MythBusters Results

Episode 178: Toilet Bomb

Buster — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 02:00:12 +0000

If a pressure-triggered bomb is cooled with liquid nitrogen, its detonation will be delayed long enough for a person to dive into a bathtub and cover himself with a bomb blanket, surviving the explosion. (Based on a scene in the film Lethal Weapon 2.)

confirmed

Adam and Jamie decided to test three facets of the myth: time to get off the toilet and into the tub, effectiveness of the liquid nitrogen in delaying the trigger, and ability of the blanket and tub to shield its occupants. After building a replica of the movie bathroom and incorporating all details of the scene, including a prolonged time spent sitting on the toilet, Adam was able to pull Jamie into the tub and under the blanket in 1.95 seconds.

On the bomb range, they set up a charge of C-4 and a high-speed camera to measure the delay between triggering and detonation. A control run with an ambient-temperature bomb gave a delay of 3.3 milliseconds, while pouring the liquid nitrogen directly onto the charge increased it to 15 milliseconds. When the liquid nitrogen was poured over both the charge and the battery powering the trigger, the bomb would not detonate at all until the entire rig had warmed up to ambient temperature, 15 minutes later. Adam and Jamie commented that the technique was actually more effective in real life than in the film; the characters could have simply stood up and walked out of the bathroom.

To test the third part of the myth, they built a bathroom set with a heavy cast-iron tub as seen in the film, put Buster in the tub under a blanket, and fitted the tub with sensors to measure the pressure inside and outside. When a 1 kg charge of C-4 was set off under the toilet, the entire set was destroyed except for the tub. The peak pressure outside the tub was a lethal 180 psi (1.2 MPa), while the inside sensor recorded 8 psi (55 kPa), meaning that a person would survive but have some chance of suffering hearing damage. Adam and Jamie declared the myth confirmed.

Airplanes can save fuel and money by flying in V-formation, similar to a flock of birds.

confirmed

While visiting a bird sanctuary, Kari and Tory learned the reason for the birds’ V-formation: air vortices from the leading birds’ wings allow the trailing ones to flap less often and less vigorously. Kari then built some model airplanes, which she and Grant took for testing in a NASA water chamber. With three planes in a V, they saw vortices at the lead plane’s wingtips that persisted for a large distance behind it.

At Tracy Municipal Airport, the Build Team met with a 9-member acrobatic flight club to test out different flying formation: V, wingtip to wingtip, single file, and a control run with no formation. A tight V reduced fuel consumption by 3-5% compared to the control, while the other two formations either gave no reduction or increased the fuel usage. The team declared the myth confirmed at this point, but noted that the close formation could pose a danger to the pilots. A second run, with the planes spaced farther apart, gave a fuel savings for only Tory due to the difficulty of staying in the lead planes’ vortices. Nevertheless, the team commented that even a small fuel savings could lead to a sizable financial advantage at a large scale.

Episode 177: Wheel of Mythfortune

Buster — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 02:00:52 +0000

When presented with the Monty Hall Problem, people tend to stick with their first choice.

confirmed

After they built a game show mock-up set at a local theater, Adam acted as a game-show host and had 20 volunteers play a game of “Pick a Door”. Once a player chose a door, Jamie opened an empty one and Adam offered the player a chance to switch; all 20 stayed with their original pick, many of them believing that they had a 50-50 chance to win at this point.

When presented with the Monty Hall Problem, people would be more likely to win if they changed their decision.

confirmed

They built a small-scale simulator to do 50 trials each, with Adam always switching his choice and Jamie never switching. Adam won far more often than Jamie did, and Jamie explained the reason: because the player has a 2/3 probability of choosing a losing door at first, switching turns the odds in his favor.

If a live grenade lands near a person, he can avoid shrapnel injuries by lying flat on the ground.

busted

The Build Team set up a grenade and placed rupture discs at 1 ft (0.3 m) intervals around it, from 1 ft (0.3 m) to 10 ft (3.0 m), in order to find the lethal radius of the blast wave. All discs at 5 ft (1.5 m) and closer burst, so the team set up plywood panels and a plastic roof just beyond this distance to gauge the shrapnel spread. Tests with both a mid-20th century “pineapple” grenade and a modern “baseball” device showed injuries at all heights from ground to roof level. Although the team judged the myth as busted, they found relatively few hits in the area corresponding to a person lying on the ground, indicating that lying down might reduce the chance of shrapnel injuries.

Some firing stances often used in movies allow a handgun user to shoot faster and more accurately than the standard two-handed stance.

busted

Adam and Jamie decided to compare six stances: two-handed, one-handed at shoulder level, shooting from the hip, gun held sideways, and two stances with a gun in each hand. They set up targets at 15 ft (4.6 m) and each took a turn firing 8 rounds from a .45 caliber pistol (16 rounds for the two-gun trials), evaluating their performance on a combination of speed and accuracy. With the two-handed stance as a benchmark, they discovered that none of the other stances yielded an improvement; only the one-handed, shoulder-level stance gave comparable results. Adam and Jamie cited the ability to look down the sights of the gun as the best indicator of accuracy in any firing stance.

It is possible to re-inflate a flat tire and re-seat it on its rim by spraying in engine starting fluid and igniting it.

busted

Kari sprayed the fluid into a deflated car tire and ignited it, but the tire did not inflate or re-seat. In a second trial, Tory stepped on the tire to mix the air and fluid; when ignited, the tire quickly re-seated and inflated to the point of bursting. Upon cooling, though, the gases inside the tire contracted and formed a vacuum inside the tire, making it useless. The Build Team obtained the same result with a truck tire, prompting them to declare the myth busted. Tory noted that although the starting fluid can be used to re-seat the tire, a source of compressed air is needed to inflate it.

Special 17: Wet & Wild

Buster — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 02:00:07 +0000

This episode featured a countdown of the cast’s favorite myths involving water.

12. Wettest & Wildest

Myth: Waterslide Wipeout

This segment featured details on building the massive, steep launch ramp for this myth, and Adam’s experience sliding down it.

11. Water Bomb

Myths: Water Safe, Black Powder Shark

This segment featured two of the cast’s favorite myths involving submerged explosives.

10. Out in the Cold

Myth: Swimming in Syrup

This segment revealed the challenges of staying warm during the swimming time trials, filmed during winter in San Francisco.

9. Dive! Dive! Dive!

Myth: The Squeeze

Revealed the Build Team’s unsavory experience with the pork dummy Tory built to help test this myth.

8. MythBusters on Ice

Myth: Blue Ice

The Build Team reflected on their visit to a NASA low-temperature wind tunnel.

7. Under Pressure

Myths: Exploding Water Heater, Steam Powered Machine Gun

This segment discussed dealing with the energy and hazards of steam in myth testing.

6. Pool Cruelty

Myth: Bulletproof Water

Revealed the mayhem caused by firing high-powered weapons into a swimming pool.

5. Water Torture

Myth: Chinese Water Torture

Highlighted the unpleasant experiences of Adam and Kari during this round of testing (Adam urinating on himself, Kari enduring the torture until a paramedic stopped the test and removed her).

4. The Life Aquatic

Myth: Octopus Egg Pregnancy

Adam discovered that the texture of his skin was unusually pleasant to octopuses.

3. Boatmageddon

Myth: Bifurcated Boat

The Build Team faced repeated difficulties in setting up and performing their tests on land.

2. Hidden Depths

Myths: Eye Gouge, Fish Flap, Fatal Flashlight

Memorable shark myths, as chosen by each cast members.

1. Rock the Boat

Myth: Building a Pykrete Boat

The inspiration for building a speedboat out of newspaper-based “Super Pykrete” stemmed from the cast’s second trip to Alaska.

Special 16: Location, Location, Location

Buster — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 02:00:38 +0000

This episode featured a countdown of the cast’s favorite locations for testing myths.

12. Home Sweet Home

M5 Industries, the MythBusters’ home base, was examined. Details were given on the origins of the M5 name, the opening and closing of M6 (the shop initially used by the Build Team in 2004, roughly corresponding to the period between the formation of the Build Team and Scottie Chapman’s departure), as well as M7 (the Build Team’s home since 2005, roughly corresponding to Grant joining the Build Team).

11. Don’t “Quarry” About It!

Myths: Cement Mix-Up, Knock Your Socks Off

The quarries used by the MythBusters were examined. Adam and Jamie detailed the last-minute addition of the concrete truck explosion. The Build Team also discussed the damage control after the pressure wave from a quarry explosion had caused collateral damage in nearby Esparto, California, and why they have not been at that quarry since.

10. African Adventure

Myth: Elephants Scared of Mice

The myths tested in South Africa were featured. Though initially they were filming for Supersize Shark, due to inclement conditions they decided to film an impromptu myth to better make use of their time there.

9. Runaway Runway

Myth: Tree Cannon

The runway at Alameda was featured. The location is frequented so much that Grant recalled that some fans mistakenly believed that M5 was based in Alameda. Jamie also noted that the hand-carved cannonball that was shot out of the tree cannon was never found, even after 7 years.

8. Zombie Town

Myth: Elevator of Death

Abandoned areas were featured in this segment, with a special focus on the abandoned residential neighborhood nicknamed by the crew as “Zombie Town”.

7. Cool for School

University and government research facilities used by the MythBusters were detailed, with a specific emphasis on the rocket sled testing facilities in New Mexico Tech. Jamie also talked about the people who run these facilities and the insight they provide to the myths being tested.

6. Thunderdome

The local power-generating stations used in myths that require high-voltage electricity, nicknamed the “Thunderdome” by Adam, was featured.

5. Just Hanging Out!

Myth: Seven Folds

The hangars at Moffat Field were featured. The Build Team also commented on owl dung that had to be removed from the paper between testing days as the paper was being laid out.

4. Presidential Perks

Myth: President’s Challenge

The MythBusters’ three visits to the White House were featured, highlighting Jamie’s speechlessness at Barack Obama’s introduction speech congratulating the role of MythBusters in children’s science education. The 500 students chosen in that test were all from the high school where Jamie’s wife has been a longtime science teacher.

3. It’s Snow Joke

Myth: Spinning Ice Bullets

Myths tested in wintry conditions were remembered. The Build Team talked about having to brave the weather in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

2. Deserted Desert

Myths: JATO Rocket, Confederate Rocket

The Mojave Desert was featured. Kari, then an intern at M5, discussed her role in the pilot episode, having driven through the night to catch up to Adam and Jamie. Adam and Jamie discussed having an M5 truck stuck in the mud on two separate occasions during “Confederate Rocket”. Jamie also noted that portions of the desert are cleared for types of testing that the MythBusters have yet to fully make use of.

1. Home Away From Home

Myth: Sawdust Cannon

The bomb range is explored. Jamie talked about how some of the myths involving explosives would otherwise be illegal if the bomb range was not available. The Build Team detailed their experience with the non-dairy creamer cannon and how much more dangerous it was than they originally anticipated. The episode ends with a montage of explosions from various myths tested on the range.

Episode 176: Drain Disaster

Buster — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 02:00:05 +0000

A methane explosion in a sewer can launch a manhole cover into the air without destroying it.

confirmed

For small-scale testing, Adam and Jamie built a miniature sewer pipe fitted with a full-length viewing window and three manholes. They pumped in enough methane to reach a 9% concentration in air (the center of its flammability range) and used a spark to set off the mixture. A test with both ends of the pipe open gave only a small flash of flame; when the ends were closed, all three covers flew off. The addition of metal debris to the pipe, simulating junk that might collect in a real sewer, launched the covers even higher due to a faster, larger flame front moving around all the obstructions.

They next built a 40 ft (12 m) sewer in a trench using concrete culvert sections, installed three manholes, and placed rolls of chain-link fencing in it to simulate debris. After burying it under 3 ft (91 cm) of dirt, they pumped in the methane and set it off. The resulting explosion threw the covers 150 ft (46 m) skyward and slightly shifted the dirt over the sewer. High-speed footage showed fire coming from only one manhole, indicating that a deflagration had taken place rather than a detonation. Judging the myth confirmed at this point, Adam and Jamie noted that a detonation might have sent the covers even higher.

Spray-on truck bed liner resin can withstand a car crash.

busted

The team sprayed one half of a car with bedliner, leaving the other exposed, and carried out various crash tests. In 6 mph (10 km/h) front- and rear-end collisions with a concrete barricade, the treated side showed much less damage than the untreated one. However, when Tory rammed each side with a second car at 25 mph (40 km/h), the team found the same serious damage on both sides.

Spray-on truck bed liner resin can withstand a dog bite.

confirmed

Grant built a robot modeled after a German shepherd’s skull, calibrated to match its bite force. The team sprayed one sleeve on each of four jackets — denim, leather, canvas, quilted coat — and tested the robot on all eight sleeves. It easily bit through the untreated sleeves and damaged the dummy arms underneath, but could not penetrate the treated ones. Tory chose the quilted coat for testing against a police dog; after it had been completely sprayed, he put it on and suffered no injuries when the dog tried to bite him.

Spray-on truck bed liner resin can withstand an explosion.

confirmed

The team built wood-frame and cinder block walls, one treated and one untreated of each type, and placed Buster behind each before setting off a C-4 charge 5 ft (1.5 m) in front. The untreated walls were badly damaged and threw large amounts of debris on Buster, while the treated ones showed no damage and protected him.

Episode 175: Flying Guillotine

Buster — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 02:00:08 +0000

C-4 plastic explosive is stable enough to burn without exploding and can be used to cook food, but a mechanical shock to the burning material will set it off.

confirmed (1st half) / busted (2nd half)

At the bomb range, Adam and Jamie set up a piece of C-4 and ignited it remotely. The material burned for 2 minutes without exploding and registered temperatures of 1,000 °F (538 °C). Setting up a stove from two bricks and an oven rack, they were able to warm a military MRE ration somewhat. For comparison purposes, they ignited 1 oz (28 g) samples of C-4 and three other fuels (hexamethylenetetramine, 1,3,5-trioxane, and chafing-dish fuel) under pots of water and measured the peak temperature and time to burn out. HMTA achieved a higher temperature than the other three, but the speed with which the C-4 burned led Adam to decide that it could be used as a workable cooking fuel.

For sensitivity tests, they rigged a full, 7 lb (3.2 kg) cooking pot to fall on a piece of burning C-4 from 3 ft (91 cm), then set up a robotic leg in a combat boot to stomp on it. Neither of these trials produced an explosion, so they dropped a 90 lb (41 kg) anvil on the material, without success. Shooting at the C-4 with different .308 rifle cartridges — standard, tracer, incendiary — failed to trigger an explosion as well. Finally, Adam and Jamie set up a thermite charge to drip molten material at 4,500 °F (2,482 °C) onto the C-4, thinking that extreme heat might make it sensitive enough to detonate. This test failed as well, and Jamie noted that C-4 was formulated to be stable unless set off by a blasting cap. He and Adam judged the first half of the myth as confirmed, but the second half as busted.

The 18th-century Chinese designed a tethered throwing weapon that could decapitate an opponent and carry the head back to the thrower. Inspired by appearances of such weapons in martial-arts movies.

plausible

The Build Team set three criteria for success: ease of throwing, enough power to cleanly remove a head, and ability to contain it while being retrieved. After each member designed a different prototype, the three devices were tested against a pig neck with Buster’s head mounted on it. All three could be thrown to land on the head from 10 ft (3.0 m), with Tory’s — a spinning ring on a cable, with a salad bowl to hold the head – coming the closest to a full decapitation.

After a few refinements to his design, he was able to take the head off and have it retained within the device. Kari and Grant set up a combat situation, involving one moving enemy dummy and a second that could pop up from behind a screen. Tory hit the pop-up enemy with a glancing blow and knocked it down, but could not land his device on the moving one. Based on these results, the team decided that the flying guillotine was plausible as an assassination weapon, but not in combat.

Episode 174: Duct Tape Plane

Buster — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 02:00:43 +0000

An excavator can row a barge on open water, using its bucket as an oar.

confirmed

Adam and Jamie set up two excavators on a barge and had a tugboat tow them 0.5 mi (805 m) into San Francisco Bay. Their goal was to keep control of the barge’s direction and maintain forward momentum toward the shore. The first attempt failed due to strong currents pushing them into the bay, but when they started closer to shore they were able to row to the dock.

An excavator can spin in place and allow a person tethered to the bucket to wakeboard on surrounding water.

confirmed (pure unadulterated fun)

Jamie operated an excavator set in the middle of a pond while Adam rode the board. After a few adjustments of bucket height and spin speed, Adam successfully stayed upright. He enjoyed himself so much that he invented a special category for this myth: “Pure Unadulterated Fun”.

An excavator can load itself into the back of a cargo truck.

confirmed

Adam met with an expert machinery operator to work out the details of attempting this feat. By carefully manipulating the boom, bucket, and tracks, he was able to lean the front end against the tailgate, then turn the cabin around and lift the rear end off the ground with the bucket so he could drive into the cargo bed.

If a bear rips a hole in a grounded airplane’s fuselage, the pilot can patch the hole with duct tape so that the plane can fly away safely. (Based on news accounts of an Alaskan pilot who repaired his plane in this manner.)

confirmed

The Build Team obtained a plane with a fuselage similar to the one on the plane in the actual incident. After they assembled it and watched its owner take a test flight to confirm its airworthiness, Kari used a pair of clawed gloves to shred the relevant portions of the fuselage. As she and Tory started covering the damage with duct tape, Grant worked on the control surfaces needed to keep the plane stable in flight. The plane’s owner then taxied on a runway and took off, spending over 30 minutes in the air with no observable deterioration of the tape despite the wind and temperature.

It is possible to construct a workable airplane fuselage using only duct tape.

confirmed

Using the same donated plane, the team ripped off every piece of the fuselage and covered the frame with tape. The removed material weighed the same as 5 rolls, but the team ended up using 17 rolls to build a layered skin intended to resist vibrations and rippling. When the plane was set up in front of a wind machine set to 50 mph (80 km/h), Grant and Tory saw no damage in the tape. A test pilot then taxied on the runway and took the plane for a short flight at an altitude of 5 ft (1.5 m), reporting no problems in strong wind gusts. Grant commented afterward that calmer winds might have allowed the pilot to take a longer flight at a higher altitude.

Episode 173: Walk a Straight Line

Buster — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 02:00:46 +0000

It is impossible for a blindfolded person to travel in a straight line.

confirmed

Adam and Jamie decided to test the myth by walking, swimming, and driving. They wore blackout goggles and noise-blocking headphones or earplugs, and used portable GPS devices to track their movements. The walking test, set in an open field, required each man to try to walk toward a target 3,000 ft (914 m) away; both ended up far off course and/or at the edge of the field. They then tried to swim directly across a lake and drive a golf cart straight down an abandoned airfield runway, also without success, and declared the myth confirmed.

For a real-world situation, they then decided to investigate the ability of a person to navigate a straight course if lost in the woods. With no landmarks or destination in view, they tried to follow separate headings for 30 minutes and succeeded by using the Sun’s position to stay on track. However, with buckets on their heads to simulate reduced visibility at night or in a snowstorm, Adam did poorly while Jamie stayed on track by carefully pacing around obstacles, drawing on his wilderness survival experience. Finally, they attached themselves to opposite ends of a long ladder with hip belts, thinking that each could feel the other’s veering and correct it, but failed the open-field walking test again.

A load of mixed binary explosive (tannerite) in a car trunk can detonate if the car is rear-ended.

busted

At the bomb range, the Build Team set up jars of the two unmixed components, as well as an 8 oz (227 g) jar of the mixed tannerite. Tory fired at them with a high-powered sniper rifle; only the mixed jar exploded when hit. Doubling the sample size gave a larger blast, and shooting one jar in a stack of five created a chain reaction that set them all off. To simulate a freeway rear-end collision, the team half-buried a target car with its nose down and the protruding trunk packed with 50 lb (23 kg) of mixed tannerite. They dropped a second car on it from 150 ft (46 m), nose down, but the load did not explode on impact.

Declaring the myth busted at this point, the team traveled to the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology to use the on-site rocket sled apparatus. After setting off a 100 lb (45 kg) load of explosive to determine the appearance of the actual blast, they set a target car on the track, with the same size load, and fitted a pickup truck’s front end onto the sled. Enough rocket motors were attached to accelerate the sled to a top speed of 300 mph (483 km/h), but the impact only disintegrated the target car without triggering a detonation. A cloud of undetonated tannerite was visible sprayed in all directions by the force of the impact.

The tests suggested that tannerite is difficult to detonate unintentionally. Other binary explosives, however, are not necessarily as safe.

Episode 172: Newton’s Crane Cradle

Buster — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 02:00:22 +0000

It is possible to construct a working Newton’s cradle using wrecking balls. (Inspired by a viral video.)

busted

Adam and Jamie decided to start with small-scale testing and work their way up to find any flaws. To determine the efficiency of energy transfer from ball to ball, Adam pulled the ball at one end out to a certain distance and measured the length of the swing at the other end. Their first three models—an off-the-shelf desktop toy, and two built with 2.5 and 6 in (64 and 152 mm) solid steel bearings—gave 98%, 97%, and 94% efficiency, respectively. Jamie noted that the energy loss increased at the larger scales, but did not depend directly on size or mass.

To simulate miniature wrecking balls, Adam and Jamie filled five 6 in (152 mm) hollow steel spheres with plaster that had properties similar to concrete. This version gave only 63% efficiency, but Jamie suggested putting a steel plate through the center of each ball to reduce energy transfer into the concrete. They then built five 2,000 lb (907 kg) balls by cutting hollow naval buoys in half, sandwiching a steel plate in each, and filling the space with rebar and concrete. When the rig was assembled at Mare Island Naval Shipyard and hung from an I-beam frame, it gave very poor efficiency and quickly stopped swinging, even after each ball was hung from two cables rather than one as shown in the video. Noting the increased potential for energy losses at large scales, Adam and Jamie declared the myth busted, then later learned that the original video had been faked.

A car balanced on the edge of a cliff can topple over if a bird perches on the front end.

busted

The Build Team set up a shipping container as a cliff, with a dirt escape ramp built up against its edge so that the test car would roll down safely if it went over the edge. Grant and Tory, in the car, eased it forward to find the balance point; after several tries and the use of a forklift and straps on the rear bumper, they were able to get the car balanced.

With Grant and Tory still in the car, various birds were brought in and allowed to perch on the hood. Two pigeons (1 lb (0.45 kg) each), two hawks (2.5 lb (1.1 kg) each), and an eagle owl (7 lb (3 kg)) were tried separately; none were able to do more than wobble the car slightly. Grant commented that although a weight near the front bumper gave a large amount of leverage, the car itself had enough weight to counteract the effect.

The team located a model helicopter and modified it to weigh 20 lb (9.1 kg), the same as a California condor (the largest flying bird in North America). When this too failed to tip the car, the team classified the myth as busted and set out to find out how much weight it would take. The car only tipped after Kari put 80 raw, 1.5 lb (0.7 kg) game hens onto the hood and Tory added a raw, 20 lb (9 kg) remote-controlled turkey for a total of 140 lb (64 kg).

Episode 171: Bikes and Bazookas

Buster — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 02:00:47 +0000

Riding a motorcycle contributes less to air pollution than driving a car from the same time period.

busted

Adam and Jamie chose one car and one motorcycle apiece from the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. Adam drove each vehicle for 30 minutes in the city and on the freeway, using sensors to measure the tailpipe emissions. In every case, the motorcycles gave higher fuel efficiency and lower carbon dioxide emissions than the corresponding cars. However, the cars performed better in terms of emissions of hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, and carbon monoxide.

At this point, Adam and Jamie decided to try and improve a motorcycle’s aerodynamic performance so that it would use less fuel and give lower emissions. They built a teardrop-shaped shell to cover the entire vehicle, with a tubular steel frame and heat-shrink plastic sheeting. Jamie then drove simulated city and highway courses at Naval Air Station Alameda on a modern motorcycle, with the shell both on and off. The shell gave the best fuel efficiency and lowest CO2 emissions, but did not perform better than the cars on the other three pollutants. They classified the myth as busted, and Jamie attributed this result to the fact that anti-pollution technology has advanced faster for cars than for motorcycles.

If a handgun bullet is fired at an airborne rocket-propelled grenade, the RPG will explode in midair and kill its shooter, leaving the handgun shooter unharmed. (Based on a scene in the film Red.)

busted

The Build Team visited the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology to learn about the details of RPG use and have a place to do their testing safely and legally. Detonation of a live round showed a jet of molten metal burning through the target, which raised serious questions about a person in front being able to survive.

With help from Institute personnel, they built a rig to launch an RPG directly toward a remote-controlled gun of the same caliber as that used in the film (a Smith & Wesson Model 460 revolver). After a failed first test, they were able to hit the RPG with a bullet and see the former explode in midair. Separate shots of the two weapons on an 80-foot test range, the same distance as the film scene, led them to calculate that the bullet and RPG would collide 16 feet in front of the RPG shooter. However, the particular rounds used for these tests had fuze systems that would not arm until they had flown roughly 60 feet.

The team set up two dummies 80 feet apart, outfitted with pork-belly abdomens and foil burst gauges to evaluate injuries. Assuming that the film RPG might have had a defective fuze, the team set up a target 16 feet in front of the RPG dummy, backed the launcher up to ensure a detonation, and fired. Both dummies survived without injury, though molten metal flew through the air just to each side of the handgun dummy. The need for a bad fuze, the forward direction of the explosion, and the fact that the intended target survived only through sheer luck led the team to call the myth busted.