Welcome to your first assignment to our class blog.
For this assignment, you will post a one-page reflection on the episode of Mythbusters we watched in class (and on which you took notes).
Your reflection should address the following questions:
1) What questions did the Mythbusters investigate?
2) What kinds of experiments did they try out to investigate these questions?
3) How did the Mythbusters work together? How did they collaborate? How did they resolve conflicts? How did they divide up work? What else did you notice?
4) What did you learn from this episode about how scientists think and work?
This assignment is due Thursday by 11:59 pm.
The Orange Shagamuffins
15 years ago
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25 comments:
kool sooooo excited to begin science class!!!!
Reflection/
BY CHRISSY BROWN08
The Myth Busters is an amazing show that shows the fun sides of learning by watching people do the experiments we might not want to do. The two Hosts and scientists on the show are Jamie and Adam. They are like two brothers that when combined can bust any myth.
There are 4 major questions asked by many people. Here are some of the questions……..
1. What are the questions Adam and Jamie ask?
2. How do they test their ideas?
3. How do they deal with change?
4. How do they work together?
The first question starts in the beginning of the show through out the rest. They ask questions such as, how fast is a Penny’s speed. How fast does a penny have to travel to make a mark on the street?
The second question how do they test their ideas? Is answered also through out the movie. I realized that they do the funniest things but get the most scientific results. Like Jamie tested the penny into a staple gun and made it shoot penny’s almost as fast as a gun shoots a bullet. Adam tested the penny’s velocity by sky diving and dropping pennies while he was in the air.
The next question was how they dealt with change. I got my answer as I watched the show. As Jamie was fixing his penny gun shooter he forgot that the shapes are different between a penny and a stable! But of course he got upset but he went right back to work to fix it!
The final and last question was how did they work together? They were quite the pair. They were non stop funny and messing around with each other!! There was a part that was funny that Adam told Jamie to shoot the penny at his……. Butt.
I would completely recommend this show to any and everyone!!!
September 8, 2008
Heyyy checking if this thing is workingg, alrighty bye!!!
I really liked watching the segment of Mythbusters, with Adam and Jamie. It is one of my favorite shows. It is also what I want to do that kind of science for work when I grow up.
The myth was if you dropped a penny from the top empire and it hit someone walking on the sidewalk directly on the head it would penetrate the skin and hit the skull. They started the myth off by researching it more and finding out about the empire state building.
Then they went to the site of the myth. They found out the measurements of the building and more history of the myth.
Then they came back to their office and divided the work up by each of them doing different mini experiments. Adam did an experiment using a wind tunnel to find the terminal velocity of a penny. Once he figured out that, he told Jamie that the terminal velocity of a penny is about 65 mph and Jamie made a modified staple gun to shoot a penny out at 65 mph at a concert block, an ash fault block and a fake head make out of a real skull and a material to simulate real skin.
From that last experiment they had their answer. A penny going at its terminal velocity which is 65 mph cannot penetrate through a person’s skin and hit the skull. Now the myth is officially busted but they weren’t going to stop there and just leave it. There next goal was to find out how fast does a penny have to go penetrate a block of concert, ash fault, and a human head. They kept shooting the staple gun faster and faster until it got to the speed of a bullet and it still didn’t penetrate through any but the human head. It wasn’t surprising thinking of how fast the penny was going.
They were done with this myth but they only had to do one more thing, Shoot a penny at Adam’s… butt
Over all they worked together well. They tried to support each other although they did fight over there opinions. They focused mostly on the facts which science is about. In most science there is always an answer which they try to find. They don’t only use science in this segment, they researched and did math equations to support there ideas.
I would recommend this T.V. show to learn and just to have fun because it is very funny.
On September 5, 2008, our class had the pleasure of watching a “Myth Busters” episode. In order to complete the experiment, and gain an understanding of a topic, the Myth Busters needed to ask many questions. The main question they had, and the reason that they did this experiment was: Does a penny that is tossed off the Empire State Building go through someone’s head? How fast would the penny go when it was falling?
At first, the scientists tested there idea by one of them going skydiving and dropping lots of pennies down, and then figuring out how fast the pennies were coming down. By doing this, they came to the conclusion, that a penny dropped from The Empire Stare Building would travel at about 65 mph.
The next question they had was: What would happen if the penny (at 65 mph) hit skin. The way that The Myth Busters explored this question was to actually create a “gun” that would shoot the penny out as fast as they wanted. Jamie and Adam took turns shooting the pennies at each other, to see the damage that it caused to them. When the penny hit them (in the hand) there wasn’t any potentially injuring damage done. It just made their hand turn red, and sting a little bit.
They also tested this idea by creating a dummy head that had the same features and amount of protection in the skull as an average human. When they shot the penny at 65 mph it didn’t do much damage to the skull… The myth was then proven false, and they created another question: How fast would the penny have to go to damage a human, or the concrete. They found the answer to this by shooting the penny at about the speed of a bullet, and then it ended up going through the skull.
Adam and Jamie worked together really well, they evenly balanced the amount of work and play so that they could productively complete an experiment. They shared ideas, and conclusions found after testing, and finding things out. They were a great pair, with very different ideas, but put together, it was really wonderful.
Scientists need to be able to adapt with change well, so when Jamie and Adam figured out that the penny would not go through someone’s head at 65 mph, they didn’t just stop working, they formed more questions, and answered them by solving more experiments.
Overall, I thought that watching Myth Busters was a great way to really observe how scientists work… and see them in action. Plus, I learned that the myth that a penny dropped from The Empire State Building will go through someone’s head is NOT true!
☺
The myth is to see if you take a penny and though it off the empire state building it could hit and kill someone.
I like how the myth busters asked questions on how fast the penny was going to go and how the penny affects skin. Therefore, they can see if the penny can break the skin. Then they jumped out of a plane and let a hand full of penny’s go penny’s go to see what the penny’s would do if under hi winds. Because the empire state building is so hi and it gets very windy up on top. They used a staple gun to shot the penny but the penny did not fit so they clipped the penny so it would fit in the staple gun. However, the myth is to see if a whole penny would kill some one not a clipped penny. So then, they modified the staple gun so the whole penny would fit. Therefore, they shot the penny at concrete and it made a print in it. Then they used asphalt and the penny bounced off the asphalt. Then they used ballistics gel with a human skull to create a realistic head then shot a penny out of the staple gun to reach the speeds of 64.3mph. It did not work on the head. Therefore, they tried different things like using a gun and they modified the gun to shoot the penny out of a rifle. They talk about it and decided that it did not work
Myth Busters
By:
Pony Girl
The myth busters ask many scientific questions. They investigated many of their questions. For example, one of the questions is “what is a penny’s fastest speed?” They also investigated “what happens when a penny hits human skin?” and “how fast does a penny have to go to do serious damage?” They also did many experiments during the show to test whether a penny can do serious damage from being dropped from the top of the Empire state building. Some of the experiments they did were modifying a staple gun so it can shoot a penny, jumping out of a plane and then dropping a penny in mid air to see how fast it went down, also they made a fake head with a real skull to see if a penny can make a mark in the head without hurting anyone, they used a shot gun to see if it made the penny go faster and finally they used a wind tunnel to see how long the penny can stay in mid air without falling.
All of the myth busters worked together very well. Mostly they worked together by communicating. By communicating I mean talking together, working together and sharing then trying each other’s ideas. They collaborated by listening to each other and being respectful to each other. When they came to a conflict they resolved it by helping each other out, trying a different way and also looking back to see where they went wrong. They divided up their work by each going with an idea then tying it out and telling their results to the others and demonstrating their experiment to each other. I also noticed that they dealt with change very well, and just tried to work around the change.
I learned that even if you think you did it wrong you should still either try again or try another solution to the problem. I learned that scientists never give up and they keep trying if they get to a dead end. I also learned that scientists are always open to new ideas and that they are always thinking about there goal and how to get to it.
When our class watched the Mythbusters in science we watched the penny dropping one. When we watched Jamie and Adam kept asking question and some were:
Is the penny drop myth real? Will the penny go fast enough speed to go through someone’s skull? What happens when a penny traveling 64 mph happen when it hits concrete? What happens when a penny traveling 64 mph happen when it hits assault? What happens when a penny traveling 64 mph happen when it hits your hand? What happens when a penny traveling 64 mph happen when it hits plaster covered skull? What happens when a penny in a rifle when it hits concrete? What happens when a penny in a rifle when it hits plaster cover skull? What happens when a penny in a rifle when it hits assault?
Some experiments they tried were:
Sky diving letting penny go. By making a penny sucking tube. Using staple gun and shooting penny at 64 mph. By using high speed camera to capture marks it left.
Some things they did to work together were:
By trying new things when other ideas did not work. When the staple gun did not work they moved up to the rifle.
I think I learned that you have to try things that maybe your partner (if you have one) wants to try but you don’t
1. In Myth Busters they investigate if when you drop a penny from the empire state building and if it lands on someone’s head it will kill them.
2. When they experimented they saw how fast a penny can go with using a stapple gun. They then realized that it was not fast enough to break the human skull. They then used a rifle to if it could break a human skull.
3. They worked together by sharing ideas and giving each other support. They saw each others ideas and thoughts. When they were in a disagreement they shared thoughts and and would calm down and look at there experiments. I noticed that they were goofing around.
4. I learned thatyou should stick your ideas and that sharing ideas is important.
What questions did they ask?
- What is a pennies terminal velocity?
- What happens when a penny hits your skin going its terminal velocity?
- How fast would the penny have to go to go through a human head?
How Did They Test There Idea’s?
- They jumped out of a plain to see if they move faster then the pennies.
- They made a stapler shooter into a penny shooter the see if it could go through concert, cement and a human head.
- To test to see if it could go through a human head then made a fake head out of ballistics jell and shot the pennies at the head the first time it didn’t go through so the cranked the speed up then it split the head in half.
How did they deal with change?
- They ran away from toxic gas
- Then the changed there topic to how fast would a penny have to travel to go through someone’s head.
How did they work together?
-They talked about what they were going to and how they were going to do it.
Mythbusters was a fun show to watch. Its about two men that try to see if a scientific myth is true. So they tried to through a penny off the side of the Empire State Building to see if it would go though the human body. But you can't through a penny off the side of the Empire State Building because the wind would just through it right back at you. They both tried doing things that would most likely work. One of them jumped out of a plane with 2 pennies in his hand to see how fast they would fall and they just fell right out of his hand. Then, they got a skull with a mold around it to make it look and feel like a human head. Afterwards, they put the penny in a shot gun and shot it right at the mold and it just bounced off. So in this case, the myth is not true. The four qustions were....
1.how do they test there ideas?
2.how did the deal with change?
3.how did they work togather?
4.what were the questions Adam and Jamie asked?
1) If you drop a penny from the Empire State Building will it hit someone and kill him/her, or become part of the concreat. what is the pennies fastest speed. what is a pennies most damage. how fast would a penny need to go to kill/shatter someone.
2) While skydyving seeing how fast a bunch of pennies go. They shot a penny out of a nailgun to see if it would become part of the concrete, or aspalt. They shot a penny out of a nailgun to see if it went in each others hand. They shot it out of a rifle to see if it would shatter flesh and bone. They shot it out of a rifle to see if it would become part of the concrete, or aspalt.
3) Yes they did collaborate the myth worked okay. They worked together by doing separate things like one prepared the dummy human one shot the pennies. They both got shot in the hands they helped each other they worked good as a team.
4) I learned that on some occasions you need to work together and other occasions you can work alone.
what questions did they ask?
*they need to figure out a top speed for a penny
*they need to figure out how fast and far it needs to travel to cause damage
how did they deal with change?
*when the staple gun needed to be changed because they had to cut the penny so they modifided it
*when the feeling in his hand changed when the penny shot him he almost cryed
how did they test there ideas?
*they used a stape gun to fire it
*they used a method to figure out what the top speed is of a penny
*they fired a penny out of a rifle
*they fire at a human skull
*they fired at there hand
*they fired at his butt
how did they work together?
at the begining they were working together and then they got fustrated at each other so they went there sepret ways and then for when they were testing they worked together and saw if the myth was true and it was not.
I declare this myth busted
On September 5th, 2008, in science class, we watched Myth Busters. We watched the Penny Drop episode and took notes on it. In this essay, I will write about the questions the Myth Busters asked, what kinds of experiments they used, how the Myth Busters worked together, and what I learned about how scientists think and work.
The Myth Busters asked a few questions. They also did some different experiments to answer these questions. One question they asked was: is the penny myth true? The experiment they did was one of them jumped out of a plane and while he was in the air, dropped some pennies and observed what happened. Another question they asked was: how fast does the penny go? The experiment the Myth Busters did was they did some mathematical equations and put some pennies in a wind tunnel. One more question the Myth Busters asked was: how fast does the penny have to go to hurt someone? One of the experiments they did was they put a penny in a staple gun, fired the staple gun on a couple of different sidewalk materials and observed what happened. Another experiment they did was they fired the staple gun on a human head mold they made and observed what happened. After they fired the staple gun on the head mold, they did it on their hands. One more experiment they did was they used a rifle and made a box with a slot at the part where the bullet comes out and fired it at the human head mold at a deadly speed. The head mold broke, so now the Myth Busters know that only at a deadly speed can the penny myth kill a person. The myth is busted.
The Myth Busters worked really well together. They resolved conflicts by talking to each other and trying to fix it. They divided up work evenly. For example, one of them would test the penny on different sidewalk materials and the other one would work on the human head mold they would test later. I also noticed that they talked and shared their observations.
From this Myth Busters episode, I learned about how scientists think and work. I learned that scientists observe a lot. For example, in the Myth Busters episode, after every experiment they would tell each other what they observed. I also learned about the Scientific Method. I learned that when you have a question, you experiment on it in an organized way.
I learned a lot from Myth Busters. The whole experience was fun and I hope we do it again!
Myth Busters
By Milky Milk
The Myth Busters asked, “Can you drop a penny off the Empire State Building and kill someone by having it go through their skull?” They visited the Empire State Building & talked to the manager. She said people have tried this before but the pennies didn’t land on the sidewalk or hit anybody; they landed on the 81st floor. That was because the pressure and the air current surrounding the building forced the pennies to land on a ledge that was on the 81st floor. The manager added that she thought it was scary that people even tried this experiment because what if it did kill someone? One of the Myth Busters tried falling out of an airplane and holding a few pennies in each hand. The problem was that the pennies were to light weight and they didn’t drop. Because of the wind and air pressure, they floated up.
The Myth Busters asked “What’s a penny’s maximum speed when it’s dropping?” This question was tested when a wind tunnel was made by using a tube to blow air through with pennies inside it. We watched it go up in the tube then come back down. The penny wasn’t ever heavy enough to just drop straight down to the ground. Another test was done when a guy cut the edges off a penny and stuck it in a staple gun. In this experiment, a guy shot a staple gun three or four feet away from a piece of cement. All it did was make a teeny-tiny little dent. Then he tried concrete, and the penny just bounced back off, then he tried using a human skull with a mold of jelly it only made a mark. He made the throat of the staple gun bigger and tried it again: same results. Then the men both put their hands underneath because their other question was, “What does the penny do when it hits human skin?” They found out it just stings their hands and leaves a red mark.
Their third question was, “How fast does a penny have to go to do serious damage?” They went back working with each other for this last experiment and used a shot gun. To do this they made almost a little box with a slot in it, so when the penny got shot out of the box through the slit the penny would shoot out because the air from the shot gun pushed it out. They then tried shooting it at a piece of cement. It only bent the penny and practically carved the penny’s face in it. They tried shooting it at a human skull again, but nothing serious happened, because the penny didn’t have enough mass to it. With the concrete it bounced back once again.
How they did it all was quite funny and different than anything I have ever seen on a television show. EVER! It wasn’t just funny; it was hysterical at times, like when he shot a penny at the other guys butt.
Mythbutsers Penny Myth
Adam and Jamie asked a few simple questions. First, what is a penny’s terminal velocity (max speed)? Second, how fast must a penny go to kill someone? And, can a penny at terminal velocity penetrate asphalt or concrete. These questions are key to the myth.
They tested their ideas in some crazy ways. First, Adam jumped out of a plane, with pennies, and let them go. The pennies went flying out of his hand. This showed the terminal velocity of a penny was slower than a human’s terminal speed. Second, they used ballistics gel, which has the same density as human skin to see if a penny could, when shot at terminal velocity, be lethal. Finally, Jamie reconstructed a staple gun to shoot a penny at terminal velocity, which is 64.4 M.P.H.
Adam and Jamie dealt with change really well. First, they went there separate ways and tried 2 different things. When they found out that a penny wasn’t lethal at top speed, Adam created a rifle to shoot the penny a bullet like speed. Also, they figured out that it is extremely unlikely that the penny will actually hit the ground because of updrafts of wind and such which is why they decided to test in the lab. Finally, they figured out that a penny was not lethal at terminal velocity, which is why they created the penny rifle. Changing the speed of the penny is changing a variable, which helped them to bust the myth.
They worked together by talking. When something worked they talked. When something failed they talked. When they found the myth was impossible, they talked about how they could see what is fast enough for a penny to kill someone. If I were grading there performance on the show, an A+ for Adam and Jamie.
kr.td.23
The mythbusters investigated the myth that says if you drop a penny from
the top of the Empire State Building, it will go through someone’s head.
To investigate this myth, they had to get a penny to go at 64 miles per hour
which is the estimated speed of a penny being dropped off the Empire State
Building. They had to take some of the sides off of the penny for it to fit
into the staple gun. Then they made a slot in the staple gun where the penny
could fit without having the sides taken off.
One of the mythbusters did not agree with the other mythbuster’s idea of getting
the penny to go 64 miles per hour. The one that didn’t agree went and made a more
accurate staple gun. Then they finally agreed which one was more accurate in terms
of speed. Next they used a model of a human skull with hard stuff on it. They shot
the penny at the skull and it bounced right off. Next they shot pennies at concrete
and asphalt and again they just bounced off. The mythbusters proved the myth about
the penny falling from the Empire State Building and going through someone’s head
as wrong.
I learned that scientists don’t always agree with each other’s ideas. They have to work
together to get past their disagreements. They have to show respect for each other’s
ideas and be willing to try different things.
In class we watched myth busters and it was really fun! I liked that they tested out there theories in such unique and interesting ways. The theory that they were working on this time was the classic Empire State building myth, that when you drop a penny from the top it would go through someone, or be imbedded into the concrete side walk.
The main question that Adam and Jamie were asking was “Does a penny actually go through someone if dropped from the top of the Empire State building?” As they tested their idea they concluded that it was just a myth, but they still weren’t done. They then decided that they wanted to find out exactly how fast the penny had to go to go through someone or be imbedded into the ground. They also asked what would happen if a penny hit their hand.
They tested their ideas in a series of different ways, but the first thing they decided was that they were not going to literally drop the penny of the side of the building because if the story was true and they hit someone there could’ve been a lawsuit coming there way, so they jumped out of a plane and let go of the pennies while they were falling. The pennies were timed on how long it took them to hit the ground, which gave them the exact calculation of the speed that the penny reached. It was somewhere around 65 mph. Once they had the right speed they decided to put the pennies in a staple gun, and shot it at a different objects. Then when they were testing to see how fast the penny had to go to go through things they used a rifle and shot it at the objects. Some of the materials they used are:
1. pennies
2. staple gun
3. model head
4. concrete
5. rifle
6. wind tunnel/air chute
And more.
When something didn’t go as planned or work exactly right, they would learn from their failure and improve. They always changed their questions, and they changed the staple gun testing around a lot too. They were never afraid of failure but in the end you never learn anything if you get everything right on the first try.
Adam and Jamie both assigned themselves different tasks to work on and jobs to do. They worked together by splitting up and focusing on one thing at a time. They would also share their results and ideas by talking and collaborating. I never really realized how interesting and difficult a scientist’s job is, but the mythbusters seem like they have a really good time with what they’re doing.
Myth Busters
I enjoyed watching this episode of Myth Busters because I learned cool things. Also I never knew about the penny myth.
Some of the questions the myth busters navigated were what is the penny’s maximum speed while falling from the top? How fast does a penny have to go to go through concrete or someone’s head? What happens when a penny is traveling 15 miles per hour and hits skin?
Some experiments they tried out to investigate these questions was, one of the myth busters went sky diving with a hand full of pennies then let them go while he was in the air to see what direction they would go in. They used a rifle to shoot the penny to calculate how fast it had to go. Another was putting a penny in a wind tube to see what would happen. Also they used a staple gun to see how fast it had to go for it to go into concrete or someone’s head. To do this they used a concrete block and for the human head they used a real skull and poured jello stuff over it to make fake flesh.
The Myth Busters worked together by splitting the work and taking responsibility for their part of it. They resolved conflicts by talking to one another and working things out. They divided up the work by working on their own part, but also helping each other. I noticed that they also joked around with their project like when they were shooting the penny at Adam’s butt. They also disagreed a lot but worked it out in the end.
In the end I learned that the penny myth did not work even though it would have been cool to see what would happen if it did work. It was fun and I hope we do it again.
reflection/
by paintballmonkey14
We saw a mythbusters youtube vidieo and one of the youtube vidieo. And it was the pennydrop.The first question was can it kill someone?
They got a skull of a person and they put a hardkind of jello on the skill so they can use it for a real head. so when they got all of the jello on the head they got a nial guo and they put the penny in the nail gun"but it coud't fight" so they cut the penny and put in the nail gou and it real fit.So after that they put a string on the nail gun so when they shot the penny into the head it might go back and hit him.so when they pulled the string the penny went of the head but it did not enything but it went real far up in the air.so they think it will not kill the person.So they ask a anther myth how fast does the penny going to have to kill someone. so they thought it is going to have to be 59 miles to kill some one "i think it was not going to work at all. It was going to have to be faster" but i coid be wrong so they put the nail gun up yo 59 miles per stc. so adam pulled the string and it did nothing but it did get a creack so it did not work .Then they got a real gunto see if the fack head will blow upso they put the penny in the sootgun and they put anthere string with it and he pulled it and the head blew up it was real cool.so at the end th ey think it cannot kill some one so it was BUSTED.
The Mythbusters asked many questions. One question they asked was how fast a penny would fall from the Empire State Building. Then they realize they couldn’t throw the penny of the building, so they dropped pennies off planes at the height of the Empire State Building. Then they generated a gun that shot pennies at the speed it would if u dropped it off the building and shot it at a skull with something around it that was the same as human flesh. When that failed they tried to see how fast it would have to go to break human flesh.
The Mythbusters also used many experiments to solve the myth. They dropped pennies off of a plane to see how fast a penny would fall at the height of the Empire State Building. They used mathematical equations. They also created things that could help finding the answer to the myth.
The Mythbusters worked together well. They always told each other the result of and experiment. They did not agree all the time though. Whenever they were wrong or there experiments were wrong, they never gave up. If they didn’t get a result that wasn’t the same as there hypothesis, the asked new questions.
The Mythbusters work and think like scientists. They work and think like scientists because they work together nicely and they always asked questions. They would also ask new question if one myth has failed.
In the show they ask questions like how fast does a penny go if you drop it off the empire state building.
They also tested there ideas. One way they tested there ideas was they jumped out of a plain with pennies to see how fast one went. But they weren’t shore so they tested It by putting it in a wind tunnel that blew at the speed they thought it the least from the top and the most from the bottom. If the penny stay in the tunnel they had the right range. It stayed.
After they figured out how fast it went one of them made a ballistic jell head with a skull inside it. The other one found something to shoot it out of. They decided to shootit out of a staple gun at 64.41 miles per hour. When they shot it it made a small wound.
So they changed the goal. now there trying to see how fast it would have to go to break through the skull. They got a rifle that shot around the speed of sound. They then set up a weird contraption that if you pulled a string the rifle would fire. They shot it and the penny broke the skull in half.
After they were done with the myth they felt like they had something else to do. And they did it. They shot a penny at Adams butt, it was funny.
Over al it was a great mythbusters
9/11/08 Name: PURPLEMONKEY
In science, we watched an episode of Mythbusters. Adam and Jamie (the scientists) where busting the myth that a penny dropped off the Empire State building could reach such a velocity that it would be able to lethally pierce through a human skull or penetrate ash volt.
The first question they had in mind was “what is a penny’s terminal velocity?” First, Adam and Jamie wanted to know whether a penny and a human fell at the same rate in an outdoor condition. Adam tested this idea by skydiving and releasing a handful of pennies in mid fall. If the pennies hovered alongside him, they would know that humans and pennies fall at the same rate. After the test, the results showed pennies do not fall at the same rate as humans in a scenario with outdoor conditions. I think this occurred because a penny had different drag, friction and displacement than humans.
Once Adam and Jamie solved that pennies and humans do not fall at the same rate, they went back to the question “what is a penny’s terminal velocity?” After using a wind tunnel, researching and solving equations, they came to the verdict that a penny’s terminal velocity was about 65mph.
Now that they knew the maximum acceleration of a penny brought down by gravity, they were ready to test whether a falling penny could truly drill through a human head. Jamie rigged a staple gun to shoot a penny at precisely 65mph, but there was a slight problem with Jamie’s rig. The staple gun’s barrel was too slender therefore the penny could not fit snugly in the gun. The Mythbusters dealt with this problem by shaving the sides off the penny so it could fit through the staple gun’s barrel. Adam and Jamie created a head out of ballistics gel. Ballistics gel is a material with the same density and properties as human flesh. To top it off, they implanted a real human skull inside the head. They fired the penny at this human head simulation from above. They observed that the penny only penetrated the thin layer of gel over the skull. The penny did not pierce through the skull. There was the answer. A penny, if dropped off the Empire State Building, could not lethally drill through a persons head.
The next question they had in mind was “What would happen if the penny hit skin?” The Mythbusters adjusted the velocity of the staple gun to the right speed. Jamie and Adam took turns shooting pennies at their hands to see what kind of damage would happen to their skin. In the end the results were in, Adam and Jamie observed their hands to find nothing but a little redness and soreness.
Next they tested the second main question, “could a penny penetrate ash volt?” They fired the penny out of the staple gun at a block of ash volt. The results showed that the penny caused nothing but a mere dent. Now both myths were officially busted. For the Mythbusters, that was not enough. Jamie and Adam went deeper in their quest for answers. They changed their guiding questions to “how fast does a penny have to go in order to pierce a human head or ash volt?” They kept increasing the penny’s velocity until it was as fast as a bullet. When they tested their lightning fast bullet, the ballistics gel head was completely obliterated. Finally, the Mythbusters got their satisfaction.
Jamie and Adam often had arguments over opinions and went their separate ways to prove their ideas. Sometimes the Mythbusters did separate parts in solving the myth, for example, Adam did the skydiving while Jamie created the staple gun. The work was divided up usually because they were testing their own ideas. They collaborated on thinking up ideas, making a plan of action to test their ideas, and participating in experiments. The two goons had fun working together and screwed around a lot (like when Jamie shot Adam in the butt with the penny rig).
I learned that scientists aren’t afraid to disagree with one another. Disagreeing can be good because it forces both of them to consider different ideas. They have scientifically correct substitutes for things the myth calls for that they cannot obtain. They always think ahead and are juggling questions to guide their work and are always very creative. Mythbusters is one of my all time favorite shows and I learned a lot from that particular episode.
After watching Mythbusters I learned how scientists think and work. First, you have a question. In this case it was “If you drop a penny of the Empire State Building will it kill a person and\or jam itself into the side walk?”
Next, they had to figure out how fast penny goes when dropped at the height of the Empire State Building, they dropped pennies out of a plane and it measured to around 64mph. So one of them made a fake head using bone like material and a gelatin that is used by the FBI for a substitution of flesh, while the other modified a staple gun to fit a penny and fire it at 64mph.
First, they fired the staple gun at the fake head and then at concrete. It didn’t even break the “skin”. It did leave a imprint on the concrete, though the penny didn’t stay in the concrete.
So then they fired the gun at each other just to make sure and it didn’t even break the skin.
Next they came up with a new question “How fast does a penny have to go to kill someone or get stuck in the sidewalk?” So the modified a rifle to fire a penny at three times the speed of sound and didn’t break the “flesh” of the fake head. It did leave a deeper imprint on the sidewalk but didn’t stick in the sidewalk.
So the conclusion the came up with is that a penny is not dense enough to kill someone no matter what the speed it goes at.
The Mythbusters resolved conflicts by splitting the work to help find ways to test there ideas. An example is after they got in a fight one of them created the fake head and the other the modified the staple gun.
Mythbusters shows that scientists find a problem try and fix it or solve it by testing it in different ways and then finding a conclusion.
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