Geek Picnic and the Best Myths of MythBusters
Hi, Geektimes! Today we have a guest post from our friends, the organizers of the festival Geek Picnic . The festival will be held on June 18–19 in Moscow, and on June 25–26 in St. Petersburg. The program includes a lecture by Jamie Heineman, one of the leaders in the “Destroyers of Legends” program, a tesla show, cosplay opera, live broadcast with the ISS astronauts, a fire-breathing robot dragon and a whole lot more. We are going on a picnic, which is what you want.
The master of the explosions and the chief destroyer of legends, Jamie Heineman, is traveling to Russia. At the Geek Picnic festival in St. Petersburg and in Moscow, you can personally tell Jamie “Thank you for our happy childhood!”. In the meantime, we will recall the 10 most interesting myths of the MythBusters.
It was the 4th season of the Destroyers. On the Internet, video was gaining popularity, where mixing Mentos and Diet Coke, people arranged improvised geysers, beating from the bottle neck. There were many explanations for the reaction, they did not come to a common opinion. Then Adam and Jamie conducted an experiment, according to the results of which, for the first time in the history of the program, the rating was not "rebutted", "believable" or "confirmed". During the filming of the episode, the team used 101 bottles of diet cola and 523 Mentos candies.
It turned out that a small fountain is formed due to carbon dioxide CO2 contained in any soda. But to get a big geyser, you need a sugar substitute aspartame, potassium benzoate, caffeine, which are part of dietary cola, and gelatin and gum arabic used in the manufacture of Mentos.
The process of geyser formation is based on the nucleation process. Due to the fact that the surface of the candy is covered with tiny pores, each becomes a nucleation site where carbon dioxide bubbles form.
In the first season of the Mythbusters, Adam and Jamie checked to see if you can blow up a gas station with your cell phone if it rings at the wrong time.
To test the myth, the team built a camera out of lexan - a super-durable polycarbonate, which is used to create airplanes and racing cars. In the middle, a security line was drawn up so that in the event of a strong explosion, the polycarbonate walls and aluminum joints would remain intact.
To ensure a high concentration of flammable gasoline vapors, Jamie used a spray bottle and then put the phone in the cell.
The result of the experiment was disappointing for lovers of explosions: a working cell phone does not provoke an explosion, even surrounded by gasoline vapors in a concentration sufficient to ignite.
But these are not all the conclusions that Adam and Jamie came to. This risk is a charge of static electricity on the driver’s clothing, which often gets out of the car during refueling. When an electrified material touches the neck of a gas tank or gasoline, an explosion occurs.
After testing the composition of poppy seed pods, the “destroyers” found out that the milky juice was used to produce morphine. That, in turn, underlies the synthetic heroin drug. Thus, if you eat a large amount of poppy, you can easily fail a drug test.
A whole episode of Adam and Jamie devoted to how to outwit the police radar using improvised means.
First, the leaders wrapped the car with foil, which acted as a powerful reflector of the waves emitted by the radar and even made it easier to determine the speed. Then they hung a mirror ball and a compact disk to the rear-view mirror, installed LEDs in the front room, painted the car in matt black. While the car was driving, the presenters jingled a bunch of keys and fired pieces of tin foil, imitating dipole anti-radar reflectors. None of this helped absorb the waves of the radar.
Of the ten myths, destroyers have confirmed only one. If you attach a mirror wheel on the roof, spinning more slowly than a car goes, it will make the radar assume that the car is going 3 km / h slower than it actually is.
To test this theory, Adam and Jamie pushed stories about accidents near high-rise buildings in American metropolitan areas. "Destroyers" found out that after 100 meters the coin stops accelerating. The maximum speed of the coin is no more than 100 km / h. At the same time, the weight of the coin is insufficient to inflict any damage on a person.
In addition, the upward air currents also affect the coin, and a sufficiently strong wind will pick up the small object and bring it back.
Adam and Jamie devoted a whole issue to testing the ancient legend, which said that Archimedes set fire to Roman ships that had besieged Syracuse in 212 BC. e. during the Second Punic War.
According to one version, an ancient Greek physicist built a machine concentrating reflected sunlight. According to another, from a distance of 50 meters, the scientist used soldiers' shields, polished to a shine, or copper mirrors of Siracusa girls.
As a result of experiments, the myth about the heroism of Archimedes was refuted. In order for the temperature of the tree to rise by at least a few degrees, the mirror must be much larger than the 70 mirrors stated in the legend.
As in the case of the coin, this myth has been disproved. The maximum speed of the card is 250 km / h, when the “destroyers” built the car out of two quickly rotating rollers. But even with this device, the playing card could only slightly scratch Jamie’s skin.
Using a crystal goblet, Adam and Jamie proved that it can be broken using an amplifier and speakers. And vocal coach Jamie Vender managed to break the glass with his voice, which finally confirmed the myth.
However, to put out the fire, the human voice is not enough. For this, a pure tone is needed, which will create pressure waves that disturb the air so that the fire will blow.
In addition, to test this myth, the “destroyers” did not miss the opportunity to blow something up, proving that the front of the shock wave and the next vacuum after it knocks down the flame and does not allow it to flare up.
To discuss the plausibility of the abilities of heroes from comics and films is quite meaningless. But “MythBusters” decided to check the situations that an ordinary person would repeat.
For example, movie characters often climb walls with an anchor rope. Jamie was able to achieve the maximum result by climbing with the help of a winch by 8 meters in 20 seconds. However, this result was not enough to confirm the myth.
Plots are also popular when a superhero punches an opponent with his fist so much that it leaves a scar that resembles a pattern on his ring. To test this myth, "destroyers" constructed a target from a human skull covered with pigskin. A blow with the power of a professional boxer caused damage, but did not make a mark. Then the team came to the conclusion that a superhero strike would have pierced the skull, eliminating the possibility of leaving an imprint.
Only one superhero myth was confirmed. Those who are still wondering how superheroes can instantly change everyday clothes to a suit will be impressed by the results of the experiment of Adam and Jamie. It turns out that an ordinary person can change clothes in just 33 seconds.
In cartoons, the situation when a child accidentally lifts into the air and carries away a sheaf of balloons inflated with helium is popular.
However, the “destroyers” found out that an average four-year-old child can fly just a meter, if he is tied to a bundle with 3500 balloons. Of course, such a situation is unlikely to happen by chance.
This year, the creators of Geek Picnic decided to challenge the "Destroyers of Legends" by arranging flights for children on balloons during the festival in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
June 18 - 19 - Moscow, Kolomenskoye Park ; June 25 - 26 - Petersburg, Gorky Park of them. Kirov .
Program and tickets: geek-picnic.me
“Any day when we manage to make a row like this, it's not for nothing!”
The master of the explosions and the chief destroyer of legends, Jamie Heineman, is traveling to Russia. At the Geek Picnic festival in St. Petersburg and in Moscow, you can personally tell Jamie “Thank you for our happy childhood!”. In the meantime, we will recall the 10 most interesting myths of the MythBusters.
Why "Mentos" + cola = "geyser"?
It was the 4th season of the Destroyers. On the Internet, video was gaining popularity, where mixing Mentos and Diet Coke, people arranged improvised geysers, beating from the bottle neck. There were many explanations for the reaction, they did not come to a common opinion. Then Adam and Jamie conducted an experiment, according to the results of which, for the first time in the history of the program, the rating was not "rebutted", "believable" or "confirmed". During the filming of the episode, the team used 101 bottles of diet cola and 523 Mentos candies.
It turned out that a small fountain is formed due to carbon dioxide CO2 contained in any soda. But to get a big geyser, you need a sugar substitute aspartame, potassium benzoate, caffeine, which are part of dietary cola, and gelatin and gum arabic used in the manufacture of Mentos.
The process of geyser formation is based on the nucleation process. Due to the fact that the surface of the candy is covered with tiny pores, each becomes a nucleation site where carbon dioxide bubbles form.
Can gasoline explode if you talk on a cell phone while refueling a car?
In the first season of the Mythbusters, Adam and Jamie checked to see if you can blow up a gas station with your cell phone if it rings at the wrong time.
To test the myth, the team built a camera out of lexan - a super-durable polycarbonate, which is used to create airplanes and racing cars. In the middle, a security line was drawn up so that in the event of a strong explosion, the polycarbonate walls and aluminum joints would remain intact.
To ensure a high concentration of flammable gasoline vapors, Jamie used a spray bottle and then put the phone in the cell.
The result of the experiment was disappointing for lovers of explosions: a working cell phone does not provoke an explosion, even surrounded by gasoline vapors in a concentration sufficient to ignite.
But these are not all the conclusions that Adam and Jamie came to. This risk is a charge of static electricity on the driver’s clothing, which often gets out of the car during refueling. When an electrified material touches the neck of a gas tank or gasoline, an explosion occurs.
If you eat poppy pie, drug test will give a positive result?
After testing the composition of poppy seed pods, the “destroyers” found out that the milky juice was used to produce morphine. That, in turn, underlies the synthetic heroin drug. Thus, if you eat a large amount of poppy, you can easily fail a drug test.
Can I fool the police radar?
A whole episode of Adam and Jamie devoted to how to outwit the police radar using improvised means.
First, the leaders wrapped the car with foil, which acted as a powerful reflector of the waves emitted by the radar and even made it easier to determine the speed. Then they hung a mirror ball and a compact disk to the rear-view mirror, installed LEDs in the front room, painted the car in matt black. While the car was driving, the presenters jingled a bunch of keys and fired pieces of tin foil, imitating dipole anti-radar reflectors. None of this helped absorb the waves of the radar.
Of the ten myths, destroyers have confirmed only one. If you attach a mirror wheel on the roof, spinning more slowly than a car goes, it will make the radar assume that the car is going 3 km / h slower than it actually is.
A coin dropped from a skyscraper, can develop enough speed to kill a pedestrian below?
To test this theory, Adam and Jamie pushed stories about accidents near high-rise buildings in American metropolitan areas. "Destroyers" found out that after 100 meters the coin stops accelerating. The maximum speed of the coin is no more than 100 km / h. At the same time, the weight of the coin is insufficient to inflict any damage on a person.
In addition, the upward air currents also affect the coin, and a sufficiently strong wind will pick up the small object and bring it back.
Is it true that Archimedes, having reflected the sunlight by a large number of mirrors, set fire to the Roman ships?
Adam and Jamie devoted a whole issue to testing the ancient legend, which said that Archimedes set fire to Roman ships that had besieged Syracuse in 212 BC. e. during the Second Punic War.
According to one version, an ancient Greek physicist built a machine concentrating reflected sunlight. According to another, from a distance of 50 meters, the scientist used soldiers' shields, polished to a shine, or copper mirrors of Siracusa girls.
As a result of experiments, the myth about the heroism of Archimedes was refuted. In order for the temperature of the tree to rise by at least a few degrees, the mirror must be much larger than the 70 mirrors stated in the legend.
A normal playing card, thrown with enough force, can kill a person?
As in the case of the coin, this myth has been disproved. The maximum speed of the card is 250 km / h, when the “destroyers” built the car out of two quickly rotating rollers. But even with this device, the playing card could only slightly scratch Jamie’s skin.
Is it possible to break a wine glass with a voice or extinguish a fire?
Using a crystal goblet, Adam and Jamie proved that it can be broken using an amplifier and speakers. And vocal coach Jamie Vender managed to break the glass with his voice, which finally confirmed the myth.
However, to put out the fire, the human voice is not enough. For this, a pure tone is needed, which will create pressure waves that disturb the air so that the fire will blow.
In addition, to test this myth, the “destroyers” did not miss the opportunity to blow something up, proving that the front of the shock wave and the next vacuum after it knocks down the flame and does not allow it to flare up.
How close are the actions of superheroes to reality?
To discuss the plausibility of the abilities of heroes from comics and films is quite meaningless. But “MythBusters” decided to check the situations that an ordinary person would repeat.
For example, movie characters often climb walls with an anchor rope. Jamie was able to achieve the maximum result by climbing with the help of a winch by 8 meters in 20 seconds. However, this result was not enough to confirm the myth.
Plots are also popular when a superhero punches an opponent with his fist so much that it leaves a scar that resembles a pattern on his ring. To test this myth, "destroyers" constructed a target from a human skull covered with pigskin. A blow with the power of a professional boxer caused damage, but did not make a mark. Then the team came to the conclusion that a superhero strike would have pierced the skull, eliminating the possibility of leaving an imprint.
Only one superhero myth was confirmed. Those who are still wondering how superheroes can instantly change everyday clothes to a suit will be impressed by the results of the experiment of Adam and Jamie. It turns out that an ordinary person can change clothes in just 33 seconds.
Can a bunch of balloons lift a child into the air?
In cartoons, the situation when a child accidentally lifts into the air and carries away a sheaf of balloons inflated with helium is popular.
However, the “destroyers” found out that an average four-year-old child can fly just a meter, if he is tied to a bundle with 3500 balloons. Of course, such a situation is unlikely to happen by chance.
This year, the creators of Geek Picnic decided to challenge the "Destroyers of Legends" by arranging flights for children on balloons during the festival in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
June 18 - 19 - Moscow, Kolomenskoye Park ; June 25 - 26 - Petersburg, Gorky Park of them. Kirov .
Program and tickets: geek-picnic.me