Original subtitles

On this episode of Mythbusters, Adam and Jamie attempt to make

the Earth move and bring down this bridge when they test and build the

pocket -sized earthquake machine designed by one of the greatest

all time.

Tesla is an unmitigated genius.

Plus, Grant, Tori, and Carrie investigate the case of the exploding

Who are the Mythbusters?

Adam Savage.

Ants are all over my head, man.

And Jamie Heineman. Gets me all worked up just looking at it.

Between them, more than 30 years of special effects experience.

That was heavy. Joining them, Grant Imahara. Go get him, boy.

Tori Bellacci.

Somebody order some exploding pants?

And Carrie Byron. Oh, God.

They don't just tell the myths.

They put them to the test.

You think we should do it? I mean, there are some who believe that a device this

small has the potential to bring this entire bridge crashing down.

Yeah, sure. I'll hook it up.

Wait, wait, wait.

Give it back. Give it back.

We've got to do a little bit of science before we get to the finale of the myth.

And what science it is.

Because Adam and Jamie will be testing a mythical invention of the 19th century

scientific savant, Nikola Tesla.

With contributions to fields as diverse as robotics, ballistics, electricity,

and magnetism, he's been described as the man who invented the 20th century.

But his work has also fed speculation about death rays, mind control, and this

harmless -looking handheld.

earthquake machine tesla's earthquake

machine i read about this when i was like 19 years old he claimed that he had

built this device to make a mechanical generator of some kind but that he had

bolted it as a test to a girder in his building and tuned it up through the

frequencies until he had matched the building's frequency and when he did all

hell broke loose the building began to you know, shake around them. They all

outside to find pandemonium. They thought there was a big earthquake. The

department was there, the police department was there, and Tesla had to

hammer to his device to stop it from doing its damage.

A crackpot genius, handheld earthquake machine, and all hell breaking loose?

It's the stuff Mythbusters dream about.

And after a trip to the patent office to source Tesla's original designs, Adam

and Jamie are all over it like white on rice.

I'm totally on the same page as you about this. With the plans before them,

plan of action is refreshingly simple.

Build their very own earthquake machine and see if it works.

And after a few hours' research, the guys have an understanding of the

mechanics.

Tesla's earthquake machine is actually based on something he used in a whole

bunch of different inventions and patents, and it's what he called the

mechanical oscillator generator, which, thanks to the graphics department, looks

like this.

A pocket -sized system of pistons and an air cushion work together,

reciprocating a central linear rod.

The speed of this vibration can be adjusted or tuned to match the resonant

frequency of the target object.

And Tesla claimed the resulting positive feedback could be harnessed to destroy

anything.

That device is all about resonance. It reciprocates at the same frequency that

the object that it's attached to is capable of responding to, and supposedly

whole thing is like this feedback thing that just gets out of control and the

thing flies apart.

Jamie sounds dubious, and with good reason.

The team have come up against resonance before with mixed results.

Will earthquake machine be a repeat of break -step bridge?

There's no danger they pose to the bridge. I'd say the myth is totally

Or will they get results similar to breaking glass?

I did it!

To harness the destructive power of resonance, Adam wants to build Tesla's

oscillating earthquake machine from scratch.

But ever the pragmatist, Jamie has found a shortcut.

Okay, you ready for the oscillation?

That's what that is.

Tesla's device is actually very simple.

All it does is reciprocate. And, in fact, there's a very common device that

everybody's familiar with called a jackhammer that does nothing more than

You're right.

So, by modifying the jackhammer's motor, they'll have an earthquake machine, in

line with Tesla's original design.

Hell, let's try it. We can knock this out before lunch.

With the mechanical oscillation taken care of, they simply have to control the

frequency of the vibration.

I'm tuning it by adjusting the amount of back pressure and changing the

frequency.

And next, they replace the chisel from the jackhammer with a small rod.

Then they machine the piston parts that will house the air cushion.

And with just the air cushion to attach, there's time for a quick test.

All right,

end segment.

This myth is a really recent one, actually. It comes from 2004, where

a guy killed himself with a lava lamp.

Actually, I heard this one's true, but for the life of me, I cannot figure out

how he did it. I mean, what was he doing? It's like, was he impatient? He

want to wait for the light to heat up the lamp, and then he stuck it on the

stove? Or he might have just been like us, and he was just experimenting with a

lava lamp.

In 2004, a Washington State resident was found dead at home.

Cause of death, a large piece of glass shrapnel to the heart after a lava lamp

left on a stove exploded.

But how on earth did this groovy symbol of the 60s turn lethal killer?

If anyone can get to the bottom of this, it's our very own MSI unit.

Myth scene investigators Carrie, Tori, and Grant are on the case.

Okay, well, sounds simple enough. What is the plan?

Well, I'll go get some lava lamps.

I'd like to make a target.

I can maybe go get some real human ribs to make a really good torso.

What do you want to do?

I'll do the math.

Math.

While Grant calculates what to do with his day off, Harry and Tori get down to

business.

Our super sleuths have a two -stage investigation.

First, if a lava lamp is left on a stove, will it explode?

And if it does, could the resultant shower of glass and goo lead to a lethal

piece of shrapnel to the heart?

So to recreate the scene, the first thing they'll need is a rack of ribs.

That is so cool.

And here at the Bone Room, you can satisfy all your skeletal needs.

But wait a minute. Doesn't Carrie have a mortal fear of all things dead and not

buried? I really, really love skulls and bones and all that. Right, but not the

fleshy, gooey part.

All that muddy meat just makes me ill.

Cute, a flashback.

I'm a vegetarian city girl from California.

Oh, my God, it blew its teeth out.

Blew his teeth out. Can we find a story where we don't work in dead animals? For

real. So traumatized right now?

This, this is really cool.

So you're pro -mummy, anti -zombie is what you're saying?

Yeah, pretty much, yeah.

Okay, now we all know a little more about Carrie and the skeletons in her

closet. What about the myth?

He actually had to get a shard of glass exploding and going through the rib

cage, through whatever connective tissue was here, and then into the heart. So

you're going to actually have to get it through one of the holes and through all

that muscle, and depending on how fat the person was, the fat and tissue, and

then into the organs.

This is some bad luck.

Bad luck our team will try to recreate back at the shop.

And while Carrie gets her ribs to go...

Tori has seen the light.

Tori? Tori?

Lava lamp?

I just want to check this one out because it's got sparkles and glitter.

Ah!

They get hot. The third -degree burns help focus Tori's mind. And before long,

he's headed back to the shop with a good selection.

where Grant has been looking for some inside info on the prime suspect.

Well, for this myth, I've been trying to find out exactly what's inside of a

lava lamp. Although the biggest manufacturer of lava lamps in the U .S.

their recipe secret, with a little bit of searching, we've been able to find

that lava lamps have inside them a lot of things that are potentially

Mineral oils, wax, alcohol.

Meanwhile, Carrie is working on putting some fake flesh on her real ribs.

I know it's not going to be a totally accurate representation of the human

but... The way the lava lamp exploded is a shard of glass went flying through

the air and pierced his heart through his ribcage. I just want to see what

of chance glass has of getting that far into the human body.

To do it, Carrie is casting a ballistics gel bust around the human ribcage.

By suspending the ribs in position, she'll have a close structural analog of

human torso.

Trying to figure out exactly where the ribcage is going to end on this dude.

To confirm the story that glass shrapnel from an exploded lava lamp can pierce

the heart, Carrie gives Barry the Ballistic's bust a fake heart, which, if

punctured, will leak its fake blood and simulate his death.

With his internal organ in place, he's ready to put on some weight.

And after a night in the fridge chilling out, Barry's all set for the great lava

lamp experiment.

Oh, that is beautiful.

God, that came out good.

Adam and Jamie are testing the myth that Nikola Tesla built and successfully

tested a pocket -sized earthquake machine.

And after studying the patents and original photo of the device, Adam is

on Tesla's every word.

I was experimenting with vibrations.

I had one of my machines going, and I wanted to see if I could get it in tune

with the vibration of the building. I put it up notch after notch.

Suddenly, all the heavy machinery in the place was flying around.

I grabbed a hammer and broke the machine.

Outside in the street, there was pandemonium. The police and ambulance

We told the police it must have been an earthquake.

I told my assistants to say nothing.

To investigate these extravagant claims, Adam and Jamie are building a mover and

shaker of their own. Based on Tesla's original patent, they've come up with

this. We're about to fire up Tesla's mechanical oscillator.

We promise that if this device works, we will use our powers only for good.

You better watch out, man. That's going to make this whole building fall apart.

That would be a problem if it did that, obviously, but I'm not worried.

It's like two or three hertz.

We need to increase the speed a little bit.

Adam thinks they haven't nailed the spirit of the design, but Jamie just

to move on. It's not working the way it's supposed to because all we've got

is a piston going back and forth. I mean, the way it's described, one of the

aspects of it in...

Tesla's description is the air spring. As far as I'm concerned, this is what

Tesla described.

You have minor variations. I don't think this is the device.

You really have to separate out what your opinion is from the facts of the

device. We haven't even come close here in terms of the frequency that it's

moving at and that air cushioning thing.

But the problem is the air cushion that Tesla described as frictionless is

causing friction and slowing the device down.

This device isn't working.

We could waste a lot of time on making something that works better than this

one, but it's still not an efficient way of demonstrating the principle

involved.

The great and powerful Jamie Hanneman has spoken.

It's a classic MythBuster standoff. Adam wants due diligence and Jamie wants

efficiency. But like an old married couple, they soon compromise.

I'm going to have another look at this device and see if I can't.

tune it to get it as close to Tesla's device as I possibly can.

So Jamie gets to replace the air cushion with mechanical springs.

And Adam gets the increase in top speed he wanted.

Ooh, nice!

Adam's happy and agrees that the switch to mechanical springs is in line with

Tesla's idea.

He talks about the fact that the work that is being done by the air spring

be done by mechanical springs. And the only reason he prefers the air spring is

because it has no inclination to break.

You can feel that over here. Yeah. No, it's a real deal. Which means they can

test it for real.

Jamie carries a couple of these uphill every morning for two hours.

But what to test it on?

The reason we're going with a two -foot bar is because...

That's exactly what Tesla said that he busted apart the first time he tried

out. For a long time, nothing happened, he said.

But at last, the great steel link began to tremble and finally broke.

Crowbars could not have done it, but a fuselage of taps, none of which would

have harmed a baby, did it.

That's the kind of response we're looking for.

Spectrum analyzer coming through.

I am taping an accelerometer to this bar. This is hooked up to a...

frequency analyzer, which actually should tell me exactly what the

frequencies of the bar are, and it should also tell me when I've got it

excited to the maximum degree.

This is it.

Tesla's earthquake machine will finally be used in anger.

We're ready to go.

Adam is monitoring the feedback.

I think you can go up.

And Jamie, on regulator duty, is adjusting the frequency of the

machine.

At 32 hertz, with the earthquake machine running at top speed, there's no sign

of the steel bar resonating.

My inclination would be, let's turn it up on full and leave it for half an

see if it actually, you know, does anything to the bar. According to Tesla,

didn't happen instantaneously.

What did happen was a failure of the prototype.

My guess is if I put it back together, it'll run now.

for a little while.

Jamie resurrects it, but it's not long before it dies again.

It's like my worst nightmare.

And again.

We can't even get a long enough test to prove that it doesn't work.

I mean, I guess we have proved that it doesn't work, but not in the way that we

intended.

It seems the mechanical springs Tesla said would have an inclination to break

are... Breaking.

And after a long and frustrating day, spirits, and quite possibly minds, are

following suit.

The build team are in MSI mode.

Myth scene investigators Carrie, Grant, and Tori are hot on the trail of a

lethal lava lamp.

Ah!

They get hot.

Tori has successfully gotten a bunch of lava lamps for us, and I finished my

human torso with a fake exploding heart. So now the next logical step is to

actually recreate the scene.

Detectives Byron, Imahara, and Bileci are staging a reconstruction to answer

questions. Will a lava lamp explode if left on a stovetop?

And if so, will the blast be powerful enough to send a lethal piece of glass

into a human heart?

I think most people sit and watch a lot of lamps like this.

Yeah,

that's about the right position.

With Barry the ballistics bust assuming the position, everything and everyone is

ready. Ready? Three, two, one, run.

Now they just have to wait for things to warm up.

It's starting to bubble. There it goes.

It's starting to move.

And pass the time making a few predictions.

Underneath that little hat is a metal, like a bottle cap.

I think that's going to blow off first before the glass ruptures.

I have a feeling this is going to work.

You've got a high -pressure situation inside the bottle.

There's nowhere for that pressure to go except out. It's going to turn that

bottle into a bomb.

Well, it didn't explode, but you were right. The top popped off and the bottom

blew out. I call that an explosion.

Explosion or not, it looked pretty dangerous.

There was hot oil and wax erupting in a volcanic geyser.

But no glass shrapnel in Barry the Ballistic Bust.

Yeah, he's clean.

Let's clear out the smoke finishes.

We didn't get any shards of glass in the bust.

What happened was the cap gave way, released all the pressure, released all

liquid inside. As soon as the liquid was gone, the heat from the stove actually

shattered the bottom of the bottle. So we didn't get that explosion that the

myth's talking about.

No explosion means there are still plenty of loose ends in this story. But

is clear are the two reasons why you shouldn't put a lava lamp on a stove.

The first is written into the safety instructions.

Do not use any other means to heat up the lamp other than the bulb provided.

the second is this.

Jamie and Adam are tackling Tesla and his incredible earthquake machine.

Tesla is an unmitigated genius.

I mean, he is absolutely an amazing brain. He invented alternating current,

late in his life, neglected by his sponsors, not given his due, watching

invention spread across the world and him not getting any piece of it. Also in

bitter patent battle about the invention of the radio, which he eventually won

posthumously. I think he was trying to drum up some press, and I think this

story was part of that.

With two failed prototypes, confidence in the myth is low. So it's time for

B. My opinion is if we're going to do this right, we have to come up with a

of visualizing, demonstrating visually what we're talking about when we're

talking about resonance and resonant frequencies.

Well, resonance can be kind of tricky. Why don't we start with water?

You know, create a wave action that we can see.

So the plan is to build a wave tank.

Rig a quick and dirty reciprocating device, tune it in, and create a mini

tsunami.

Dude, that is so trippy.

What I love about this test is it really illustrates Tesla's theoretical ideas

perfectly. When you push a kid on a swing, each of your pushes doesn't make

go all the way up. It's the sum total of them. You're adding energy each time.

Dude, look at that. You hit a sweet spot again.

That's twice the sweet spot that you were hitting before.

And that was a minute variation in speed.

Like that was the difference on this meter from 1 .5 to 1 .6. And at 1 .5, it

was almost a flat calm.

Right. At 1 .6, it's starting to almost bounce out of the chamber.

In some states, when there is no harmonic vibration between the

the ball and the way the water waves are moving, the ball can move up and down

and the tank just stays totally level.

And then in other configurations, when we hit a harmonic vibration, the ball is

moving up and down at just a minutely different speed, but the waves are going

like this.

And that's just exactly what we're doing or what we're trying to do in the

steel. Re -energized with all things Tesla, Adam and Jamie decide it's time

get back to the earthquake machine. Our first air -powered jackhammer did not

work. I mean, we just modified it so much that it began failing in ways we

fix.

We looked at getting another one, and Jamie has an air -powered auto -tool for

hammering. Hold it down.

That's pretty fast.

This is ten times better than that. It's smaller.

It's not so much of an impact tool when you don't have the tool in it. We can

back pressure it with the air cushion that we were looking for from the

beginning, and it can fit in your pocket.

I think it's exactly in the spirit of what Tesla drew.

It's so close to Tesla's design, the only modification required is a steel

so it can be attached to the target object.

This is actually Jamie's personal massager. He's all like, honey, I feel

sore. Would you work on me for a bit? And his wife's like, and he's like, oh,

right there.

Lower. Oh, yeah.

That's how he has such big shoulders.

Adam and Jamie once again prepare to disintegrate a solid steel bar with an

earthquake machine.

The accelerometer's in. The device is clamped in.

I'm ready to go. They take it through the air hammer's full range of

frequencies. But with no sign, the steel bar is resonating.

I'm measuring the frequency that our device is applying to the bar.

And it's right about 50, 52 hertz.

But Tesla said that it was a while before destruction ensued. And if it's

enough for Tesla... Well, the lowest natural frequency of the bar is in the

hundreds. Like four or five hundred.

We're not going to get that with any device we've got here.

I'm looking forward to trying this on some other types of steel.

View the steel bar alternative.

First,

a two -foot section of two -inch square tubing.

And this time, they get a little action.

Yeah, isn't that cool?

Yeah.

That's the highest amplitude on that primary 20 hertz pitch. And you can see

it's shaking around more than any other time. So we're starting to see

potentially the kind of excitement that's possible. It's just we need to

bar that's tuned to this device and this device tuned to that bar.

It's low frequency. Then we should see some real vibration.

And the best chance they have to do that is test a bar with a lower resonant

frequency.

Like this 20 -footer, which has a harmonic as low as 7 hertz.

But after hours of tweaking the system, there's no sign of any action.

And in Jamie's mind, this myth has already been consigned to the busted

Currently, my impression is that this idea of putting this little tiny thing

some massive structure and by tuning it just so, getting the whole thing to

resonate,

you know, a flea jumping up and down on a girder, and if he does it at the right

frequency over and over again, that all of a sudden, magically, the whole

structure goes down. I mean, that's what Tesla's talking about with this

principle of, you know, this magical resonance that he's creating.

Shall we pull it off?

Yes.

So far, MSI San Francisco have yet to break the case of the lethal lava lamp.

Barry, the ballistic boss, took a burning hot shower.

But without an explosion, he's free of any deadly shrapnel wounds.

So far.

All right, this is test number two. We're going with the lava lamp with the

bottle cap top instead of the safety cap.

This kind of bottle cap will hopefully be stronger.

It'll hold that pressure inside, allowing it to explode. And that's what

looking for here in this myth.

But ten minutes in, and it looks like... Oh, I hear something. I can see it

leaking. Torrey's theory has a few holes in it.

But despite the leak, the cap holds, and the pressure continues to build. Sweet.

Yeah! Yeah!

Fire! And the escaping flammable lava makes things even more interesting.

That is looking a little out of control.

Oh, wow.

Yeah.

Look at that. It's just extinguishing itself right now.

Whoa!

Okay, that was an explosion. That was awesome.

Yeah! With the explosive potential of the lava lamp confirmed,

Our team of forensic investigators check out the scene, and more importantly,

Barry. The bottle has completely disintegrated. Here's a small set of

How deep was it?

It was just surface.

Based on what I've just seen, I absolutely believe that this could be

mean, the amount of energy that we got out of one of these bottles, there's no

modifications whatsoever.

This is right off the shelf.

That's a lot of energy, and I think that that could definitely...

blow a piece of glass right into your heart.

And to prove it, all they have to do is cook up some more explosion.

20 minutes, you start getting fires. 24 minutes, you start getting...

It was like right on view.

If this replay is anything to go by, the ballistic bust will have been lucky to

escape without taking a hit.

But it seems like Cool Cat Barry has nine lives.

I don't see any big pieces in him now, but I have to say I'm pretty convinced

this explosion due to the fact that the shards are much bigger than we've seen.

Yeah. Yeah. And they're all over the place.

So how's this first scenario?

Guy puts the lava lamp on. It's taking 20 minutes.

Obviously, you know, you're going to get bored.

sitting there watching it, he walks away, all of a sudden smells the smoke,

hears all the spewing, comes in to turn it to low, and then it explodes.

So he's leaning over.

Look at CSI carry.

Okay, but where to from here?

Keep exploding lava lamps until they get a direct hit, or ramp things up a

little? So our next scenario that we're going to try is the experimental one.

We're going to try to get that cap so it's solid on top of the bottle and see

we can't get more of a...

compression and explosion and maybe get a fracture from this bottle that would

have created the shards that killed him. To improve the bomb -like qualities of

the lamp, Tori seals the cap, but not very well.

With the lava lamp contents escaping, they

decide to stage an intervention.

A squirt of cold water from a spray gun should help things along.

The theory was the shock of the cold water would cause a glass fracture.

No!

Look at your face. It was priceless.

All right, let's go see how he survived or not.

Whoa!

Now that is a result. Don't touch it, don't touch it, don't touch it. That's

crazy. That is a result.

You know, I think eventually...

Given the number of bottles that we had, we probably would be able to get a

result like this without having secured the bottle cap on there.

It seems to me that it's just luck of the draw.

Every time, we had a lot of energy behind the explosion. I think it's just

matter of time before we get one that's mortal.

All right, so, exploding lava lamp, what's the verdict?

I think we have it confirmed.

Yeah, we show that there's enough energy in a lava lamp being heated up on the

stove to throw a shard of glass at lethal velocity into the body.

And I think my scenario as to why the stove was on low and why he was leaning

over it when it exploded is actually really plausible.

So MSI San Francisco have confirmed the details of this tragic story.

And if this isn't a warning to always read the safety instructions, nothing

But the kitchen pyrotechnics ain't over yet.

You know what? I don't think we can stop right here.

One, we haven't had enough explosions.

Two, there are a lot of products that people might be tempted to heat up on a

stovetop like a can of beans.

I can go with that.

What about like potted meat?

That's in a can. There you go.

Baby formula. I mean, there's a lot of things we can keep testing.

You know, as a public service to our viewers.

Exactly.

Jamie and Adam have been testing Tesla's earthquake machine for days, and the

Richter scale is showing a big, fat zero.

There have been a few good vibrations, but certainly nothing like the

results Tesla boasted about in his twilight years.

After a lifelong feud with Edison, and in deep financial trouble, the Serbian

-born inventor made some outrageous claims.

He was still producing great work, such as the first principles for radar. But

he also suggested he could build a death ray capable of destroying 10 ,000 enemy

airplanes.

And, of course, he famously claimed that with a few well -timed explosions, he

could split the Earth in two, like an apple.

But Tesla's claims and the results so far are a world apart.

So we're a little bit stuck because the designs that Tesla drew out, don't seem

to really work too well. I mean, we might eventually get there, but I

Grant has advice that might speed things up a little bit.

Okay, you ready?

Here we go.

That's it, Jamie.

That's what we wanted to build.

It's an electromagnetic linear motor, and Tesla will be smiling in his grave.

This is precisely what Tesla's describing in his patent. I mean, he

doesn't care exactly how you achieve that movement, but that it's

you could potentially do it with a magnetic coil, even though he suggested

cushion. I mean, this is it. This is it.

This is not dissimilar from Jamie's morning workout routine.

Amazingly, Grant turns out to have in his possession for an outside consulting

gig exactly the motor that we need. It's driven by magnets, which Tesla posited

was possible and a reasonable way to do this machine.

I cannot wait to get it.

Going on.

Grant's actuator is so perfect that with a simple clamp to the 20 -foot bar,

it's ready to go.

Now we're getting something here. Yeah, it's starting to rock.

With a computer -controlled accuracy of one hundredth of a hertz, something

Tesla could only dream of.

Got something.

They're having much more success fine -tuning Grant's almost frictionless

to the steel bar's natural frequency.

That's going to make it fall off.

It's losing energy when it's dropping.

Put your foot on it and stop it from hopping up and down. Let's see if we can

build the energy.

I mean... Yeah, look at that.

Yeah, see? Oh, my God.

That's... Holy... Dude!

My box, let's stop it. Okay, stop it. Stop it.

It's about tuning the amount of vibrations per second precisely to what

needs. Every time the bar flexes, when it comes back up, you're hitting it.

Boom! right at the top of that arc.

And again, it goes back down, it comes back up, and bang, you're hitting it

right at the top of that arc. That timing is absolutely critical to this.

saw that once you get that timing right and you eliminate the ability of the bar

to move and bounce and lose its energy, the deflection was just diabolical.

I can't, with all my weight standing in the middle of this, deflect it as much

as it was being deflected by this actuator, which only weighs, what, like

pounds.

Well, we got some results from our first test, but we didn't get anything like

what Tesla described as far as this atom -by -atom destruction.

And he said one thing he did was bolt it to an iron bar, and the other thing he

did was bolt it to his building. And maybe we're going to get a lot more

response out of this device if we bolt it to a scale model of Tesla's actual

lab. Let's build a scale version of 48 East Houston Street where his lab was

try the device out on that.

So, scale testing it is.

And a quick research break ensures they have accurate mini blueprints, not just

for size, but also structural integrity and material strength.

Then, with judicious use of the fast -forward button, Adam and Jamie have a

replica of Tesla's lab built in no time at all.

I'm going to suffer for that tomorrow. We have our 1 -6 scale version of

building. Now we have to have a 1 -6 scale of Tesla's resonator.

This microcassette recorder fits the bill perfectly.

And once it's attached to one of the scaled -down steel beams, they're ready

go.

We should match the oscillation of your device to the sound of this thing

rocking back and forth, then we'll get really close to the resonant frequency,

okay?

That's pretty darn good.

All right, then I think we should just let it sit for a while. Tesla said

nothing happened at first.

Okay.

Now, this building is pretty much exactly scaled to a large five -story

or iron -structured building in New York City, around about the mid -1800s.

And from what we know from the mechanical engineers we talked to, the

properties ought to scale along with the material.

So this is a...

Terrific attempt to see if Tesla's device could have any effect on a large,

-size building. But despite Adam's confidence in the test parameters, the

and Mini Jamie are unmoved.

Let's give Grant a call.

Yeah, we need to go bigger.

Of course, if we use Grant's device, scale has gone out the window. This

even remotely what you would consider pocket -sized in scale in something like

car.

But even with the scale equivalent of an oscillating car and hours of tuning and

tweaking, there's no evidence of destruction.

And Adam and Jamie find much the same when they look into the official

geological records.

Like any good myth, this one has a couple of different versions. Tesla

variously that his earthquake machine did its damage in either 1887 or in

Well, I looked through the USGS records, and there was, in fact, an earthquake

in 1887 in New York State, but it wasn't in New York City, so it couldn't have

been Tesla's. And, in fact, there was an earthquake centered in New York City,

but it was 1884, a full year before he moved into East Houston Street.

So the myth is on extremely shaky ground.

But desperate to give Tesla his due, Adam has one last test up his sleeve.

I think that it's the final.

Piece de resistance of this myth, we take your linear actuator out to a big

steel structure like a bridge.

We try it on that.

Then we can call this one busted. You get me the bridge, I'll be there.

Torrey, Grant, and Carey have solved the exploding lava lamp mystery.

But MSI has case files on a number of other stovetop myths.

Are there more products lurking in the kitchen cupboards that can kill? And if

so, what are they?

The team won't rest until they find out.

This is the classic story of somebody who has a tin of beans, he doesn't have

bowl, so he's going to decide, he's going to heat it up straight on the

forgets to open up the lid, the pressure builds, and it explodes.

I think you're right, babe.

Bean.

Not as exciting as the lava lamp, this can of beans.

But where there's heat, beans, and pressure, there's always an explosion.

Oh, dang it. That was disgusting.

Disgusting? But I bet you want to see it again.

Oh, this is so gross. Look at that.

Oh, my God. It's in the shape of a can.

So the pop -top popped, and there was a stinky eruption.

But it wasn't exactly lethal.

Next. Okay, so this time we're going to use a bigger can of beans.

It's the kind of can that you actually need a can opener to get into the beans.

So it doesn't have the pop -top with the little tab.

So hopefully it's going to take a lot more pressure to make this explode.

The heat's on, so all they've got to do is sit tight.

wait for the boom, and avoid getting arrested by the pun police.

Ah, Bean there.

Yeah, Grant likes Bean safe.

This is Bean the funniest day.

The unbearable likeness of Bean.

Bean warm.

Hey, Tori, what's Bean going on?

Half an hour into the experiment, and the Bean can is yet to blow.

The Mythbusters, well, they're still monkeying around.

Oh, my God. I

could taste beans in the air. Yeah.

Now you see it.

Now you don't.

I mean, this could potentially kill you. Yeah. It's like a little cannonball of

beans.

Next, it's a pop gun of potted meat.

It's cooked. Let's eat.

What do we got next?

Well, the list says a mortar of milk.

It doesn't look too aggressive. It looks like it's just slowly leaking out.

Oh!

Nice.

It was a milk rocket.

That was great. Oh, look, and there's a huge shirt of glass going right into

the...

So that was not only a successful explosion, but a potentially deadly

Which leaves just one item on the team's to blow up list.

The mother of all lava lamps, Big Bertha.

So quiet.

A little too quiet.

Barry the Ballistics Bust is having a tough day.

Hot bean cannonballs, glass shrapnel, and now because of the team's impatience

to get a big boom, A gas burner.

Oh, man, look at the dummy in the back. He just sliced his shoulder. He's

slumping. He's heard the proverb, if you can't stand the heat, get out of the

kitchen. I hope he doesn't fall into the lamp. Oh, that would suck.

But without legs, getting out is not an option.

No! Oh, no!

No!

Oh!

Oh! Oh!

Okay, it's still intact.

Dang!

We just have to wait until it's ready to cool down. We can't shoot it with the

fire extinguisher.

It'll break it. It'll break it. It's sabotaged by our own ballistic dummy.

There's a bubbling bomb of lava that requires handling. And when there's

something strange in the neighborhood, who else are you going to call?

Don't get blowed up.

Okay, I'll see you in a bit.

Of course, Torrey did wait until Big Bertha had cooled, making it safe to

handle.

He may be renowned for his safety -defying stunts.

But he ain't stupid.

It's looking pretty good.

It seems to be intact.

All in one piece.

But not for long.

It was almost in slow motion.

Wow, those are giant pieces.

Oh my God, that was so cool.

Wow. The pieces that came off that were definitely like spears. They were huge.

All right, let's wrap up our day with a result. What did we get for the lava

lamb? Lethal.

Lots of energy, lots of shrapnel.

Can of beans.

Well, depending on the size of the tin that you're using, I would say it's

definitely lethal, especially to you, possibly your neighbors.

Okay. How about the can of potted meat?

Probably not lethal, but very messy.

And finally, the milk in the jar. The milk in the jar, I guess the only way it

could kill you is if you had your head and you were looking directly down at

It could be lethal.

So I guess we've learned something here today.

Don't put anything on the stove unless you have a pressure relief.

Tesla's earthquake machine has proved to be a test of Jamie and Adam's patience

and working relationship.

But Adam has insisted they try one last experiment.

You get me the bridge, I'll be there. And what a bridge.

We're on the Carquinas Bridge now.

This is obviously a huge steel structure.

This was built circa 1927.

So as far as a resonant steel structure, this is it.

What's the structure?

It is. It is an awesome structure.

But when Adam said, we promise that if this device works, we will use our

only for good, he was lying.

It's time to use Tesla's device to bring the bridge down.

This is intense.

So all they need to do is find a good spot to attach their earthquake machine,

turn it on, and tune it in.

There she goes.

There it is.

The oscillating machine is oscillating.

Increase the amplitude.

And now to tune it to the resonant frequency of the bridge. If they can do

this giant steel structure will be a pile of rubble in no time at all.

Whoa!

No, I'm just kidding.

Keen -eyed observers will note the guys are actually standing on the bridge

they're trying to destroy.

Confidence in Tesla's machine isn't exactly sky high.

Now, neither Jamie nor I gives a high percentage to anything occurring out

Nonetheless, I mean, MythBusters is nothing if not a compendium of ways in

Jamie and I have been wrong.

Damien, come here. Feel this.

Come here.

I feel a vibration that is oscillating here.

I'm going to freeze it and see whether it stops. Okay.

That's kind of cool.

And... Totally stops here.

That's freaky.

All of a sudden, this myth is giving Adam and Jamie a good vibe.

And it's not the traffic, because that's on a completely separate bridge.

It totally feels like the whole structure is ringing to that hurt.

Hold on, I'm going to go down the way and see if I can feel it over here.

I can totally feel it over here!

Wait.

I can totally... Yep, there it goes.

But the best is yet to come. After some more tuning, they find a sweet spot.

Hold the phone.

Oh, my God.

It feels like a big semi -trailer truck is rolling right by us right now.

And that's only six pounds of weight moving 25 times per second. It actually

makes me a little concerned, believe it or not.

I'm totally startled to come out here and find this thing.

vibrating at the correct frequency to be felt hundreds of feet away from the

source. That is totally amazing.

Did not expect that.

We were ramping the same weight and the same kind of amplitude of vibration

through the whole range of frequencies.

And, you know, yeah, there's a little vibration, but then I hit that one spot,

and all of a sudden it's like, hold on.

You know, this is different. Something different was going on with that exact

frequency. And, you know, as a result of that specific

frequency, that specific tone that we're getting, this entire bridge is

vibrating.

Yeah, you can see it.

That's over 100 feet away.

Dude, that's six pounds.

I know.

I mean, I'm a little spooked.

It's official. We have two spooked MythBusters and some unexpected results

our hands.

This vibration from this device is traveling significant distances in this

structure.

But it ain't no earthquake. We've had it running for, I think, somewhere near an

hour at this point.

It's not doing anything but just making the vibrations. The vibrations aren't

building. We've tuned it up and down to find a really resonant frequency.

We've hit a real butter zone here, and still this bridge is standing.

Do you know that some people think that Tesla was sent back in time from the

future to give primitive man the gift of electricity, and that he was an

inspiration for Mark Twain's story of Connecticut, Yankee, and Singapore?

Well... He was definitely ahead of his time, and, you know, he was on to

something with his resonance thing. It was pretty cool.

Yeah, but I think we both know where this is going.

Yeah. It ain't no earthquake.

It's no earthquake. It's totally busted.

Let's go home.

All right.

Hey, what do you think if we put a couple hundred pounds on it?