The cast of the television series MythBusters perform 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 either busted, plausible, or confirmed). The 2015 season premiered on January 10, 2015, in a Saturday time slot. The first half of the season ended on February 14, after six episodes had aired. The second half of the season resumed on July 18, still in the Saturday time slot. The final episode of the second half aired on September 5, with eight episodes having aired, and a total fourteen episodes having aired in the season.
This is the first season without Kari Byron, Tory Belleci, and Grant Imahara since they originally appeared in the show. Hyneman and Savage are now the only hosts of the show. The opening narration and blueprint title cards have been removed as of this season, and the episodes are punctuated by pop-up bubbles with information relevant to the myths being tested.
Episode overview
Episode 223 – "The Simpsons Special" Original air date: January 10, 2015
Adam and Jamie investigate two scenes from the animated series The Simpsons. Showrunner and executive producer Al Jean makes a guest appearance.
Homer Wrecker Myth Status Notes A person hanging on to a wrecking ball can protect a house from damage if the ball swings to pin him against the wall. Based on the episode "Sideshow Bob Roberts." Plausible Adam built a human analog for Homer Simpson with show-accurate dimensions, including a height of . He used upholstery foam to build a hollow framework for the body and had a solid plastic mold fabricated for the head. After he and Jamie coated the mold with a layer of latex, they filled it with polyurethane foam to create the head. The body was painted with waterproof rubber and filled with water to match Homer's weight of .
Jamie built a wrecking ball by pouring concrete around two hemispherical steel frameworks set in holes dug into the ground, then letting the halves cure for several days before gluing them together. The finished ball measured in diameter and weighed , matching the one used on the show.
Adam and Jamie next built two house end walls with structural bracing to meet local building codes. With the ball pulled back to avoid tipping the crane to which it was attached, they swung it at one wall to evaluate the damage without Homer hanging on. The impact caused severe buckling and knocked a section of the chimney loose; when they attached Homer and repeated the test on the other wall, it flexed but exhibited much less visible damage, and Homer remained intact. Adam and Jamie classified the myth as plausible.
Toilet Bomb Myth Status Notes If a lit cherry bomb is flushed down a toilet, it will send water shooting out of every toilet attached to the same plumbing system when it explodes. Based on the episode "The Crepes of Wrath." Busted Adam built three half-scale cutaway toilet models, with a transparent viewing window and common piping system to show the water flows inside. He incorporated connections at several different positions to allow the introduction of a pressure surge similar to that produced by an exploding cherry bomb. Jamie used his soda-can launcher to provide a surge of ; tests at each of several positions always sent a burst of water from each toilet. Placing a clog in the pipes led to a gusher of water instead, due to the pressure pushing against incompressible water rather than air.
For a full-scale test, Adam and Jamie set a platform at the bomb range and mounted three toilets on it with common piping. To see if the fuse would have kept burning after the flush, they made a bomb of their own with a long fuse, placed it in a bucket of water, and lit the fuse. The gunpowder in the fuse allowed it to keep burning underwater, and the bomb exploded and shattered the bucket.
With the pipes clogged, Adam and Jamie placed a bomb at the midpoint of the initial shared outlet pipe for the system and set it off. The explosion blew all three toilets off their mountings, which were not strong enough to withstand the force of the blast. A second test, with the toilets bolted directly to the piping and the bomb repositioned to the lowest point in the system, led to the same result and partially/completely destroyed them. Since they could not match the geysers of water seen in the episode, Adam and Jamie judged the myth busted. Al Jean would later justify the episode depiction by reasoning that the school would have reinforced the bathroom plumbing in order to protect it against a meltdown at the nearby nuclear plant, which he sardonically described as being run by "idiots."
Episode 224 – "Indiana Jones Special" Original air date: January 17, 2015
Adam and Jamie investigate two scenes from the film Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Temple Run Myth Status Notes It is possible to survive a chamber full of wall-mounted poison dart launchers by running past them. Based on Indiana Jones' theft of the golden idol in the opening scene. Plausible Adam analyzed footage of the movie scene and determined that in order to escape the chamber, Indy would have had to run and avoid 16 separate dart launchers. Jamie built enough wall-mounted paintball guns to match, triggered by floor-mounted pressure plates.
Adam and Jamie then constructed a mockup of the temple chamber and adjusted the time delay between triggering the plate and firing the gun to match that seen in the film (1 second). After further troubleshooting, Adam donned protective padding and ran across the chamber, matching Indy's running posture and speed. He was able to stay well ahead of the shots with the 1-second delay; when it was reduced to almost zero, he did take one hit. He and Jamie judged the myth to be plausible due to the fictionalized nature of the scenario.
The Science of Whips Myth Status Notes It is possible to disarm or neutralize a pistol-wielding opponent by targeting the gun hand with a whip. Plausible Adam custom-built a whip to match the length and design of the one carried by Indy. Finding it difficult to hit a small target with accuracy except at close range, Adam and Jamie brought in whip expert Anthony De Longis — who trained Harrison Ford for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull — to train them. As Adam held a gun in a hand covered by a heavy glove, Jamie was able to snag his wrist and pull hard enough to throw off his aim. The two men then traded places, with Adam striking directly at Jamie's hand. Jamie felt the sting of the whip even through the glove, and stated that a hit on his unprotected hand would have been painful enough to make him drop the gun. With success in both methods, they deemed the myth plausible; however, Anthony commented that targeting the gunman's face would be far more effective than trying to disarm him. The tip of a whip will break the sound barrier when it cracks. Confirmed Adam and Jamie built a large grid backdrop in order to isolate the area in which the tip of the whip would crack. Using a high-speed camera shooting at 6,000 frames per second, they were able to record (after much effort) the whip cracking at a speed of , slightly in excess of the speed of sound (). It is possible to snag an overhead projection with a whip and swing safely across a chasm. Based on the opening scene. Plausible Adam and Jamie built a chasm from shipping containers, with a width of to match the scene, and hung a thick wooden post above to stand for the log. After several attempts, Adam was able to wrap the end of his whip around the post and pull it tight; however, when he tried to swing across, his weight caused the whip to come loose and he fell into the padding below. He and Jamie covered the post with sandpaper to simulate bark on an actual log, and the additional friction allowed Adam to complete the swing. He and Jamie classified the myth as plausible.
Episode 225 – "A-Team Special" Original air date: January 24, 2015
Adam and Jamie test two scenes from the television series The A-Team.
Log Shooter Myth Status Notes A cannon fashioned from a log can fire half-width 2-by-4 planks, fueled by a propane explosion and mounted on a forklift. Busted Adam cut a log to a length of , as used in the scene, and bored out its center to serve as the cannon barrel. Jamie connected the breech to a propane tank and set up a spark generator as the ignition system. Their first trials, with a 5-second propane charge, failed to ignite; Adam realized that the fuel/air mixture contained too much propane to be flammable. When they used a 1-second charge, the mixture ignited but the plank projectile remained in place.
Realizing that the space between the plank and the barrel wall allowed the combustion gases to escape, Adam machined a plastic plug to fit onto the end and seal the breech. The next test barely pushed the plank free of the cannon. Jamie then pumped oxygen into the breech along with the propane in an attempt to raise the explosion pressure. The first test with this mixture launched the plank across the workshop at high speed, but also split the cannon along its length. After patching it together, they tried several other propane/oxygen ratios but were unable to get a satisfactory launch.
Declaring the myth busted at this point, they traveled to an abandoned lumber yard and gave themselves one hour to build a workable board launcher from tools and supplies on hand. They built a device similar to a baseball pitching machine, using an air-powered torque wrench to spin a trailer wheel at high speed and hurl boards fed to it from an ammunition hopper. With the rig mounted on a swiveling/tilting carriage carried by a forklift, they were able to hit a group of pop-up targets arranged as they were in the scene and achieve projectile speeds near .
Sewer Blast Myth Status Notes An explosion inside a sewer can propel a manhole cover up into a pursuing car, disabling it without injuring the people inside or any bystanders. Plausible For a control test, Adam and Jamie set up a stationary car at an abandoned quarry and placed nine sticks of dynamite on the ground beneath it, matching the explosive charge in the scene. They put Buster in the driver's seat, wired with sensors to measure the blast, and also placed plywood cutouts at distances of and to gauge shrapnel injuries. The explosion destroyed the car, with the blast wave spreading to either side from underneath and subjecting the bystanders to a lethal pressure of . Buster's sensors gave a peak of - survivable, but with multiple severe injuries.
They then dug a trench and covered it with metal plates and dirt to create a sewer with a manhole. One end was left open to the atmosphere in order to replicate an actual sewer system with areas for gases to expand. They set the dynamite just below the surface of the open manhole, put the cover in place, and placed a second car directly above it, with Buster and the bystanders positioned as before. This time, the blast briefly lifted the car into the air and inflicted much less damage than in the control test. Buster and the bystanders experienced pressures of and , respectively, both survivable with minor injuries. Adam and Jamie decided that the myth was plausible.
Episode 226 – "Video Game Special" Original air date: January 31, 2015
Adam and Jamie test two video game scenarios.
Doom Myth Status Notes It is possible to carry and deploy a large range of supplies and weapons without significantly hindering the user's mobility, as in Doom or another first-person shooter. Plausible In an abandoned building at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Adam and Jamie set up an environment to replicate a Doom game level with advice from id Software creative director Tim Willits. Weapons and supplies were weighted to match their real-world counterparts (total weight ), and crew members stood in for the enemies.