Mythbusters: Giant Slingshot Episode

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The discussion revolves around the TV show "MythBusters," focusing on the show's experiments and the validity of its conclusions. Participants express concerns about the accuracy of the experiments, particularly regarding the water bottle rocket episode, where they believe the show prematurely declared a myth as "busted" without fully exploring the possibilities of making the contraption work. There is debate over the show's methodology, with some arguing that the experiments often fail to replicate the original scenarios accurately, leading to flawed conclusions. The conversation touches on the difference between theoretical and practical possibilities, with some asserting that just because something can theoretically be done doesn't mean it can be achieved in practice. Overall, the thread highlights a mix of admiration for the show's entertainment value and criticism of its scientific rigor, with participants questioning the show's approach to myth testing and the implications of its findings.
tribdog
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You ever watch mythbusters? right now I'm watching the giant slingshot episode. It worries me that I am seeing exactly where they are going to run into problems before they run into them. Not because I forsee the problems, but because I've made them myself.
 
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:smile: Ah, sounds like a classic tribdog moment. :approve: I rather liked the one where they were going to jet-propel the one woman with a pack of bottle rockets on her back. They gave up when the mannequin they were testing it on kept doing a face-plant into the side of the dock they were trying to launch them off. :smile:
 
Ummm perhaps you should need to worry any more unless you just built yours today and had planned on trying it out tomorrow.
 
Moonbear said:
:smile: Ah, sounds like a classic tribdog moment. :approve: I rather liked the one where they were going to jet-propel the one woman with a pack of bottle rockets on her back. They gave up when the mannequin they were testing it on kept doing a face-plant into the side of the dock they were trying to launch them off. :smile:
I couldn't believe that she actually agreed to do it. It's one of the reasons I fell in love with her.:!)
 
The show is an interesting concept, but I always think to myself that maybe they messed up somewhere when trying to recreate a scenario. I am suprised that the show airs huge mistakes, such as one episode where they were trying to ram two cars head on and missed.
 
the thing that drives me nuts about this show is they often say "it can't be done" but should say "we can't do it."
that water bottle contraption could be made to work
 
tribdog said:
the thing that drives me nuts about this show is they often say "it can't be done" but should say "we can't do it."
that water bottle contraption could be made to work
Technically, I think they mean they can't do it as described or just following the instructions, not that it couldn't be done if modified drastically from the original plans.
 
Moonbear said:
Technically, I think they mean they can't do it as described or just following the instructions, not that it couldn't be done if modified drastically from the original plans.

Yah, when they do something they are usually following someones specifications.
 
nope, I don't think that's what they mean. I think they used to do things that way, but the new "helpers" think their experiments totally disprove the myths, but I've seen a couple where they got maybe 80% towards successfully recreating a myth and called it proof it couldn't be done.
 
  • #10
tribdog said:
the thing that drives me nuts about this show is they often say "it can't be done" but should say "we can't do it."
that water bottle contraption could be made to work

Like when? For the most part they are very good. You just like to complain.
 
  • #11
I like to complain? I complain less than anyone I"ve ever heard of.
 
  • #12
Stop complaining, woman.
 
  • #13
you want examples:
off the top of my head they say you can't die by peeing on the third rail. I've peed on an electric fence and got shocked so I know they are wrong
the water bottle rockets obviously have enough power, they just couldn't get them all to fire at the same time so they said it couldn't be done.
 
  • #14
the water bottle rockets obviously have enough power, they just couldn't get them all to fire at the same time so they said it couldn't be done

That one has enough power to make someone launch about 3-4 feet at most, not send someone flying off like in the myth, let's be realistic here. Peeing on the third rail, yeah, not possible buddy. The third rail is going to be furthest from the platform, and below the platform level. So if you can piss a stream 4 feet across and 2 feet down, and keep it a steady steam, Id like to see that...gimme a break.
 
  • #15
the third rail experiment wasn't from the platform, they were standing right over it.
the water bottles DO have enough power to launch someone a good distance. their scale models proved it. plus the myth they were trying to recreate was from a video they saw of someone launching themselves with water bottles. They tried recreating something that was already done and then proved it couldn't be even though they saw it. never let the facts ruin a good experiment
you give me a break.
you know, I don't care for your attitude
 
  • #16
They had to have been using a wire though, you just can't make a water rocket give such steady adn even thrust!
 
  • #17
doesn't need to be steady and even. just needs to be thrust
and it's not like they would be sputtering , the thrust is pretty even but steadily decreasing
 
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  • #18
didn't you people ever have one of those red and white plastic rockets that you put water in then pumped up? Those things flew pretty damn high
 
  • #19
I just like giving you a hard time, lol. Cant take the heat, stay outa the kitchen!
 
  • #20
tribdog said:
didn't you people ever have one of those red and white plastic rockets that you put water in then pumped up? Those things flew pretty damn high


So does a model rocket. But if I strap on a couple thousand of those little rockets, I am not going to the moon, am I? Its not a directly linear relationship.

doesn't need to be steady and even. just needs to be thrust
Yes, it does. Dont bash the busters if you don't know what your talking about.
 
  • #21
they only had to shoot the girl off the dock and into the water. they do not need steady even thrust to do that. it could be an explosion and accomplish that
and yes a couple thousand model rockets will launch you pretty damn far
how is it not a linear relationship?
 
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  • #22
tribdog said:
doesn't need to be steady and even. just needs to be thrust
and it's not like they would be sputtering , the thrust is pretty even but steadily decreasing

Have you ever tried to fire off... hell, more then 2 motors on the same rocket?
 
  • #23
that doesn't mean it can't be done
It can be done, it's just hard to do. that's my point
 
  • #24
they only had to shoot the girl off the dock and into the water.

I thought the myth said they had to launch her significantly forward, not just 'into the water,' because she already acomplished that by doing a spin into the water.

they do not need steady even thrust to do that. it could be an explosion and accomplish that

Ah, what? This myth is with water bottle rockets, not explosions. Not applicable here.


and yes a couple thousand model rockets will launch you pretty damn far
Sorry, nope. The thrust of each of them is very small. Collectively, they will not fire at the same time, and you will have all sorts of rotations and no centric thrust. Plus, you have all that weigh in the casing of the small rockets. In one big rocket, you have all the fuel concentrated, with a proper nozzle and you can get the most umph out of it, that you won't get from a few dozzen small ones.

that doesn't mean it can't be done
It can be done, it's just hard to do. that's my point

And OUR point is that just becase something can be done in THEORY does NOT mean it can be done practically or in actuality.
 
  • #25
nobody said practically
and yes if it can be done theoretically then it can be done experimentally or the theory is no good.
what are you all a bunch of quitters?
 
  • #26
There was also a limit on the number of bottles they could use, IIRC.
 
  • #27
there was no limit, they calculated how many they would need, and used that to limit themselves
 
  • #28
tribdog said:
what are you all a bunch of quitters?
Of course not! Get your swim trunks on, and we'll just strap this next contraption to your back... :devil:
 
  • #29
nobody said practically

You don't seem to grasp the concept of the show. Its to show that you can reproduce a myth in REALITY! You been peeing on too many fences, your brain is fried.
 
  • #30
tribdog said:
nobody said practically
and yes if it can be done theoretically then it can be done experimentally or the theory is no good.
what are you all a bunch of quitters?

Well then absolutely everything they do on that show is confirmable because given extraordinary circumstances, they are all pretty much possible.
 
  • #31
no it isn't.
first they try to recreate the myth then they try to recreate the results by any means possible. you don't seem to grasp the concept of the show
 
  • #32
Yah but when they do it "by any means possible", that means the myth isn't correct!
 
  • #33
Pengwuino said:
Well then absolutely everything they do on that show is confirmable because given extraordinary circumstances, they are all pretty much possible.
most myths have some basis in possiblity or they wouldn't become myths
 
  • #34
tribdog said:
there was no limit, they calculated how many they would need, and used that to limit themselves

But weren't they following what was in some video? Shouldn't they have just counted how many that person had and use the same number? I thought that's what they were doing. As for them having seen it on a video, that's the whole point, to determine if the video is real or staged. For all we know, the person in the video could have been suspended from wires and pulleys just out of view of the camera.

I would have liked to see them work more on getting the bottles to fire simultaneously. It wasn't that they were a little off, they were a LOT off...a bunch didn't even release at all. I don't think they had entirely disproven it either, based on the inability to get them to fire simultaneously or even close to simultaneously, which wasn't something they had specifications on. I think they really called it off because they couldn't do it reliably enough to risk trying it on a real person, and they were running out of time to include it in the episode.
 
  • #35
tribdog said:
most myths have some basis in possiblity or they wouldn't become myths

That's not true at all.
 
  • #36
first they try to recreate the myth


Yeah exactly. So you tell me, if they can’t reproduce it time and time again, but 'in theory' it should be able to be done, how is that achieving the myth, gimme a breakkkkkkkkkkk.
 
  • #37
Pengwuino said:
Yah but when they do it "by any means possible", that means the myth isn't correct!
and those myths are busted. but there are a couple that I don't think they busted, they simply showed they couldn't do them. Their experiments were flawed or they didn't explore all the possibilities.
 
  • #38
http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/view?&h=240&w=320&type=msmedia&rurl=www.eng.uah.edu%2F%7Efrederic%2FBuffer&vurl=www.eng.uah.edu%2F%7Efrederic%2FBuffer%2Fbottle%2520rocket.wmv&back=p%3Dbottle%2Brocket%26ei%3DUTF-8%26fr%3Dslv1-&turl=re2.mm-so.yimg.com%2Fimage%2F1849296965&name=<b>bottle%20rocket</b>.wmv&no=1&tt=143&p=bottle+rocket&size=1.9MB&dur=68"


that looks fake as hell if you ask me.
 
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  • #39
cyrusabdollahi said:
http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/view?&h=240&w=320&type=msmedia&rurl=www.eng.uah.edu%2F%7Efrederic%2FBuffer&vurl=www.eng.uah.edu%2F%7Efrederic%2FBuffer%2Fbottle%2520rocket.wmv&back=p%3Dbottle%2Brocket%26ei%3DUTF-8%26fr%3Dslv1-&turl=re2.mm-so.yimg.com%2Fimage%2F1849296965&name=<b>bottle%20rocket</b>.wmv&no=1&tt=143&p=bottle+rocket&size=1.9MB&dur=68
that looks fake as hell if you ask me.
Sorry it was hurting my eyes.
 
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  • #40
Pengwuino said:
That's not true at all.
myths like the ones on the show where they can come up with experiments to prove or disprove them have some possiblity to them or what's the point of setting up an experiment. The ones that are flat out impossible wouldn't become wide spread. There has to be a kernal of truth or possible truth in them
 
  • #41
tribdog said:
and those myths are busted. but there are a couple that I don't think they busted, they simply showed they couldn't do them. Their experiments were flawed or they didn't explore all the possibilities.

Well you need to realize that they DO do the experiments very thoroughly, it's just that you never get to see most of it. If you've ever seen like... dvd versions, on-demand discovery channel versions, and ESPECIALLY the re-visits, you'll realize that they do a lot of work on each myth and do try to approach in many different ways and do the experiments as best as possible.
 
  • #42
jesus christ okay. mythbusters are gods. I don't know what I was thinking. it is safe to pee on third rails and it is impossible to make a rocket using compressed liquid as the propellant. what was I thinking. you all win. you are all such smart people you know that there is no difference between difficult and impossible.
 
  • #43
Well, I am glad were all in agree ment here.
 
  • #44
YAY! I'm going to go pee on the third rail now!
 
  • #45
can't say I'm nonconformist
 
  • #46
you late night people are too confrontational for me. I'm going to bed
 
  • #47
I will haunt you in your dreams MUAHHAHAHH!
 
  • #48
probably, but I'll hunt you down and kick your butt in real life
 
  • #49
Bring it on old man!
 
  • #50
make up your mind, old man or woman?
 

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