MythBusters (2012 season)
The cast of the television series MythBusters perform experiments to verify or debunk urban legends, old wives' tales, and the like. This is a list of the various myths tested on the show as well as the results of the experiments.
On February 28, 2012, Discovery Channel announced that the 2012 season would commence airing on March 25, 2012. The season aired in a Sunday time slot, instead of its previous Wednesday time slot.
Cannonball accident
On December 6, 2011, while taping for the "Cannonball Chemistry" story, a home-made cannon test sent a cannonball through a residential neighborhood in Dublin, California. No one was injured, but the cannonball did considerable property damage, crashing through the walls of a family's house and landing in a car.Episode overview
| No. in series | No. in season | Title | Original air date | Overall episode No. |
Episode 179 – "Duct Tape Island"
- Original air date: March 25, 2012
Duct Tape Island Survival
Marooned on a tropical island with only a pallet of duct tape, Adam and Jamie had to use it to perform the tasks needed for survival. Their goals were to...| Myth | Status | Notes |
| ...build a distress signal. | Confirmed | They built a giant SOS on the beach, weighted down with rocks at the corners and visible from altitudes up to. Jamie noted that the tape's gray color made it a less-than-ideal material for attracting attention. |
| ...make clothing. | Confirmed | While building the signal, the heat and exertion began to take their toll on Adam, so he made a sun hat. Both men later made sandals from branches and tape to protect their feet as they moved around the island. |
| ...find fresh water. | Confirmed | Adam found a pond, but Jamie warned against drinking the water because it was stagnant. After a night of sleeping on emergency mats made by sticking tape strands directly to the ground, they searched separately the next day. Jamie built a solar still on the beach, using the plastic overwrap from the original pallet in addition to tape, but collected only a few ounces of water after several hours. Adam followed areas of lush vegetation and eventually found a freshwater spring; he then made a container to carry several liters of water back to Jamie. |
| ...find food. | Confirmed | Jamie made spears from tree limbs and tape and successfully caught fish with them, while Adam hunted wild chickens in the forest. He tried to use a snare without success, then put together a tape net and camouflaged it, planning to reel it off the ground when a chicken ran over it. The first chicken slipped out of the net, but Adam was able to catch and hold the next one. Adam later noted that he and Jamie did not cook the chicken, but instead ate food provided by the crew in its place. |
| ...build a fire. | Confirmed | Adam built a bamboo bow drill, using tape as the string. After several attempts and broken strings, he successfully got a fire going. |
| ...build a shelter. | Confirmed | Adam strung up tape hammocks in a clearing and added overhead canopies and floor mats. He also put together chairs, a table, and a chess set using pieces of wood. |
| ...stay focused. | Confirmed | Jamie took some time to experiment with building a surfboard from tape pontoons and teaching himself to use it. Although his own inexperience and a series of leaks ultimately caused the project to fail, he noted that it did succeed in keeping his mind sharp and occupied. The chess set in the shelter also helped both men in this respect. |
| ...escape the island. | Confirmed | Adam and Jamie set out to build a seaworthy craft that could hold them and several days' worth of supplies. They designed a canoe with an outrigger for stability, using a bamboo frame and a tape hull, and put together an impromptu worktable to keep dirt out of the tape as they worked. After six hours of construction, they launched the canoe and steered it into the oncoming breakers with little trouble. Seven hours later, Adam sighted land and they put ashore—on the island they had just left. |
Episode 180 – "Fire vs. Ice"
- Original air date: April 1, 2012
Fire vs. Ice
Dust Devil
Episode 181 – "Square Wheels"
- Original air date: April 8, 2012
Square Wheels
Date Night Car
Inspired by a scene in the film Date Night, in which a taxicab and sports sedan stuck together by their front bumpers perform a series of maneuvers in city streets. The Build Team obtained two cars similar to those used in the scene, tore off their front bumpers, and built a hitch to hold them together nose-to-nose. Driving at, with Tory in the cab and Grant and Kari in the sedan, they tested the cars' ability to...| Myth | Status | Notes |
| ...drive in a straight line. | Confirmed | For the first test, Grant and Kari successfully pushed Tory backwards, but could not steer very well. They obtained a similar result in reverse, with the cab pushing the sedan. |
| ...go around a 90-degree turn. | Busted | Grant and Kari began by pushing Tory, but were unable to turn. When they introduced changes to replicate the movie scene more closely—wet pavement, bald rear tires on the cab—they obtained the same result. However, one last test with Tory pushing caused the cars to overshoot the turn and veer off in the opposite direction. Grant hypothesized that this result was due to the fact that the cab had rear-wheel drive, while the sedan had all-wheel drive; the cab's rear wheels slid out when it lost traction in the attempted turn. |
| ...complete a 180-degree spin. | Confirmed | After receiving some tips in defensive driving, Tory pushed Grant and Kari at toward a patch of wet pavement. When they turned their steering wheels in opposite directions, the cars went through a 180-degree spin, suffering some damage to their wheels and tires. Grant explained that the film maneuver was accomplished with extensive car modifications and a stunt driver. |
Episode 182 – "Swinging Pirates"
- Original air date: April 15, 2012
Pirate Swing
| Myth statement | Status | Notes |
| ...swing over to one side of a ravine, using only their own body weight. | Busted | They built a cage from steel tubing and tested it for safety and ability to swing, then took it to a firefighter training facility with a building that could be used as a cliff. With the cage hanging on an cable held up by a construction crane, they were unable to get it to swing on their own. Four circus trapeze performers were brought in to replicate the size of the group in the film scene, but the six still could not reach the building. One final attempt with the cable shortened to failed as well, so Adam and Jamie declared this portion of the myth busted. |
| ...grab and hold on to vines on the ravine's vertical face. | Plausible | A section of rope rigging was hung from the building to represent the vines in the movie scene. When the crew hauled the cage back and let it swing over, the six prisoners were able to grab hold and keep their grip. |
| ...climb to the top of the ravine. | Plausible | They climbed to the top of the rigging and pulled down a Jolly Roger flag hung there. |
Ballistics Barrel
Episode 183 – "Battle of the Sexes"
- Original air date: April 22, 2012
| Myth statement | Status | Notes |
| Men are better overall drivers, but break the speed limit more often. | Confirmed / Busted | Adam and Jamie had the volunteers drive a police vehicle course, accompanied by a professional instructor who graded them on a 100-point scale. Volunteers did not speak and wore special clothing to disguise their genders. The men earned a higher average score ; in addition, seven of the men broke the speed limit, while nine of the women did. |
| Women are better at reading people's emotions based on their eyes. | Confirmed | Adam, Jamie, and the Build Team had their pictures taken while showing expressions for five different emotions. Jamie's pictures were not used because his expression did not change noticeably from one picture to the next. The eyes of the other pictures were displayed to the volunteers, who had to guess the emotions. The women responded more quickly than the men and achieved a higher average number of correct responses. |
| Men are better at cooking on an outdoor grill. | Busted | Adam and Jamie set up four outdoor grilling stations and split the volunteers into groups of four to cook at the same time. Provided with the same ingredients, each had one hour to cook the same four dishes—vegetables, a chicken drumstick, a hamburger, and a steak. Adam, Jamie, and Ric Gilbert, a California Barbecue Association Hall of Fame Pit Master and Certified BBQ Judge, evaluated the food on a 100-point scale without knowing the cooks' genders. Average scores were 46 for the men and 42 for the women; Adam and Jamie decided that the difference was not large enough to declare that either gender was better at grilling. |
| Men are better at following maps. | Busted | The Build Team selected the start and end points for a highway drive and marked them on a map. Each volunteer studied the map for five minutes, then rode along to give directions to the destination as Grant drove. Kari and Tory, in the back seat, graded the performances on a 100-point scale and penalized for mistakes such as backtracking and excess mileage. The men and women earned a 74 and 77 average, respectively, too close to indicate an advantage for either gender. |
| Men are better at packing a car for a road trip. | Confirmed | Adam and Jamie brought in two similar cars, put together a load of luggage that would fit into either of them, and split the volunteers into 10 man/woman pairs. The load contained a combination of bulky and fragile items, as well as a doll to stand in for a baby. Pairs of volunteers had 15 minutes to pack separate cars, after which Adam drove them through a course while Jamie and Kari evaluated the overall quality of the packing jobs on a 100-point scale. The average score for the men was 51, while the women scored 45, with the men being able to pack the cars slightly faster, suggesting slightly better performance for the men. |
Episode 184 – "Driving in Heels"
- Original air date: April 29, 2012
Driving Dangerously
Super Adhesive Heroics
Episode 185 – "Revenge of the Myth"
- Original air date: May 6, 2012
Revenge of the Water Cannon
Fireworks Man 2
Bird Balance Limo
Excavator Viral Challenge
A challenge from viewers to try new feats using excavators, based on "Excavator Exuberance" from 2011. Adam and Jamie attempted to...| Myth statement | Status | Notes |
| ...thread a needle. | Confirmed | They set up a dummy and placed a needle in one hand, and attached a clamp to the excavator's bucket to hold a piece of thread. Jamie worked the machine while Adam guided him; after several minutes, the thread went through the eye of the needle. |
| ...pour a glass of wine. | Confirmed | A wineglass and sealed bottle were placed on a table, and the bucket was fitted with an attachment to pick up and hold the bottle. Once Adam had it in position and tilted to a suitable upward angle, he shot the cap off with a paintball gun, allowing the wine to pour into the glass. |
Episode 186 – "Bouncing Bullet"
- Original air date: May 13, 2012
Bouncing Bullets
Shock Wave Surf
Episode SP18 – "Mailbag Special"
- Original air date: May 20, 2012
Questions and Comments
Myths and Tests
Episode 187 – "Bubble Pack Plunge"
- Original air date: June 3, 2012
Bubble Boy
Bond Car Flip
Episode 188 – "Duel Dilemmas"
- Original air date: June 10, 2012
Duel Dilemma
Fire Dragon
Episode 189 – "Hollywood Gunslingers"
- Original air date: June 17, 2012
| Myth statement | Status | Notes |
| Bullets can retain lethal speed when fired into several feet of water. Based on a scene in the film . | Busted | Adam and Jamie presented footage from 2005's "Bulletproof Water" to demonstrate the manner in which bullets quickly lost speed after being fired into water. |
| Firing a bullet into the side of an airplane at altitude can cause a large amount of suction that massively expands the bullet hole and sucks out the passengers. | Busted | This was mentioned in the SBS version of the episode. Adam and Jamie presented footage from 2004's "Explosive Decompression", in which they failed to create a significant hole in a plane with a bullet despite the pressure differential, and only managed to damage the plane to the required extent by using actual explosives. |
Unlimited Ammo
Hollywood Stances
MAC-10 vs. Stairs
Nailgun Gun
Action vs. Reaction
Weird Bullets
Hero Never Hit
What Is Bulletproof?
Episode SP19 – "Jawsome Shark Special"
- Original air date: August 13, 2012
| Number | Title | Myth or episode featured | Result | Comments |
| 25 | Fighting Back | Jaws Special Eye Gouge | Plausible | Buster, then Jamie, then Adam each had a chance to drive sharks away by punching the snout and trying to gouge the eyes. |
| Super Senses | In addition to possessing acute senses, sharks can detect electromagnetic fields from their prey by using the ampullae of Lorenzini located in their snouts. | |||
| 23 | Chili | Busted | Testing hot peppers as a shark repellent | |
| Magnets | Animal Magnetism | Busted | Magnets proved effective at repelling baby sharks, but not full-grown ones. | |
| 21 | Dolphins | Supersize Shark | Confirmed | Myth: The presence of dolphins will deter sharks from attacking prey. |
| 20 | Super Strength | Jaws Special | Busted | A diving shark tethered to flotation barrels can pull them underwater and keep them submerged. |
| 19 | Super Strength | Jaws Special | Confirmed | A shark can ram a boat with enough force to punch a hole in its hull. |
| 18 | Shark Stop | Busted | Myth: Sharks will die of asphyxiation if they do not keep moving at all times. Although some can die in this manner, most cannot. | |
| 17 | Ancient Relics | Busted | Myth: Sharks have existed for 400 million years with no changes in their body structure. Although sharks have existed for that long, their current form emerged roughly 100 million years ago. | |
| 16 | The Smell of Fear | Busted | Myth: Sharks can smell a single drop of blood in a swimming pool. They did not respond to human blood, but did notice a drop of fish blood diluted 1 million times. However, the volume of water in a typical pool would dilute the blood billions of times and make it even harder to detect. | |
| 15 | Matching Sharks | Busted | Myth: All sharks have the same streamlined body shape and carnivorous feeding habits. Adam and Jamie presented facts about shark species that do not fit one or the other of these traits. | |
| 14 | The Yummy Hum | Supersize Shark | Busted | Myth: A particular sound frequency strongly attracts sharks. |
| 13 | Dog's Breakfast | Dog Bait | Busted | Building a robotic dog that could swim and release scents to match a real one. A dog owner volunteered to let the cast use his pet, but they decided not to take the risk of having a shark eat it. |
| 12 | Flapping Fish | Fish Flap | Confirmed | Test stopped early for Jamie's safety |
| 11 | Jaws Special | Confirmed | Jamie's first time in a shark cage, testing the myth that it could be damaged or destroyed if a shark hit it at high enough speed | |
| 10 | Shark Bite | No result | Various claims about the strength of a shark's bite. Adam and Jamie built a bite force tester, but could not get any sharks to bite on it. | |
| 9 | RC Shark | Busted | Inspired by the results of No. 22, Jamie tried to use a system of magnets to control the movements of a baby shark, without success. | |
| 8 | Sandpaper Shark | Confirmed | Myth: Sharkskin can be used in place of sandpaper. The cast was able to use a piece of skin to smooth pieces of wood, first by hand and then with a rotary sander. | |
| 7 | Black Powder Shark | Black Powder Shark | Busted | A myth inspired by the film Deep Blue Sea |
| 6 | A Knight's Tale | Busted | Myth: Full plate armor can protect a diver against sharks. When Adam put on the armor and dived in, many sharks were attracted to him, possibly drawn by the electromagnetic fields due to the metal. | |
| 5 | Yum Yum Yellow | Busted | Myth: Sharks are attracted to the color yellow. The cast dropped several containers of bait, painted in different colors, and found no difference in the number of sharks drawn to each. | |
| 4 | Night Dive | Fatal Flashlight | Plausible | Comments from the Build Team on having to dive at night |
| 3 | Exploding Jaws | Jaws Special | Busted | Myth: A scuba tank will explode with lethal force if shot with a rifle. Although the tank failed to explode, the air pressure caused it to rocket around the test chamber in a way that could injure a shark or drive it away. |
| 2 | Play Dead | Playing Dead | Confirmed | Adam's favorite shark moment, in which Grant and Tory had to jump into heavily chummed waters |
| 1 | Sharks Are Evil | Busted | Adam and Jamie commented on the popular belief that sharks are evil creatures to be avoided at all costs. They pointed out the natural behavior of sharks, the high improbability of being attacked, and the large numbers that are killed every year to make shark fin soup. |
Episode 190 – "Titanic Survival"
- Original air date: October 7, 2012
A Titanic Tale
Rocket Surfer
Episode 191 – "Trench Torpedo"
- Original air date: October 14, 2012
Trench Torpedo
Party Balloon Pile-Up
Episode 192 – "Hail Hijinx"
- Original US air date: October 21, 2012
- Original Australia air date: September 3, 2012
Cliffhanger Bridge Boom
Hail Hijinks
Episode 193 – "Fright Night"
- Original air date: October 28, 2012
The Haunted Hum
The Smell of Fear
Dead Body Disposal
Adam and Jamie investigated two myths based on movie scenes involving the transportation and burial of dead bodies.| Myth statement | Status | Notes |
| It is easy to carry a dead body. | Plausible | Adam and Jamie set up an obstacle course to run with a simulated cadaver. They had to pick it up from a dinner table; put it into a closet and take it out again; drag it to a window and push it through; drag it up a flight of stairs, along a platform, and down another flight; and finally wrap it up in a carpet and stuff it into a car trunk. For a control run, each man ran the course using a wad of steel chain with the same weight as the cadaver. Adam posted a time of 3:06; Jamie struggled at the window and finished in 4:33. Both of them began to tire noticeably toward the end of the run. With the cadaver, though, they made much better time due to its weight distribution. Adam finished in 1:20, Jamie in 1:55, leading them to call the myth plausible. Adam and Jamie noted that unlike the steel weight, cadavers are actually much easier to carry since they can be slung over the shoulder to distribute the weight more evenly, and unlike the wad of chain, the cadaver could be moved more incrementally. |
| A shallow grave can be dug in 20 minutes. | Busted | Jamie tried to dig a deep grave, but hit hard-packed earth that slowed him down greatly. It took him over 2 hours to finish digging. |
Episode 194 – "Mini Myth Medley"
- Original air date: November 4, 2012
| Myth statement | Status | Notes |
| It is easy for a person to recognize the back of his/her own hand. | Confirmed | Adam and Jamie took pictures of the backs of 100 people's hands, 50 of each gender. Each of 12 more volunteers had a hand picture taken and mixed with 9 others of the same gender, race, and hand size/shape, and then had to try to identify it within 60 seconds. Volunteers wore gloves during the test to prevent cheating. Eleven of the 12 chose correctly, prompting Adam and Jamie to investigate the ease of identifying other body parts—namely, palms and teeth. Using the same methodology, 7 of 12 were correct on the palm test, 10 of 12 on the teeth. |
| The "potty dance" can help a person with a full bladder stave off the need to urinate. | Plausible | For a control run, each Build Team member came to work with a completely empty bladder, drank 2 liters of water, then measured the time until he/she could no longer resist the urge to urinate. Tory lasted 1 hr 58 min; Grant, 1 hr 58 min; Kari, 2 hr 39 min. They debated the effectiveness of the "potty dance": distracting attention from the full bladder versus putting more pressure on it. The second day, they repeated the trial but allowed themselves to do the dance. This time, Tory lasted 1:30, Grant 1:52, Kari 2:46. On the third day, they tried various methods to relax as much as possible. Tory lasted 2:05, Grant 2:46, Kari 2:43. The team judged the myth plausible, but noted that results of different methods can vary widely from person to person. |
Monk Magic
Underwater Bike Ride
Fireman Finger
Episode 195 – "Cannonball Chemistry"
- Original air date: November 11, 2012
Mattress Mayhem
Cannonball Chemistry
At the start of the episode, the Build Team apologized for the cannonball accident that occurred while they were testing this myth.| Myth statement | Status | Notes |
| Some 15th-century cannoneers used stone cannonballs instead of iron ones, to deliver the same damage but disintegrate on impact so the enemy could not reuse them. | Plausible | The Build Team fired a Civil War-era cannon, loaded with an iron ball and black powder, and measured a speed of. Their first attempt to match that speed with their own small-scale cannon led to the accident, and the testing was immediately called off to assess damage and start an investigation. Several months later, they resumed their work at a remote rock quarry and secured permission to fire stone balls through the full-sized cannon, using a cardboard canister to protect the barrel. On the advice of a geologist, they chose sandstone, limestone, and granite for further testing and fashioned one ball from each material. They scaled down the powder charge based on each ball's weight to match the speed of the iron one, then set up pallets of bricks to stand in for a castle wall. A control test with an iron ball penetrated 2 layers of the wall and destroyed 4 bricks. The sandstone penetrated 1 layer and destroyed 2 bricks; the limestone, 1 layer and 3 bricks; the granite, 2 layers and 4 bricks. In addition, every stone ball broke apart on impact. Having found a stone that could meet both of the original criteria, the team declared the myth plausible. |
Episode 196 – "Food Fables"
- Original air date: November 18, 2012
Car Cook-Off
| Myth statement | Status | Notes |
| It is possible to set up a holiday meal inside a car's engine compartment and drive long enough to fully cook all the food. | Confirmed | For this supersizing of frying an egg on the hood of a car, Alton surmised that they would need a large car that was a V8 to V12 - and furthermore, an older one because a newer one, as he said, would be "too plasticky." Jamie, in response to this, came up with a vintage V8 Cadillac. After fitting the car with temperature sensors, they took a 90-minute drive, escorted by the California Highway Patrol, and measured temperatures between and, which boded well for them because that meant they had spots with ideal temperatures for different foods. They also noted that they got temperature spikes in some areas during stops in the middle of city driving. While Alton prepared the ingredients, Adam and Jamie built or modified containers to hold the dishes and Jamie added insulation under the hood where needed. They loaded the containers into the chosen spots - which included near the exhaust manifold and the transmission - and drove for 4 hours, stopping occasionally to check the food temperatures and re-position dishes in order to prevent overcooking. At their destination, they tasted the dishes, agreeing that if the turkey was not satisfactory, then the myth was busted. However, the cooking with the engine compartment was successful, and they ended up with a dinner that included the following dishes:
|
Tryptophan Turkey
| Myth statement | Status | Notes |
| Turkey makes people sleepy due to its tryptophan content. | Busted | Kari set up a reaction-time test similar to Whac-a-Mole for Tory and Grant, with 45 seconds to hit as many targets as possible. In a control test, Tory hit 61 while Grant hit 66; after taking a dose of tryptophan, they scored 49 and 60, respectively. Assisted by a nutrition professor, Kari designed three holiday meals for the other two, to be eaten on consecutive days. After the first meal, a large one with turkey, Tory scored 47, Grant 52. The second meal had the same number of calories, but replaced turkey with protein powder mixed in the mashed potatoes, and led to scores of 48 and 42. After the third meal, identical to the first but with smaller portions, they scored 63 and 67. The Build Team judged the myth as busted, since the amount of food eaten had much more of an effect on reaction time than the turkey did. |
Tastes Like Chicken
| Myth statement | Status | Notes |
| It is easy to confuse the taste of unusual meats with that of chicken. | Busted | Kari chose various exotic meats for Tory and Grant to taste-test, then took 9 of them to chef David Lawrence so he could fry them along with a batch of chicken. With the others blindfolded, Kari fed each of them 20 samples ; they had to guess whether or not each was chicken. Tory got 17 of 20 right, Grant 11 of 20. After Tory noted that the texture of the meat was a major clue as to its identity, Kari ground 20 samples and cooked them as patties with no additional flavoring. This time, Tory and Grant scored 18 and 19, respectively, leading the Build Team to call the myth busted. However, there was one exotic meat that both Tory and Grant mistook for chicken. |
Instant Popcorn
| Myth statement | Status | Notes |
| A particular Chinese pressure vessel can be used to cook popcorn faster than any other known method. | Busted | Using his own fastest method with a foil-covered bowl over a gas burner, Alton was able to pop a batch of corn in 1 minute and 45 seconds. He, Adam, and Jamie set up the Chinese vessel to heat another batch until the interior pressure reached 1 MPa, then triggered the pressure release while wearing a bomb suit. The sudden release blew kernels all over the workshop and caused them to pop into a texture resembling puffed rice, but the overall process took 9:31. |
Dishwasher Lasagna
Episode SP20 – "Explosions A to Z"
- Original US air date: November 25, 2012
- Original Australian air date: September 24, 2012
The Build Team presents a series of 25 vignettes, one for each letter of the alphabet, concerning the explosions that have been carried out in myth testing.
| Entry | Notes |
| Audit Art | Record-keeping of the 752 explosions to date on the show, tracking size, number by season, and destructive potential, as well as an explosion of paint onto a canvas |
| Bomb Range | A tour of the range and associated facilities, including the vehicle training area, firearms range, and safety bunker |
| Cement Truck | A look back at the "Cement Mix-Up" myth from 2005, leading up to the final blast that obliterated a full truck |
| Dynamite | Revelation that the "dynamite" used on the show is a different, safer explosive with the same energy content |
| Explosions | Comments from Grant and Tory on the characteristics and types of explosions, illustrated by the destruction of a china cabinet using a charge of C-4 |
| Food Glorious Food | Remembering various explosion myths involving food. Kari noted that all food items destroyed on the show were well past their expiration date and no longer fit for human consumption. |
| Grenade | A look back at myths involving grenades, especially the "Red Bazooka" myth from 2011, using a rocket-propelled grenade launcher |
| High Speed | Reflections on the intricate detail revealed by high-speed camera footage of explosions, illustrated by blowing up a television set with C-4 |
| Implants | The testing Adam and Jamie carried out for the "Exploding Implants" myth from 2004, and the fun they had in the process |
| J.D. | Explosives expert J.D. Nelson's contributions to the show, and his full-time work with the bomb squad in the Alameda County Sheriff's Department |
| Kitchen | Appliances and entire kitchen sets destroyed in the course of myth testing |
| Loud | Hearing protection used by the team and technical issues in broadcasting explosions, illustrated by measuring decibel levels of a running lawnmower and a C-4 blast |
| Movies | Testing of movie-based explosion myths |
| Nothing | The dangers that bomb technicians face in repairing/rewiring a device when it fails to explode |
| OSECO | Comments on this company's rupture discs, used to evaluate pressures created by an explosion |
| Pressure Vessel | Explosions caused by buildup of internal pressure in a container, illustrated by heating a can of shaving cream with a blowtorch until it bursts |
| Quagmire | Complications in tests caused by heavy rain turning the bomb range into a muddy swamp |
| Rockets | Mishaps that have caused rockets and rocket-propelled projectiles to explode during flight or on the launch pad. Includes comments by Grant and Tory on the reasons for the failure of the "Supersize Rocket Car" myth test from 2007. |
| Safety | Extensive safety precautions observed during explosion testing. In an unaired scene, Tory carried a balloon full of flammable gas onto the bomb range, with the risk of a stray spark setting it off. |
| Toilet | Myths that have involved blowing up toilets by various means |
| Underground | Explosions of buried materials, illustrated by setting off a buried charge with a flowerpot full of dirt placed above it |
| Vehicle | A montage of vehicles destroyed in explosions |
| Water | Comments on the different behavior of explosions in water and air, illustrated by setting off a charge within a beaker of water |
| Xylophone | Blowing up some xylophones, and the standard yell of "Fire in the hole!" before any explosion is set off |
| Yelling | Blowing up some xylophones, and the standard yell of "Fire in the hole!" before any explosion is set off |
| Zenith | The biggest explosion to date: "Homemade Diamonds" from 2009 |