List of MythBusters special episodes
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The cast and crew of the television series MythBusters performs experiments to verify or debunk urban legends, old wives' tales, and the like. This is a list of the various myths tested on the show as well as the results of the experiments (the myth is Busted, Plausible, or Confirmed).
The myths the show has tested for accuracy include:
Pilots
Pilot 1 — "Jet Assisted Chevy, Pop Rocks and Soda"
- Original airdate: January 23, 2003
| Myth statement | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Could a car with a JATO rocket attached speed up to 300 mph (480 km/h), become airborne, and impact with the side of a cliff? | Busted | Adam and Jamie could not acquire real JATO rockets from the Air Force. As such, they used 3 amateur rocket motors of equivalent power to one JATO rocket. The rockets increased the speed of the car considerably. Although no speed measurement was made, the speed was clearly nowhere near the 300 mph suggested in the myth. The car also did not become airborne. |
| Eating and drinking large quantities of Pop Rocks and cola will cause one's stomach to explode. | Busted | There was not enough carbon dioxide produced by the reaction to make a stomach explode. The subject would, however, experience considerable pain. (This was also done at a special presentation at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.) |
Pilot 2 — "Vacuum Toilet, Biscuit Bazooka, Leaping Lawyer"
- Original airdate: January 23, 2003
| Myth statement | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| An obese person can get stuck on an airline vacuum toilet. | Busted | It is impossible to get a perfect seal on a modern airplane toilet, and even if it is possible a properly working toilet provides suction for only a few seconds. Even then, the suction (3 psi) is not beyond human ability to overcome. |
| A woman was struck in the head with an exploding tin of biscuit (scone) dough, believing that she was in fact struck by a bullet. | Plausible | The dough can blow out of many types of biscuit cans at a car's internal temperature of 145 °F (60 °C) with enough force to potentially strike the driver of the car in the back of the head. However, no one can actually verify the incident actually occurred. This myth has inspired two spinoff myths: one in Myths Revisited and one in MythBusters Revisited. |
| A lawyer accidentally killed himself by running through the plate-glass window of the 24th floor of his office building. | Confirmed | At a run speed of 4.7 mph (7.5 km/h), a 160 lb (72 kg) subject was able to smash through pressurized plate glass window. The incident was confirmed by a journalist to have actually occurred in Toronto. |
Pilot 3 — "Larry's Lawn Chair Balloon, Poppy Seed Drug Test, Goldfinger"
| Myth statement | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Covering your body in gold paint can kill you by skin asphyxiation like in the James Bond movie Goldfinger? | Busted | Jamie was covered in gold paint from head to toe and lasted over an hour without reporting any major ill effects, besides a slight (and temporary) flu-like feeling, as he described it. The myth stated that the actress portraying the gold plated woman in Goldfinger, Shirley Eaton, died as well. Ms. Eaton did survive the filming of Goldfinger and went on to appear in many more feature films and a segment for the show in which she confirmed she was still alive. |
| Could Larry Walters have flown a lawn chair by means of weather balloons, and descend safely by means of an airgun? | Confirmed | Adam Savage went up in the MythBuster's rig, which was a lawn chair with 16 plastic weather balloons attached, and went up to the maximum height that could be obtained with the safety ropes attached, 75 feet (22.5 m). He safely descended by shooting out some of the balloons. The actual event behind the myth was verified by documents provided by the FAA. |
| Eating poppy seed bagels can cause one to test positive for heroin on a drug test. | Confirmed | Heroin is a semi-synthetic opoid made from Morphine. If a test is sensitive enough it can generate a false positive simply by detecting the poppy seeds. |
Recaps
"Best Explosions"
This episode recapped four of the most explosive myths busted in first season of the show.
- Cell Phones and Gas Stations (Season 1, episode 2)
- Raccoon Rocket (Season 1, episode 7)
- Tree Cannon (Season 1, episode 6)
- Exploding Toilet (Season 1, episode 1)
Specials
Special 1 — "Viewers Choice Christmas Special"
- Original airdate: December 22, 2004
In this episode, Adam and Jamie test holiday-related myths while revealing the top ten myths as voted upon by fans of the series. The top ten were:
- Tree Cannon (Season 1, episode 6)
- Rocket Car (Pilot 1)
- Escape from Alcatraz (Season 1, episode 8)
- Stinky Car (Season 1, episode 7)
- Barrel of Bricks (Season 1, episode 3)
- Lawn Chair Larry (Pilot 3)
- Pop Rocks and Soda (Pilot 1)
- Beat the Breath Test (Season 1, episode 6)
- Chicken Gun (Season 1, episode 9)
- CD-ROM Shattering (Season 1, episode 2)
| Myth statement | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| A thawed turkey can explode if it is dropped into deep fryer pot too fast. | Busted | While it will not explode, the turkey can cause the boiling oil to splash all over the place (which can be extremely dangerous) if it is dropped into the deep fryer improperly. |
| Placing a silver spoon in a bottle of champagne can keep it bubblier for longer. | Busted | The spoon actually reduces the fizziness of champagne. In a blind taste test when compared to several controls (opened champagne, re-corked champagne and unopened champagne) both Adam and Jamie ranked the spooned champagne the lowest in terms of fizziness. |
| A falling icicle can kill a person. | Confirmed | An icicle over 1.5 feet (45 cm) in length falling from the eaves of a house can kill a person. |
| A clothed snowman melts slower than a naked one. | Confirmed | In the 80 °F (25°C) San Francisco summer heat, the naked snowman (representing Jamie) melted considerably faster than the clothed snowman (representing Adam). The clothes on the Adam snowman protected it from the heat and acted as insulation to help keep the temperature of the snow from rising. |
| A urine stream can freeze in the cold of winter. | Busted | When tested in a freezer at -70 °F (-50 °C) the fake urine stream the MythBusters used did not freeze in midair. |
| The area around a fireplace is actually colder than the rest of the room when a fire is burning. | Confirmed | The area near the burning fire was around 1½ °C colder than the rest of the room. |
Special 2 — "Buster Special"
- Original airdate: February 2, 2005
In this episode, Adam and Jamie re-lived Buster's finest moments, from his introduction in Exploding Toilet (Season 1, episode 1) to his ultimate demise (supposedly in Ming Dynasty Astronaut, Season 2, episode 24), and showed the construction of the new "Buster 2.0". These moments include:
- Exploding Toilet (Season 1, episode 1)
- Barrel of Bricks (Season 1, episode 3)
- Hammer Drop (Season 1, episode 5)
- Raccoon Rocket (Season 1, episode 7)
- The Mad Trombonist (Season 1, episode 11)
- Forest Fire Scuba Diver (Season 2, episode 15)
- Elevator of Death (Season 2, episode 17)
- Boom Lift Catapult (Season 2, episode 22)
- Plywood Builder (Season 2, episode 18)
- Ming Dynasty Astronaut (Season 2, episode 24)
Special 3 — "Ultimate MythBuster"
- Original airdate: February 9, 2005
In this episode, Adam and Jamie competed in a series of arguably ludicrous tests and competitions to determine which of the two was the "Ultimate MythBuster". These competitions tested their ingenuity, constitution, and courage to see just how far they were willing to go to claim the title of "Ultimate MythBuster".
| Challenge | Winner | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Challenge 1: Build a machine that can shoot a tortilla as far as possible. | Jamie | Adam and Jamie had to first construct machines. Adam had built an arm out of wood. His machine took the tortilla and threw it between two aluminum plates. Jamie designed and built a cannon, made from pipe and a compressed air tank. Adam used all three attempts allowed by the competition rules and his best shot was 60 feet (18 metres). In Jamie's first (and only) shot the tortilla was projected 73 feet (22 metres). |
| Challenge 2: The fear test. | Draw | The East Bay Vivarium presented myriad creatures (Corn Snakes, Tarantulas, African Emperor Scorpions and a Tanzanian Giant Millipede) to test the Mythbusters' courage. The scorpions had the most effect on the two, but in this challenge no winner was determined. |
| Challenge 3: Guess the weight of three items. | Adam | Adam and Jamie had to guess the weight of three items: a toy car, an angel statue, and a hatch from a plane. Both were to wager two guesses, the first by observing the item, the second by holding it. Adam guessed more accurately on all three occasions. |
| Challenge 4: Build a device to drop an egg (without breaking it) with help of two oranges, two latex gloves, paper, five feet (1.5 metres) of tape, twenty feet (six metres) of string, and "other assorted trash found lying around the workshop". | Jamie | Adam created a cone made of paper. He put an orange on the bottom and the egg was placed inside the inflated gloves. He had two tries to drop the egg without breaking it. Jamie first ate his orange, and put the egg inside the orange peel. The orange went in one glove, and he tied it to a string. At the other end of the string he affixed the five feet (1.5 metres) of tape. With this approach he could drop the suspended egg from only a few feet off the ground via the string/tape. It was successful. Adam protested, but Jamie was the winner, as this was a contest of ingenuity. |
| Challenge 5: Who possessed the higher threshold of pain was determined in a paintball standoff. | Jamie | The Mythbusters must shoot the other, after one shot they must take a step closer and shoot again.
|
| Final challenge 6: The MythBusters-episode Quiz | Jamie | Adam and Jamie quizzed each other regarding the events during some of the previous episodes. Adam had 4 and a half questions correct. Jamie won with 5 correct answers. |
| Scores | Adam 1 | Jamie 4 |
| Winner | Jamie |
Special 4 — "MythBusters Outtakes"
In this episode, outtakes and other deleted scenes were shown, which included some failed experiments or extra experiments that had to be trimmed out of the show for time and relevancy reasons. Clips edited out of shows previously aired include:
- Ping Pong Rescue, in which a sea otter manages to interfere with the experiment by stealing some of the ping-pong balls
- Plywood Builder, where Jamie had trouble with working with the zip line and Christine flat out refused to do the zip line.
- Chinese Water Torture, where Tory and Scottie each had a turn on the torture rack - Scottie with a blindfold and head restraint, and Tory with a head restraint, shackles, and a stream of ice water.
- Buried Alive, where Adam and a producer each try the experiment, neither able to match Jamie's time in the coffin.
- Cement Removal, where Tory tries to remove concrete from Twister I with a jackhammer, and only barely filling the bottom of the bucket after an hour of work.
- Needle in a Haystack, where Adam, before settling on the Needlefinder 2000, considers using a sieve, a metal detector and a bloodhound to find the needles.
- Escape from Alcatraz, where Adam and Jamie explore the idea that the escape raft washed ashore on Angel Island after making it to the Marin Headlands.
- Carried Away, in which the Build Team use a pressure chamber to determine the height above sea level at which party balloons would pop.
- Eelskin Wallet, in which Adam and Jamie test neodymium magnets to see whether they had the desired effect. The data was successfully erased.
- Exploding House, in which Adam and Jamie test whether sawdust, flour, straw, or fake smoke could have also caused an explosion if a spark was nearby.
- Elevator of Death, in which the elevator expert answered questions on whether pressing elevator buttons can make the elevator move faster, whether someone can be decapitated by a closing elevator door, and whether zero-g can be attained by jumping in an elevator.
At the end (or beginning) of each chapter, Adam and Jamie destroy the tapes supposedly containing the relevant outtakes.
Six of the deleted segments, titled as the "Lost Experiments" are available on the Discovery Channel website. [1]
Original myths that were completely edited out include:
| Myth statement | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Free Energy - It is possible to get free energy by using a coil of baling wire positioned under a power line. | Partly Plausible | For this myth the MythBusters created a large coil of wire, and wrapped it around a PVC pipe box. They then hoisted it underneath powerlines in order to "catch" some electricity. They were able to obtain about eight millivolts of electricity. They determined that siphoning a practically useful amount of electricity in such a manner would require thousands of pounds of wire, and would be extremely impractical and dangerous, as well as being illegal. |
| Cola Myths - Cola can be used as a toilet cleaner. | Busted | For this myth, Adam dirtied M5's bathroom with engine oil in preparation for the cleanup. Jamie was greatly upset at this, but Adam assured him he'd be able to clean it. Adam tried to clean with cola, which only made the problem worse. Adam eventually cleaned using a regular all-purpose cleanser which worked well. |
| Exploding Tattoos - A radio transmitter can cause tattoos to explode. | Busted | The MythBusters built a small, low power transmitter, as a real one was too dangerous. They used two containers, one with water (control) and one with tattoo ink. They activated the transmitter, which managed to interfere with a radio in the workshop, and left it running. At the end of the test, the temperature of both liquids were almost the same. The tattoo ink was only half a degree warmer. |
| Peeing on the Third Rail - A train can be derailed if coins are placed on the rails. | Busted | The train simply heated and flattened the pennies. The MythBusters called the myth "Flatted". |
Special 5 — "Shop Till You Drop"
This episode explored some of the MythBusters' favorite stores and vendors that they use when buying supplies for the show. The episode also included a tutorial on how to make ballistics gel, which is constantly used in the MythBusters' experiments.
Special 6 — "MythBusters Revealed"
This episode took a behind-the-scenes look at the show. It featured insights from and interviews with Adam, Jamie, Kari, Tory and producer Peter Rees.
Special 7 — "Hollywood on Trial"
- Original airdate: May 5, 2005
The MythBusters test some of the pervasive myths that are created by Hollywood, as well as recall some of their past Hollywood-inspired myths. This special also marks the debut of Grant Imahara as the third member of the Build Team.
| Myth statement | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Bullets will spark when ricocheting off other objects. | Partly Confirmed | After several tries and mistakes, they manage to make it work. With a photo of Adam and Jamie as target, Kari shot a bullet at it, while Grant shoots the paint balls and Tory watches them spark. Extremely improbable, but it can be done. |
| The aluminum paint used on actor Jack Haley while portraying the Tin Man in the 1939 movie version of The Wizard of Oz caused an adverse reaction that hospitalized him. | Busted | Kari survived her aluminum paint session just like Jamie survived his gold paint session when testing the Goldfinger myth. The myth is true, but not as told. Actor Buddy Ebsen (better known later from The Beverly Hillbillies) was originally cast in the role of the Tin Man. Ebsen suffered a near-fatal allergic reaction and was hospitalized for two weeks after inhaling aluminum powder from an experimental aluminum makeup. After the aluminum makeup incident, Ebsen was replaced by actor Jack Haley and the makeup was replaced by an aluminum paint. Haley went on to complete his role as the Tin Man without suffering any serious health issues. |
| It is possible for a medium-to-large build man to bust through a wooden doorframe on his own power. | Plausible | Using only his shoulder, Jamie was able to break through three of the four locks installed on the doorframe the Build Team constructed that met the American Building Code standards. The only reason the fourth lock did not break was because the Build Team used stronger screws to anchor it into the frame than what came with the actual lock. Adam attempted to break the fourth lock but slipped on a mat in front of the door and fell on his back instead. Still, considering that Jamie got so far by simply shoulder-ramming, a determined individual could easily break through. |
| It is possible to be thrown through a glass window and walk away without a scratch just like in Hollywood movies. | Partly Busted | While it is possible to fly through an ⅛ inch glass pane with little or no injuries, ¼ inch glass is thick enough to inflict significant lacerations on a body, should one be thrown through it. In Hollywood, a breakaway faux-glass substance called sugar glass is used in stunts requiring an actor to be thrown through a window. Sugar glass does not fracture into sharp fragments like real glass does and does not injure stunt performers. |
| It is possible to ignite a pool of gasoline using only a cigarette. | Partly Plausible | A cigarette has the potential to light a pool of gasoline but just doesn't have enough sustained heat. Gas ignites between 500 °F and 540 °F, the cigarette at its hottest was between 450 °F and 500 °F but only when it was actually being smoked. An ignition is very improbable. |
Special 8 — "JAWS Special"
As part of Discovery Channel's Shark Week (which Adam and Jamie hosted in 2005), the MythBusters test myths relating to the movie Jaws with the help of a "ShaRammer" designed to simulate the force of a Great White Shark.
| Myth statement | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| If a pressurized scuba tank is shot, it will explode. | Busted | When the tank was punctured by a bullet it simply decompressed quickly, causing it to fly around like a compressed-air rocket. The team was only able to to make the tank explode in the end by using explosives. |
| A Great White Shark can pull barrels underwater. | Plausible | A shark's maximum striking force is great enough to pull the barrels under. |
| A Great White Shark can pull barrels underwater and hold them there. | Busted | The force a shark can generate in a continuous pull is insufficient to keep the barrels under water for a significant amount of time. |
| A Great White Shark can ram a dive cage with enough force to damage or destroy it. | Confirmed | The "ShaRammer" penetrated the cage with enough force to rip a significant part of it loose and carry it away on its body. |
| A Great White Shark can ram a boat with enough force to punch a hole in it. | Plausible | A Great White has enough power to punch a hole in the side of a wooden boat under the right circumstances, but an example of this happening has never been documented. |
| A Great White Shark can pull a boat backwards with great enough speed that waves break over the rear end. | Busted | The same reason why the shark cannot hold the barrels underwater continuously. |
| Punching a shark in the nose, eyes, or gills will cause it flee or at least back off briefly. | Plausible | The sharks punched by both a specially modified Buster and Jamie were driven off briefly and were hesitant about making repeated approaches. Strikes to the gills were noted to be more effective than strikes to the nose. |
| Sharks can be caught using a special piano wire. (from a deleted scene in "Jaws") | Busted | Piano wire doesn't have the tensile strength needed to be used as an adequate shark-catching lure. |
Special 9 — "Mega Movie Myths 2 Hour Special"
- Original airdate: September 13, 2006
Adam, Jamie, Buster, and the Build Team are watching movie Myths they have done in the past, and decide to dedicate a whole episode to them.
| Myth statement | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| The Dukes of Hazzard: A car can jump a significant distance using a pile of dirt as a ramp and land with minimal damage or loss of momentum. | Busted | The car managed to jump 172 feet (52 metres), three feet (one metre) short of the estimated distance of the gorge jumped in the movie. However, the car crashed nose-down and was destroyed, busting the myth (and the car). It is somewhat widely-known that stunt cars rarely survive the bigger jumps (and must subsequently be scrapped), see the The General Lee article for details. |
| Big Trouble in Little China: A lock can be broken by shooting it with handguns. | Busted | The 9mm pistol and the .357 Magnum failed to open either the padlocks or the deadbolts. |
| A lock can be broken by shooting it with shotgun slugs or high-powered rifle ammunition. | Plausible | Both types of ammunition were able to disable the locks by completely obliterating them. However, the MythBusters note that this lock-busting method would be very dangerous in real life due to ricochet or spalling. Because of this hazard, military and SWAT units use a special shotgun cartridge called a Breaching round to break through doors. |
| Austin Powers in Goldmember: A car can be equipped with a discreet ejector seat. | Plausible | A pneumatic ejector seat fitted into a car seemed to fool most of the people who inspected it, and the seat successfully launched a test dummy out of the car. However, the design of the car plays a huge role in concealability, which is why Jamie and Adam opted for a roomier, boxier car rather than one of the flashy and sleek sports cars often seen in spy movies. |
| Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom: A person can fall through layers of awnings and survive. | Plausible | Buster was broken into pieces during the fall, but "survived" his fall (according to the shock sensors) with less-than-lethal (but still serious) "injuries". Tory then demonstrated the movie method of using pre-cut awnings and safety wires. (Adam was originally slated to perform the stunt, but was stopped at the last minute due to insurance reasons.) |
| Underworld: One can escape through a floor by shooting a ring around them. | Busted | Even a fully-automatic MP-5 failed to break through the support beams in any reasonable amount of time, even with the assistance of a 12-gauge shotgun. This method also wastes a lot of ammunition; Tory had to fire all of his 360 rounds of ammunition. |
| The Count of Monte Cristo: A sword can cut off the blade of another sword. | Busted | A genuine Japanese-constructed katana did slice through the replica stainless-steel sword. It also broke another genuine sword, but this break was caused by stress fracturing rather than being cut through. Katana vs. Rapier: Rapier was bent into snapping, but not cut. Claymore vs. Katana: Katana flexed but didn't break. Claymore vs. Viking sword: Viking sword severely nicked the Claymore. In the end, though some swords managed to break the other, none were able to actually cut through another sword. |
| Mythbusters The crew really knows how to ruin a movie | Confirmed | Shown during the ending recap |
Mini Myths
The mini-myths are shown in video clips that are available from the Discovery Channel website.
"Egg-uinox"
The Egg-uinox myth was perhaps too short to air in any episode, as it was easily and conclusively busted. [2]
| Myth statement | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| You can only balance an egg on its ends during the spring and fall equinox. | Busted | There is nothing special about the spring and fall equinoxes that allow you to balance an egg on end. You can do it on any day of the year as long as you're dexterous enough. Hard boiled eggs balance better than raw eggs however. |
"Break-Step Bridge"
In a revisit of the Breakstep Bridge myth, Adam and Jamie decide that the suspension bridge that Adam had built was too stable to accurately test, so they build a simple beam bridge and test it under Adam's weight. [3]
| Myth statement | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| A bridge can be collapsed by the vibration caused by pedestrian traffic. | Plausible | The bridge was able to hold Adam's weight until he started bouncing on it. |
"Mini Shark Myths"
The mini shark myths, while related to Discovery Channel's Shark Week, they are not related to the movie Jaws in particular. [4]
| Myth statement | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Sharks tend to be attracted to brighter colors like yellow. | Plausible | When all the results were calculated, the sharks tested preferred to go for the "yum-yum yellow" seal dummy before the other ones (red, blue, black, white, silver). |
| Sharks can detect a single drop of blood dropped into a pool of water. | Busted | The sharks detected fish blood, however they either did not detect human blood or did not care about it. Also, like any scent, the sharks weren't able to detect the blood until their noses came into contact with the blood particles, and the smell grew weaker as the blood got diluted by the water, meaning that a single drop of blood in a particular area of the pool would not be detectable by any shark that was not in that area, and was not swimming right into the blood. |
| A shark's skin is rough enough to be used as sandpaper. | Confirmed | When compared to various grains of sandpaper, the sharkskin that Adam and Jamie acquired was comparable to a very high-grain (400 to 600) of sandpaper, and can be used as such, even on a rotary sander. |
| There is a rule of thumb a casual observer can use to adequately estimate the size of a shark. | Busted | Out of all the measurements taken of lemon sharks, only one (from nosetip to dorsal fin tip) could consistently be used to estimate the shark's size, and it, in itself, requires an up-close and personal measurement, something that would be too difficult and dangerous to be done by a casual observer. |
BBC Two re-edited half hour shows
 | This list related to film, television, or video is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. |
BBC Two's editions of Mythbusters are narrated by Rufus Hound in an energetic and irreverent style.