Ice Cannonball Challenge - Mythbusters - Science Documentary

[@treepotato9273]

"we don't have enough myths left for this series, lets just weaponise a ping pong ball" I love this show so much.

[@H2Oredfirefox]

I know exactly how you feel I really miss this show they certainly did do a lot of crazy stuff🤔🤔😍😍

[@gavinrichardson3918]

@treepotato9273 arrive in heaven. "What happened to you?" "I got shot with a ping pong ball !"

[@NorwayT]

I do wish they had mixed the ice in the cannon with paper or fabric. Having grown up in the Arctic, when we construct something out of ice that need to take an extra amount of load, such as a cross river Ice Bridge, we always mix in fabric, paper or at the very least wood powder/chips. I believe if they had made a Pykrete Cannon, it would have worked beautifully. More so than the Duct Tape Cannon they made, which lost a lot of its Energy due to Duct Tape's flexible nature. The great thing about cracks forming in the ice from the shockwave, is that if it's cold enough, the melted water in th cracks refreeze and seals it up again, almost instantly. Great Episode! Thank you very much, Banijay Science! 👍

[@tristanellis-mascoll1171]

Or they could have instead made layers of ice, instead of one bulk. But on the other hand, giving out information how to build a deadly weapon that will leave no evidence should not be provided on public TV...

[@DouglasBryant-d2f]

@@tristanellis-mascoll1171 If you have a set of car keys, you have a much more dangerous weapon. No need to go to extreme lengths for that.

[@tristanellis-mascoll1171]

@@DouglasBryant-d2f Except you are in an situation where you cant use your car as a weapon.

[@MusikCassette]

I do not understand how they did not think about that after making cannon balls out of pykrete

[@tristanellis-mascoll1171]

@@MusikCassette Maybe to not encourage building untraceable weapons. Just a guess

[@josephkarl2061]

39:18 Even after all these years and watching this episode dozens of times, making a ping pong ball do that still blows my mind 😂

[@mellchiril]

I like how even after all these seasons the Mythbusters were not scared of doing ice myths in sweaty t-shirt weather. Really makes one trust every single result they came up with when their cannons and their cannon balls were half melted by the time they were ready to fire. On the note of the lethal ping pong ball... that was gorgeous to watch. I could probably watch footage of it being pushed back by a cushion of air over and over and not get bored of it.

[@Viel_Glueck]

This is one of the rare episodes where they didn't try enough in my opinion. How about reenforcing the cannon with the materials used for the cannonballs. The pig could've been placed at a wall to eliminate a lot of lost force from falling over and a human dummy would've been interesting, too.

[@muchluck7981]

or fire the cannon....in alaska

[@voornaam3191]

May the force be with you. Imagine losing an air force. Keep an eye on your supply of gluons, those keep a force together, right?

[@tristanellis-mascoll1171]

I have to agree, the way they made their ice cannon was just stupid. Instead of using just one bucket of water, they should have done it like the myth suggested: Layering the ice to create the barrel faster. One big chunk of water will always freeze brittle. However layers of ice are far more sturdy than one solid sheet. This is a fail on the Mythbuster side for not researching ice enough.

[@MrMarinus18]

Yeah, we saw in the Pykrete episode just how much of a difference wood pulp can make.

[@lukesimpson1507]

when they tested if a bug could kill you they found that a throat hit requires very little force to kill. They should of tested the force. You are right about the cannon also.

[@houseofsaudisthebeast]

3:16 "As the mythbusters know, speed kills." RIP Mythbuster Jessi Combs

[@TheBenNZ]

❤

[@ravencanis8998]

Coming from the emotional last season of a show I’ve been watching for the last 7 years, to this being the very next video, with good old Grant, it’s exactly what I needed tonight

[@d4slaimless]

You can tell Adam and Jamie enjoyed this one. Quite the show!

[@Rando_Shyte]

Holy shit the remastering on this show is incredible! Even the audio sounds more crisp, thank you! LOVE THIS SHOW :D

[@KanuckStreams]

The look on Adam's face at 26:35 is so perfect.

[@mustif1]

im starting to think they dont just tell the myths they put them to the test.

[@cejannuzi]

I would bet they mixed the water with straw and froze it. And they didn't test it in a hot desert. LOL.

[@KanuckStreams]

Yeah. They tested the *ball* as just ice and it survived, but they didn't test the cannon using reinforcing material like straw or sawdust, and it has to hold up against a lot more forces.

[@MrMarinus18]

We already know that pykrete is very tough and that's essentially what that is.

[@DissarayJay]

@@KanuckStreams they talked about it on a podcast once, they already wasted about 2 months on the frozen cannons and couldnt have a deep freezer of -25c capable of freezing things fast enough when added fiber, since now it was more insulating. In short... it wasn't worth the time.

[@andromededp5316]

Just add fibrous material to the ice for the canon like you initially did with the canonballs

[@MaZEEZaM]

That ping pong hitting the pork then the bat was seriously impressive.

[@mdcclxxviepluribusunum1066]

5:28 Adam’s impressions of Jamie crack me up

[@notapplicable531]

Never mind a pork shoulder, what wouild the ping pond ball do to a rib cage? How far into the chest cavity's organs ( heart and lungs) would the shock wave travel?

[@DrBarbequeSauce]

Or your skull? Could it blind you if it hit you in the eye? So many unanswered questions

[@Mr.-V.C-]

Pykrete cannon.. Basically ice..

[@jessh5310]

There was also aircraft carrier called Habbakuk made of pykecrete

[@bluewhalestudioblenderanim1132]

altho there's the question of: did pykrete exist in some form whan this myth was supposed to take place ?, that's quite a big if . . .

[@jessh5310]

@@bluewhalestudioblenderanim1132 . Ice with straw in it did exist at least in the 7th century in Scotland.

[@bluewhalestudioblenderanim1132]

another thing that concerns me is: mythbuster's ice molds had some big cracks in them and in a place as cold as russia it's relatively easy to get ice with no bubbles or cracks to speak of I guess someone would have to analize how much do those cracks weaken the cannon

[@jessh5310]

@bluewhalestudioblenderanim1132 . If you put water into a container a bit at a time it is possible without cracks.

[@abelgerli]

Thats why the Hyperloop is just like Zen. Just be the Ping Pong ball when the vacuum collapses 😂😂

[@elwyn5150]

41:55 Kudos to background male vocalist's "oh".

[@lastburning]

That pingpong ball hit looked pretty lethal to me.

[@miguelg1716]

Both myths could still be plausible... The ice cannon should be reinforced to gain more structural stability and iron plating the inside could make it infinitely cheaper for an army to maintain in the snowy conditions of Siberia. Also the pig butt was not properly secured. If it had the mass of a human or was against a wall the ball would penetrate more deeply than it did.

[@5688gamble]

26:35 when your hyperloop fails and you hit the wall of air travelling towards you in the opposite direction.

[@gatovillano7009]

at 16:10, the wine glass was so close to the barrel that you cannot be sure if it was the ball or the gas that broke the glass.

[@PostDeleted]

Adam giggling at utter carnage always lit up my childhood😂

[@Auxius.]

If that pingpong could crack a pingpong bat, surely also a cranial.

[@DouglasBryant-d2f]

It was probably possible with just the air at that speed.

[@gatovillano7009]

at 14:07, there is an error in his logic: the resistance for the air is exponential and surface is a factor when it comes to air resistance. At some point, you will reach maximum speed because the resistance from air is greater than the acceleration from the canon.

[@MostlyPennyCat]

If anybody ever meets Jamie, ask him if he's still finding ping pong balls.

[@Znegil]

Yeah, the cannonballs would be okay with straw or sawdust in it, but of course these people would only try to create a perfectly clear cannon without any additive 🤔😅

[@martinp1054]

well.... they didn't use the aditives in the balls anyway..... so they probably wanted to make the myth "pure"..... as well as not having to make two or even three cannons.....

[@kailebcooke3193]

Yeah that's the myth. A cannon,ade purely of ice. They already know that pykrete would work.. that's why they made cannon balls with it🤡

[@wowzanpakutou]

they made the other balls as backup in case the pure ice one didn't work, as they wanted the myth test to be pure, the ice balls worked, so why test the other ones? the ice cannon "worked" so why test other stuff, i can sort of see their logic. where i see them failing is trying to use water frozen in a freezer filled with cracks and bubbles rather than ice from a -40c stream in russia or whatever, not all ice is the same. notice how the ice cannon ball was perfectly clear with no bubbles or cracks and it held up? that's what they needed for the cannon. Edit: also thinking about it, they could have just used an auger to make a hole in an ice lake, angled to whatever direction they want and that'd probably make a great cannon or mortar. iuno there's ways of doing this that people from california wouldn't understand to do with ice lol

[@gagaape]

They could also make the barrel longer, but can't test everything right?

[@FakeSchrodingersCat]

@@gagaape That probably would not make much of a difference with black powder and the reduced load they used.

[@robertarmstrong3478]

If you look at the footage of the strike on the pork, I suspect that a lot of the damage was caused by the air, which probably masses more than the ball.

[@cleanycloth]

13:50 hahaha, that was genius writing

[@ericl2152]

Northern Russia in the middle of winter is -25C to -50C.

[@young3nsinglej]

This was one of those shows that they didn't fulfill their usual "replicate the results" mantra. I really hoped they'd have made something like a carbonfiber ping-pong ball and put something in the ice, like grass or wood cuttings. Both of which would have made it more likely they'd have achieved the results of the myths. Gotta admit, 1100mph ping-pong ball is impressive though!

[@ankitsenapati3998]

6:58 The animation 😂

[@waynewu8267]

Honestly if the ping pong ball catches the throat,,,, that surely is deadly.

[@LaLaLand.Germany]

I just love when they blow shit up! I think the ice cannon should be revisited. But this time talk to a professional ice maker because I bet they know how to get the ice crack free and limit the breeches to one time use. It was to see that the pre cracked ice wouldn´t stand up. But the ice projectile was very impressive. It was frozen perfect.

[@dazlock4491]

Wait the ping pong ball wasn't busted. If that had hid your chest that would surely be lethal!

[@swilleh_]

Speed has never killed anyone. Suddenly becoming stationary, that's what gets you.

[@MGlBlaze]

Or the reverse, being stationary and suddenly moving very fast. Or *pieces* of you suddenly moving very fast.

[@maxmouse3]

1550mph on a ice cannon ball HAHAHH what a great show

[@furistasTedis]

I miss them… they were so long in tv…

[@akbharnucsgubt5040]

Maybe they should have used reinforced ice for the cannon ^^

[@faizansharif6985]

I think team for canon you should have used salty sea water because the freezing temperature of salty water is even lower but it would have had higher brittleness I think

[@DouglasBryant-d2f]

You should have slow frozen the ice, like transparent ice cubes, this would increase it's stability. Any fractures in it and you can throw it away. Keep it in the paper mould, back in the day they would have had, wood, leather or wax or glued cloth with little issue. Or add woodchips to the water and make a composit material.

[@tomwhelan309]

16:20 The glass had to be glued to the surface it was upon, eh?

[@ivanstepanovic1327]

Ping pong ball seem to have another effect on impact. It seems like the air squished out of it on impact does additional damage... As for the cannon... During the wars with Turks, Serbian forces didn't have enough cannons so we improvised with what we had. And it was - wood. Usually cherry tree. Either a tree trunk got a hole in the middle with metal rims around it or it was was similar to wooden drink barrels, but with thicker planks and once again - metal rims. It wasn't really accurate and didn't last long, but it gave a lot of bang for little buck. Especially if it was loaded with buckshot or flechettes for close encounters...

[@milymentalist]

That bat was definitely a science baseball bat

[@Akrub1979]

I don't get why they did think of reinforcing the cannonball with hemp or some other material, but did discuss the same when making the cannon itself. Hopefully such composite barrel could handle more gunpowder per shot.

[@marekesz]

The ice balls survived because of the smooth barrel of the canon - the riffling was crushing the ice projectiles in previous experiment.

[@ToxaKaRp]

They can use "reinforced" ice just adding to water sawdust. It could make a cannon barrel a several times stronger.

[@mishkamcivor409]

I think it is unfair to say that the ping pong ball myth is busted, if the myth is as described "a fast enough ping pong ball can kill you" then yeah, it can, we can make them go arbitrarily fast (it just gets harder and more complicated the faster you get) but besides that, even at the speed they managed to reach that absolutely could kill you if it hit you in the wrong place, with ease

[@ced3098]

Ice mixed with wood fiber is very strong , some ship have been built during WWII bu using this technic .

[@andrewmullen4003]

I'm pretty sure "Just have a think" Destin did this with the vacuum cannon

[@isolance1]

Wouldn't it have worked with the long tube if there was a small needle on the exit side? When the pressure starts to build up, which eventually stops the ping-pong ball in the first long tube test, the insulating film begins to swell beforehand. Initially, it was always in a concave state. So, we could also experiment with the distance of the needle to see how far we allow the pressure to rebuild on the vacuum/exit side.

[@ajcoopa]

I swear every time Adam popped the vacuum pipe, he used a different sharp object.

[@lord_matto8660]

The air coming after the ball was probably more damaging than the ball itself when you look at the high-speed

[@TyroKitsune]

We are not likely to see a show like this again for a long time. "Next on Discovery Channel, two randos that just so happen to be ex-Industrial Light and Magic Special Effect Techs working out of some independently owned industrial zone garage are now going to apply the scientific method to the most random sounding things imaginable, likely getting on watch lists for all the things they source while they blow things up or build strange contraptions that you can't help but want to see run. This week, they're trying to weaponise something harmless...again. And after that, some WWII Doc to calm you down."

[@arcanei]

The cannon would never be as strong as it could like that. Filled with cracks and air bubbles. They should have made clear ice for the best strength.

[@joefries365]

yeah i was wondering the same thing, saw a big crack in it

[@JarickBr]

Same here. If ever KZbin cocktail videos were as prevelant back when they shot this..

[@jeremymcadam7400]

It doesn't even need to be cannon shaped. Just a big block with one or multiple holes in it as barrels

[@gavinrichardson3918]

Yea more than likely a genuine improvised ice cannon would be a block of ice cut from a lake with a hole drilled in it. So the ice would have been slow frozen and much thicker! If they had made it in a mold like the mythbusters did, they would use some fiber to strengthen it

[@glennwahlberg8780]

@@gavinrichardson3918 like pykrete. it is extremely durrable. almost unmeltable and somewhat flexable. and its just wood pulp and ice. even hay as filler would probably work. Pykrete is made of 14% sawdust and 86% water by mass so its mostly ice

[@DouglasBryant-d2f]

For the ping pong ball experiment did you try the same shots without the ball, to see if the air was responsible. Also no presure gage was used.

[@crazysupernovagaming3638]

Imagine getting shot with a ping pong ball and going to the ER. Definitely wouldn't be fun.

[@TehPwnerer]

If that ping pong ball smacked you in the head it would be lethal

[@Ropetupa]

"Tis but a scratch!"

[@DJMerrell86]

They don't just tell the myths, they ARE the myths

[@asdads3948]

Imagine they put a steel ball in that pingpong launcher. I mean it would still work right? Maybe not such high speeds, but still significant?

[@vanguarded3264]

If you somehow framed a small pin on the inside of the side you itnend to pierce, when the tape concaves due to the vacuum, it bends enough to pierce itself, creating an somewhat auto-firing mechanism?

[@stanislavczebinski994]

I think instead of pure ice for the cannon, pykrete (sawdust+ice) and the likes would have been worth a shot - literally.... Furthermore, there is a difference between conventional ice from the freezer - and blue ice. The latter is strongly compacted ice without any impurities or air in it.

[@scrivener68]

Since you have to have something that serves as the mold for the ice cannon, it strikes me that leaving it in place would be the smart and probably accurate thing to do. I mean, who would take it off? Why would you? So all we need is a 17th-century solution, and it's barrels. Beer or wine or whatever, whatever size you want. They're already reinforced against pressure thanks to the hoops. I think that would have made quite a difference, as well as not being cheating.

[@renetr6771]

Maybe u are able to reduce the air what is floating around the ping pong ball....

[@MostlyPennyCat]

Pycrete!

[@DrBarbequeSauce]

That supersonic ping pong ball carries more kinetic energy than a 22 long rifle bullet. The 22 has 138 Joules and the Ping Pong Ball has 326 Joules. But it can't quite match the 535 Joules from a 9mm

[@DouglasBryant-d2f]

Surface area is relevant.

[@DrBarbequeSauce]

@@DouglasBryant-d2f You're right, that and being made of metal is why the 22 penetrates cleaner and deeper than the ping pong ball would. But the energy delivered is also relevant, a steel plate can stop a projectile but if there's too much energy for it to absorb, you're still screwed

[@violakrone8429]

Innovative like the Blyatmobil 😂

[@TehPwnerer]

If you made your cannon out of frozen piecrete or frozen layered newspapers you could probably increase the pressure by orders of magnitude

[@jasonvillareal4291]

pingpong is lethal .. they didnt test head shot..

[@PriorEight]

Or around 680 to 1200 meters a second

[@touchm3]

The ice cannon only needs to work once since they can build multiple of them since it's just ice

[@philsmith6597]

at the 9 min mark (or just after) did Carrie say Cliff Richard?

[@ardvark84]

In that last ping pong ball shot, the air did most of the damage. The ball just penetrated the skin. In a distance of 1 meter it would be a bruise.

[@heathergarnham9555]

If you hit the neck in the right place the swelling could cause the airway to get cut off and that could be fatal.

[@ardvark84]

@@heathergarnham9555 And if the subject would be allergic to ping pong balls it would be fatal too.

[@bartle6168]

Why try pyekrete cannon balls and not a fibre reinforced barrel? Surely the Cossacks would have reinforced the ice and maybe even with some banding or even leaving the barrel inside it's mold.

[@jomorken4853]

I think the prezzurized air blown into the wound would be letheal anyway

[@swedichboy1000]

6:48 Is that episode available?

[@N0D0hNuts]

yeah I watched it a couple of weeks ago.

[@PriorEight]

Know a company that uses a vacuum chamber in the same way to get spesial batteries up to 16 000G to 20 000G for testing if they work correctly.

[@adamsmith7940]

I wonder if they signed the ping pong paddle w the hole in it, how much it would sell for on auction?

[@peterwilloughby132]

Did you boil the water first to drive out any dissolved air?

[@daemonburns-waight2421]

Fun fact: chopped up pingpong balls make excellent smokebombs when mixed with match heads and wrapped in foil.. Just prob try to not breathe it in 😀👍

[@josephtortona824]

did they try dry-ice bullets?

[@xxstepsxx4227]

Would think Adam and Jamie with their 30 years of experience would know a bullet dont fly through the air as the whole cartridge 😂😂😂

[@janrautenstrauch4729]

I would've been very much surprised if that plastic, hollow ball went through. I mean, these balls are meant to bounce off. They lack the mass to carry sufficient kinetic energy. Sure, the damage it did was impressive but let's not forget the ball hit on close range.

[@speckledjim_]

I noticed that the ice cannonballs were clear compared to the cannon, which was cloudy/opaque, which points to a difference in density............

[@trippycat]

Makes me think if the ice bullet could work if they made it a little bigger

[@Thousandslakes]

Maybe the icecannon would work better in very cold arctic temperatures

[@BrillPappin]

One word: Pykrete That should have made it out of stronger ice.

[@christianellegaard7120]

They should have used a shake table to freeze the cannons on. Clear ice would probably have been stronger.

[@Condamine123456]

23:53 thats what she said 🤣

[@daemonburns-waight2421]

only two minutes in but here's my guess: a pingpong ball is so light that it'd have to be going hundreds of miles an hour to kill someone.. I'm betting the ball will just disintegrate from air friction before it could hit anything. Maybe some shards might stick in whatever they're shooting at, but I doubt it

[@stefanhoffmann8417]

What about adding a hydrogen explosion instead of pressured air? Have the ball in a tube section with air to cushion the explosion and then add a vacuum barrel in-front-of that? Like a tandem-effect. A ping-pong ball or actually any object should be able to reach the speed of light and meaby beyond, in a vacuum by theory. On earth however, there's gotta be more and faster than this but meaby not as fast as the speed of light..

[@zauberwuerfel3x3]

They schould change the clean Film and change with the Explosion Metal plattes they used for Explosion who Break at a exact psi. With that the maybe could increase the starting psi amount.

[@p24hrsmith]

There was so many flaws in the ice cannon not just the clearly visible big crack in it

[@maszkalman3676]

Also they purposedly leave out crucial ponits of the cannan and they even showed it mainly brace one and two one near the ignition chamber the next is from the chamber to the barrel and they have none of those on the ice cannon... but that's this shłt show for you they are "scientific" when they have to peddle to some companie sor government agencies since it's russian it had to be wrong.... even back then.... also i tried to find the base of the myth that's wha ti found :" The Ice cannon Cannons made of ice? As strange as it may sounds it is true that there were such cannons. The first ice cannon was constructed in 1750's in the Russian empire. These first Ice cannons were made for the wedding ceremony of Empress Anna. The Russians had constructed a palace made of ice in the area of Saint's Petersburg. Inside the ice palace there were trees , birds and statues made of ice. There were also 6 cannons and 2 mortars made of ice. These ice cannons were only capable to make a blast but could not injure anybody. The Russian engineers loaded the ice cannons with the proper amount of gunpowder and then fired a blast. These were only used for entertainment and was a great and fascinating spectacle at that time." so no they weren't sued in wars ever they are fking liars....

[@MrAliquam]

That dance is called Hopak. And it's not russian, it originates from cossacks on territory of Ukraine in 15 century. Hopak is a Ukrainian national dance.

[@DarkInos]

I will say that I do not agree with endings for either of the main myths. If you are in the danger of being killed, you will find out things you never thought before. Cannon could be made from water + sawdust or something, not just "pure water" as they stated. Also their cannon had major crack even before rolling it out along the whole length of the shaft. If pure ice cannon survived 1,5 basically of shots, while cracked from the start... having it frozen in some water barrel, that would be already prepped to be moved in the Siberia type of winter.. I can imagine that working. And ping pong ball that goes inside the ham? Hit neck, stomach area.. any vital area and you are heavily damaged in some moments even death + trauma if headshot? To be fair they shot at 0 point blank range ... still could kill quite sure if they hit weakpoint.

[@6tgr]

I think if that hit me in the temple it would kill me.

[@DrBarbequeSauce]

Just gonna leave this: 22. LR Bullet: 138 Joules Supersonic Ping Pong Ball: 326 Joules 9mm Bullet: 535 Joules

[@veryblocky]

Should’ve put straw in the cannon

[@terraincognita3749]

Fun fact: the younger Jamie Hyneman once played ping pong against Forrest Gump and won.