When I saw the promo, I thought the idea of using a water stream as a current path for a stungun was a good one. But Adam & Jamie showed there were a lot of problems with the idea. I hadn't considered the difficulty of getting a continuous stream (though I should've remembered the similar myths they've done about urination on an electrified fence or a third rail of a subway -- though I try not to think too much about those kinds of myth). Plus there's the resistance issue and the impracticality of getting a supply of salt water.
I was thinking that maybe if this couldn't work as a sidearm-type thing, maybe it could work as a crowd control device with a hose or something, but after that last test, I doubt it. As we saw, the stream from Jamie's gun didn't actually reach the target intact; it just let the current get close enough to the target to arc the rest of the way through the air. And it takes an immense, no doubt lethal voltage to overcome the resistance of water and air enough to do that.
But Jamie actually sat inside a Tesla coil and fired lightning! How cool is that?
On the extinguisher thing, I disagree with their Plausible assessment, because the intent of the myth is that it's the actual contents of the fire extinguisher that douse the flames, rather than the force of the explosion dispersing the fuel. So what actually happened is not what the myth specifies. Maybe you could say that the result is plausible, but the proposed mechanism is totally busted.
The firewalking thing was informative. I'd always understood that the reason firewalkers didn't get burned was because the coals are traditionally surrounded by wet grass and the water on the feet provides insulation from the heat. I'm surprised the Mythbusters didn't even mention that part, because it's sort of the stock explanation for how firewalking works. But the explanations they gave actually make more sense than that alone. I mean, your feet can't get too wet from walking across damp grass. Maybe it helps a little, but the factors they cited here -- briefness of contact, light steps, the insulating properties of charcoal and ash -- are probably a lot more important.
I was thinking that maybe if this couldn't work as a sidearm-type thing, maybe it could work as a crowd control device with a hose or something, but after that last test, I doubt it. As we saw, the stream from Jamie's gun didn't actually reach the target intact; it just let the current get close enough to the target to arc the rest of the way through the air. And it takes an immense, no doubt lethal voltage to overcome the resistance of water and air enough to do that.
But Jamie actually sat inside a Tesla coil and fired lightning! How cool is that?
On the extinguisher thing, I disagree with their Plausible assessment, because the intent of the myth is that it's the actual contents of the fire extinguisher that douse the flames, rather than the force of the explosion dispersing the fuel. So what actually happened is not what the myth specifies. Maybe you could say that the result is plausible, but the proposed mechanism is totally busted.
The firewalking thing was informative. I'd always understood that the reason firewalkers didn't get burned was because the coals are traditionally surrounded by wet grass and the water on the feet provides insulation from the heat. I'm surprised the Mythbusters didn't even mention that part, because it's sort of the stock explanation for how firewalking works. But the explanations they gave actually make more sense than that alone. I mean, your feet can't get too wet from walking across damp grass. Maybe it helps a little, but the factors they cited here -- briefness of contact, light steps, the insulating properties of charcoal and ash -- are probably a lot more important.
