Mythbusters 7x03 "Banana Slip/Double Dip" - Discuss and Grade
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I'm interested to see what they find out about double dipping. I remember way back when they tested about the 5 minute rule and all the germs that actually accumulate on the food. I also remember the test way way back when they found out how much fecal matter collects on a tooth brush kept in the bathroom next to a toilet, that one was really shocking!
Given the number of times Adam has slipped just by being goofy, I can't imagine what he'll do to a banana peel...
5-Second rule.
And Food Networks' version of "Mythbusters" has tested double-dipping before too.
Oh, Seinfeld.
^Mythbusters did test the five second rule in season three's "Chinese Invasion Alarm".
The myth was busted, there was no significant difference between the amount of bacteria collected in two seconds on the floor and the amount collected in six seconds.
The myth was busted, there was no significant difference between the amount of bacteria collected in two seconds on the floor and the amount collected in six seconds.
Not fecal matter -- fecal coliform bacteria, a species of microbe that inhabits the human colon. Not the same thing, any more than, say, deer ticks are the same thing as deer. The bacteria themselves are essentially harmless, although they're often found alongside other microbes that are pathogenic.
Well, it was just K-Y.
Anyway.
First thing that sprung to mind is that Jamie walked through the course in heavy-duty work boots which have havier duty soles and far more likely to resist slipping than, say, the tennis shoes Adam is wearing would.
Yeah, palusable but it's not a guarantee is it is according to the Laws of Comedy.
Ugh, that shot of Jamie/Adam spitting out the Ranch dip makes me sicker than the "animal lube."
And the "making diamonds" myth strikes me as an incredible waste of time, but whatever.
I still feel had Jamie been wearing regular or "more common" shoes during their initial test his likelyhood of slipping would've been greater.
Oh, and between this episode and the episode with the fruit stand vs. car it seems to me this season Mythbusters have something against produce.
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Ok. Wouldn't the "Control" still work even if bacteria still grew? I mean there's bacteria on and in just abot everything. Dips and Salsas aren't sterile substances. So they should still work as a "Control" in showing how much bacteria is just in the stuff to begin with. Their further tests (dipping, double dipping, whole mouth) would then show bacteria growth over what is already in it.
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Ok. Someone is going to have to explain to me the use and "value" in this "Pitchmen" series.
Well, yeah, there's bacteria everywhere.
And to parphrase Adam at the end of the segment, "that's why you have an immune system!"
Agreed on both points. The myth probably originated with people walking along a city street in the kind of shoes that a man walking to work in the late 1800s or early 1900s would wear, and that would probably be a pretty flat sole without a lot of traction. I gather that the trope does have a basis in reality, back when bananas first became popular and their peels became a major component of urban litter.
I wonder if all the peeled bananas got eaten by somebody or just thrown away.
Diamonds: Proof that the host segments are pre-scripted: Kari proposes a "winner-takes-all" contest for making diamonds, then immediately calls dibs on the method that seems by far least likely to have any results.
I'm surprised they didn't even get any microscopic diamonds. Any acetylene blowtorch creates microscopic diamond crystals in its soot, along with a few fullerenes, or so I've read.
I find it ironic that their much-hyped "biggest explosion ever" looked so unimpressive. The thing is, the more powerful the explosion, the quicker it burns out or blows apart the reactants, and so with something this big, the flash/flame is burned out so briefly that you can't even see it except on highspeed. Visually, it might as well have just been a few mortars kicking up dust.
Of course, the real myth is that diamonds are precious at all. Their scarcity is artificial, arranged by the big diamond conglomerates, which limit mining to drive up the price. The idea of them as these precious romantic gems was created by a marketing campaign. And of course it's possible with modern technology to make synthetic gem-quality diamonds that are consistently better and purer than the naturally occurring kind. So diamonds really aren't that special. They just have really good PR.
Double dipping: I felt the initial "discarded" result was the most informative. As Adam said at the end, the amount of bacteria you add by double-dipping is trivial compared to the amount that's already present on the dip and chips to begin with. Although I wonder if it makes a difference what types of bacteria they are.
Well, I can see why they did it. Compare the results at the end to what they got just from the basic chips and dip, and you can tell that any results would've been swamped; it would've been impossible to measure any meaningful difference between the samples. So in order to test the second part of the myth -- that it's the same for a double-dip as for the whole mouth -- it was necessary to eliminate the "noise" in order to discern the "signal." But yes, the meaningful result is that it doesn't matter in a real situation.
Agreed on both points. The myth probably originated with people walking along a city street in the kind of shoes that a man walking to work in the late 1800s or early 1900s would wear, and that would probably be a pretty flat sole without a lot of traction. I gather that the trope does have a basis in reality, back when bananas first became popular and their peels became a major component of urban litter.
I wonder if all the peeled bananas got eaten by somebody or just thrown away.
Diamonds: Proof that the host segments are pre-scripted: Kari proposes a "winner-takes-all" contest for making diamonds, then immediately calls dibs on the method that seems by far least likely to have any results.
I'm surprised they didn't even get any microscopic diamonds. Any acetylene blowtorch creates microscopic diamond crystals in its soot, along with a few fullerenes, or so I've read.
I find it ironic that their much-hyped "biggest explosion ever" looked so unimpressive. The thing is, the more powerful the explosion, the quicker it burns out or blows apart the reactants, and so with something this big, the flash/flame is burned out so briefly that you can't even see it except on highspeed. Visually, it might as well have just been a few mortars kicking up dust.
Of course, the real myth is that diamonds are precious at all. Their scarcity is artificial, arranged by the big diamond conglomerates, which limit mining to drive up the price. The idea of them as these precious romantic gems was created by a marketing campaign. And of course it's possible with modern technology to make synthetic gem-quality diamonds that are consistently better and purer than the naturally occurring kind. So diamonds really aren't that special. They just have really good PR.
Double dipping: I felt the initial "discarded" result was the most informative. As Adam said at the end, the amount of bacteria you add by double-dipping is trivial compared to the amount that's already present on the dip and chips to begin with. Although I wonder if it makes a difference what types of bacteria they are.
Well, I can see why they did it. Compare the results at the end to what they got just from the basic chips and dip, and you can tell that any results would've been swamped; it would've been impossible to measure any meaningful difference between the samples. So in order to test the second part of the myth -- that it's the same for a double-dip as for the whole mouth -- it was necessary to eliminate the "noise" in order to discern the "signal." But yes, the meaningful result is that it doesn't matter in a real situation.
Indeed.
Infact, I'm surprised so much bacteria exsisted in the initial samples. Esp. the salsa. I would think the acidity of the tomatoes and any salts added for seasoning would make the salsa pretty inhospitable for bacteria. But I guess it really did show how "clean" our mouths are.
I mean, if you practice good hygiene you give it a real good cleaning twice a day.
Considering how much bacteria grew in their "Sterile Dip" I doubt a few spittles would've generated that much bacteria.