:17,000
The good news is we got birds to get the car to go off the cliff.

765
00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:22,000
The bad news is it took over 80 birds, 140 pounds to be exact.

766
00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:26,000
I'm the only way that would happen is if a pterodactyl were to land

767
00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:28,000
on the front of your car.

768
00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:30,000
And we all know that that's not going to happen.

769
00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:33,000
And what that means is this myth is busted.

770
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:38,000
At least now we know why the chicken crossed the road

771
00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:41,000
to get out of the way of the falling car.

772
00:37:44,000 --> 00:37:48,000
The Mythbusters giant Newton's cradle started with a song.

773
00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:51,000
Five Ho-Man wrecking balls, one huge steel frame,

774
00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:56,000
huge empty dry dock, and a wrecking ball Newton cradle.

775
00:37:57,000 --> 00:37:59,000
But ended with a dog.

776
00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:03,000
That was a hell of a hit.

777
00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:05,000
And a very sad, sad story.

778
00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:08,000
But there may be light at the end of the tunnel.

779
00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:11,000
So check this out.

780
00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:15,000
Even though this is hard and steel, the areas where the balls are impacting

781
00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:17,000
have become flattened from the impacts.

782
00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:20,000
And it's not just here, it's throughout all of the balls.

783
00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:24,000
Which means that they're all kind of squashing like hamburger patties.

784
00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:29,000
The amount of force here is something on the order of 500,000 times

785
00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:33,000
as much as what's happening with those little balls on the desktop toy.

786
00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:36,000
So clearly lack of energy is not our problem.

787
00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:39,000
Which means the problem may be the single cable system

788
00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:42,000
causing the balls to lose focus.

789
00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:45,000
That's kind of a let down.

790
00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:50,000
So having restrung the balls with an extra cable, things are looking up.

791
00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:56,000
So with some preliminary playing with the five wrecking balls on the two lines

792
00:38:56,000 --> 00:39:00,000
Jimmy and I are actually seeing somewhat of a radical improvement in their behavior.

793
00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:03,000
That's a little more positive.

794
00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:06,000
We're actually not just seeing a tick and then a boom.

795
00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:08,000
We're actually seeing a tick and tick.

796
00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:12,000
Which is, it makes me cautiously optimistic about this next test.

797
00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:16,000
So why would two strings per ball work better than a single string?

798
00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:20,000
Well the Newton's cradle is all about efficient energy transfer.

799
00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:25,000
So if any one of these balls is a little out of line, that's going to mess up the efficiency.

800
00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:29,000
The two strings will help keep these all lined up perfectly

801
00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:33,000
and hopefully that'll improve what we're seeing from this device.

802
00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:36,000
Well there's only one way to find out.

803
00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:41,000
Wrecking ball size Newton cradle, the formation, cabling and three.

804
00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:45,000
Two, one, go baby!

805
00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:50,000
Yes, one, two.

806
00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:55,000
Three, four.

807
00:39:56,000 --> 00:40:01,000
It's another disappointing result, but at least there was some improvement.

808
00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:03,000
That was a little bit better.

809
00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:07,000
While our single string gave us a 30% throw out on ball five,

810
00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:11,000
our double string version gave us a 45% throw out on the same ball.

811
00:40:11,000 --> 00:40:16,000
Now that's nowhere near the desktop version which gave us 98%

812
00:40:16,000 --> 00:40:18,000
and it's nothing like the clip.

813
00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:23,000
But before this ball's up gets concluded, there's one last thing to try.

814
00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:26,000
Ball one pulled back to the max.

815
00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:29,000
Two strings, max pullback.

816
00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:33,000
And three, two, one.

817
00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:37,000
It really is now or never and...

818
00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:42,000
It's never.

819
00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:44,000
That went quite a ways.

820
00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:47,000
And now it's all done.

821
00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:50,000
So cue one of the Mythbusters models.

822
00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:53,000
Failure is always an option.

823
00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:55,000
There goes one of our cameras.

824
00:40:55,000 --> 00:41:00,000
As far as we're aware, this is the largest Newton's cradle that's ever been built.

825
00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:06,000
And it is a Newton's cradle because it's demonstrating exactly the same physical properties

826
00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:08,000
that the small one does.

827
00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:12,000
But as we get larger and larger, it becomes harder and harder to reign in

828
00:41:12,000 --> 00:41:18,000
the physical losses of energy in the system from the balls to the cables to the overhead structure.

829
00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:24,000
While it is a Newton's cradle, it's just never going to be as perfect as the little ones are.

830
00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:26,000
So where do we stand?

831
00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:29,000
We set out to replicate what we saw in that clip

832
00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:33,000
and nobody can say that we didn't give a wrecking ball-sized Newton cradle

833
00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:36,000
the best possible chance of succeeding.

834
00:41:36,000 --> 00:41:38,000
But it didn't look anything like the clip.

835
00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:41,000
Now, this one is totally busted.

836
00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:43,000
Yeah, it's busted.

837
00:41:43,000 --> 00:41:48,000
And it's busted not just because their best case scenario balls failed to fire,

838
00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:53,000
but also because the viral video was nothing but CGI.

839
00:41:53,000 --> 00:41:55,000
Hey, you know, we ought to start our own demolition company.

840
00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:57,000
We got wrecking balls, we got explosives.

841
00:41:57,000 --> 00:41:58,000
Absolutely.

842
00:41:58,000 --> 00:41:59,000
Whatever you want.