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MYTHBUSTERS: PRESIDENT'S CHALLENGE (TV)

Summary

One in this scientific reality series in which Hollywood special effects experts Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage test the veracity of popular urban legends. In this episode, President Barack Obama meets with Savage and Hyneman at the White House and declares himself a fan of the show, emphasizing the importance of young people’s interest in math and science. He then commissions the mythbusters to test the Archimedes Heat Ray, which allegedly used sunlight and reflective surfaces to set the sails of incoming Roman ships aflame during the Siege of Syracuse around 214 B.C. Hyneman and Savage acknowledge that they have tested and disproved the theory before, but Obama encourages them to try again with increased manpower. Elsewhere, Grant Imahara, Kari Byron and Tory Belleci perform an experiment of their own based on a scene from the 2004 film “Hellboy” in which the monstrous titular character, played by Ron Perlman, punches the hood of an oncoming SUV and causes it to flip over in midair.

Hyneman and Savage decide to use five hundred “Greek soldiers” armed with mirrors, and they attempt to design an “aiming device” that will allow the testers to point the sun’s reflection at one small focal point, thus maximizing the temperature on that spot. Hyneman employs a gun sight, but must factor in the constant movement of the sun. Savage has a “eureka moment” when he decides to use netting to help the “soldiers” aim accurately. They test their experiment on a smaller scale and use thermal imaging to check the temperature on the desired spot and discover that the netting does in fact help significantly. At the same time, the other three decide to drop a weight from a crane onto the front of a moving SUV, creating a pivot at the front end, and they perform experiments to determine the necessary mass to ground the “nose” of the car. They find that the “fist” hitting the car needs to be 1,500 pounds and drop from a height of twenty feet, and so they create a steel rod of the proper proportions. Their many subsequent tests are unsuccessful, however, when it proves difficult to hit the remote-operated moving car in the proper spot. They alter the plan and design a method of controlling the car’s movement, but when the “fist” makes contact with the correct spot, the SUV still does not flip. They change the variables of the car’s speed and the weight of the steel rod, but discover that the force is too close to the fulcrum for it to ever flip under those conditions, and the myth is officially “busted.”

Hyneman and Savage prepare several hundred double-sided mirrors and recreate an authentic Roman boat, and Hyneman dons “period-correct safety gear” and plays the role of the villainous invader. They employ the help of five hundred middle and high school students and explain the plan in detail, instructing them to aim for a small spot on the flammable sail. The glass sides of the mirrors prove more effective in raising the sail’s temperature than the Mylar sides, but it still does not reach the required 410 degrees Fahrenheit, even as the boat draws closer to the shore. Hyneman lobs “flaming” tennis balls at the “soldiers” as he approaches, and they eventually conclude that this myth too has been “busted,” as the sail does not burst into flame. Imahara, Byron and Belleci decide to figure out what unrealistic circumstances would be necessary to actually flip the car, and they add a protruding lever on the SUV’s roof, first testing it with a toy. Left with only one real car to test, they are nervous about the results and are pleased when the lever causes the back of the car to rise considerably from the ground when hit with the weight, but it still does not flip dramatically like in the film, and the stunt is once again “busted.” Back at the White House, Hyneman and Savage inform Obama of their results, and he thanks them for their work. Commercials deleted.

Details

  • NETWORK: Discovery
  • DATE: December 8, 2010 9:00 PM
  • RUNNING TIME: 0:42:51
  • COLOR/B&W: Color
  • CATALOG ID: 106001
  • GENRE: Reality
  • SUBJECT HEADING: Reality; Science - Experiments
  • SERIES RUN: Discovery - TV series, 2003-2016
  • COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

  • Judith Plavnik … Executive Producer
  • Clare Mandile … Associate Producer
  • Eric Haven … Associate Producer
  • Dennis Kwon … Associate Producer
  • Keith Jodoin … Segment Producer
  • Peter Rees … Created by
  • Mark Barlin … Writer
  • Steve Matthews … Writer
  • Alice Dallow … Director
  • Jamie Hyneman … Host
  • Adam Savage … Host
  • Grant Imahara … Host
  • Kari Byron … Host
  • Tory Belleci … Host
  • Robert Lee … Narrator
  • Archimedes
  • Barack Obama
  • Ron Perlman