Can A Ping Pong Ball Kill You? | MythBusters | Season 9 Episode 20 | Full Episode

[@haydendegrow945]

This is easily one of my favourite episodes. From the way Adam and Jamie ramp up the ping pong ball using materials I could use in my classroom to the trekking trio going crazy with ice, this is pure, unadulterated FUN! One suggestion I would have made for the trio, I would have made the CANNON out of the supplementary materials. Clearly they needed to reinforce it, so WHY DIDN'T THEY?

[@MikkoRantalainen]

The myth claimed it was made out of ice so that's what they tested. I agree that having lots of fiber (ropes and whatnot) in the mix would have helped a lot.

[@liamblaney6433]

This.

[@mytube001]

I think adding straw to the ice in various directions to reinforce it would've made it a lot stronger. And that was a resource available in large quantities almost everywhere, at any time.

[@connergibson5930]

Also the fact it would have been in sub 0 temperatures originally and not melting, but thats not really something they can accommodate

[@mytube001]

@@connergibson5930 Ice doesn't melt fast enough for that to have mattered here.

[@ThatSoddingGamer]

Yes. I mean, they even covered making aggregate cannon balls earlier, only to find they didn't need them. It really should have occurred to them that maybe the cannon itself might need it to contain the blast. Maybe it did, and it was just bait for a follow up (I would imagine people wrote in about it at the time).

[@icemanespoo2977]

After Adam&Jamie building the pykrite boat and the Build Team doing the reinforced cannon balls it seems weird that the actual ice cannon was pure ice.

[@tomasvargassilva]

@@icemanespoo2977 I was looking for this coment, thanks.

[@alexandrecolautoneto7374]

Oh man, mythbuster should be taken as humanity treasure. Best show of all time in my opinion, is raw hard science.

[@Tonaldo90]

Raw hard? HAHAHAA. MANY flawed tests and not complete tests :D

[@alexandrecolautoneto7374]

@@Tonaldo90 still the best program that uses the scientific method. It shows how unintuitive reality can be and how with a hypothesis+experiments you can build up knowledge.

[@KandiKlover]

@@Tonaldo90 I was about to say, it's very soft science and overlooks a lot of things. Still was a great program though.

[@qwadratix]

If that ping-pong ball hit you in the head, I'm pretty sure it would be lethal. I'm not even sure you'd survive a shot like that to the chest. I don't care that it didn't penetrate, the blunt force trauma is massive.

[@Yora21]

Always hard to say what condition the pig skin is in during the test, but this is just nasty. I'm not sure if you could smash a hole like that through a ping pong paddle with a carpenter's hammer and really give it your all. That seems like getting hit with a mace or a warhammer. A hit on an arm or a leg would probably not rupture a major artery. But taking that hit to the liver or a kidney, or of course to the throat, could very well cause an in injury that kills you before you made it to the hospital. I'd give this a plausible. (Regardless of how plausible it is to get hit by a ping pong ball at such speed.)

[@ahmedszaidi]

Since the ball is supersonic, wouldn't the hydrostatic shock alone be deadly, without the ping pong having to pierce vital organs? That's how high speed rounds are so instantly lethal, without requiring a direct hit to the heart or brain.

[@klo6are]

that pork but bounced off the ball... if this hitsh you in the chest or diaphragm .. it will brake you, no breathing no heart activity or massive insult in seconds

[@mazzonijacopo]

I'm very nostalgic about this show. What a whimsical inspiring show to watch as a child

[@JK-tm7vj]

I think it was the wrong Idea of a ice canon! Take a frozen Lake drill Holes in it and use it like a stationary canon or a Mortar

[@scottw.3258]

Early cannons had iron hoops around them, designed to prevent them from breaking apart. I'm sure the same principle would be put to use with an ice cannon. It's obvious that it would break up after 2 or 3 uses, so it's fair to suggest that some form of straps or hoops would've been tied around the ice cannon in order to strengthen it. Far too often on this series they overlook obvious solutions.

[@AnvilHammer-br1xp]

Exactly. They should have, at the very least, mixed some material like an ancient pycrete then left the ice in the cardboard... or frozen leather that had been stretched on wet... bound with whatever cord they had too. Silly mythbusters... :)

[@MrWnw]

Exactly, just leaving the paper around would help. But most importantly they started with a cracked ice in the first place

[@goweresque]

Barrel making (of the liquid storage kind not gunnery) was a definite skill any small town would have had, so I would have thought a long cannon shaped barrel with an ice core inside it would manage to withstand far greater pressures than an unreinforced ice core would.

[@ramondewilde05]

there is also something to be said about it being wayy colder in the myth then where they tested this that for sure didnt help either

[@Mr.Proghead]

Yep. Plenty of things to be optimized! For example, the crystal size of the ice depends on the cooling rate which influences mechanical strength.

[@Zomboik]

I have to disagree with BOTH of the results of these myths. 1. The ice cannon could be obviously reinforced and still be called ice cannon, siberians could easily use wood shavings, straw, grass, small sticks or paper. same for the cannon ball. this would have made them both much stronger. and cannon could have been fired with more gunpowder. Would that cannon survive tens of rounds ? I doubt that, would it penetrate several people? one maybe two. That's why this myth deserves Plausible. 2. Ping pong ball made a clear hole on that plywood, if you're shot in the head with that setup, you're dead. You need someone to stand next to barell, barel needs vacuum and a choke with a lot of pressure, barel is tens of feets long. so the conditions need to be optimized a lot for it to kill. But it still deserves Plausible.

[@Game_Lab_Germany]

i would still call it ice cannon when it just shoots ice. for the ping pong ball, I agree at a short distance to the head, if this fleshy thing is your head you may die. i would like to see if they hit a skull with it ( those test dummies) :D

[@Zomboik]

@@Game_Lab_Germany well duh, that cannon is made out of ice therefore ice cannon, my point was that they could easily use variety of simple materials to reinforce it while still be able to call it ice cannon.

[@InsanePorcupine]

I agree, they reinforced the cannonballs, and even said they looked at history and it said the balls were reinforced. The cannon obviously would have been reinforced too. The idea of using ice is because you lack steel, but you might have some steel, even just thin barrels with metal rings would be huge. Water isn't compressible, so the ice would be fine to fill a void.

[@borntoclimb7116]

@@Zomboik agree

[@BlacksmithTWD]

@@InsanePorcupine Least they could have done is leave the mold around it as the ones in the tale would probably have used a mold as well if they made it like that.

[@thecakeThief]

when you see MasterChef UK in the top right corner, you can know for certain that the narrator won't be speaking into your left ear only

[@jagerzaku9160]

I hate THE LEFT EAR

[@Billy-burner]

The left ear has been debunked already

[@furistasTedis]

Just enjoy. It never bothered me stereo or mono sound.

[@user_unav]

I thought my speaker was fuked

[@Reptex_cs]

If you used a headset it probably would ;) I'm on phone, I don't care either. ​@@furistasTedis

[@jodaf1n_67]

We always used to watch these with my dad when I was young! Its so nostalgic to watch these

[@enigmaodell6806]

I absolutely love this series but sometimes they just don’t give themselves the best chance. Perhaps if they approached it as a challenge “given the materials in a castle in Russia, design and build a cannon who’s body is mostly ice”

[@_Atomic_impact]

Best episode ever. Pushing The limits and far beyond 🚀🚀

[@Ondemas]

16:20 what an amazing series of slow-mo clips!

[@benlabro2244]

First cos I'm addicted to mythbusters

[@amusik7]

The vacuum tube is btw a wonderful demonstration of what would happen if your Hyperloop vacuum tube would have a leak!

[@Ma_X64]

1100 mph 2.7 g ball is 323 J of kinetic energy. You get it in the head -- you dead.

[@Beredro]

Yeah...dont know why they said it aint lethal when it clearly went through the plywood like nothing and the pig but was also pretty damaged

[@ScruffyMisguidedAndBlue]

Was disappointed watching this, they didn't take skeletal damage into account, and doing it point blank like that meant the compressed air was doing a bunch of pre and post damage.

[@NullCreativityMusic]

How much damage will happen when it's only the air coming out of the tube?

[@Ma_X64]

@@NullCreativityMusic it is dangerous too.

[@thomasjoychild4962]

That is UNQUESTIONABLY inflicting a traumatic injury wherever it hits. If it gets you in the eye, it could VERY WELL kill you.

[@NJBaars]

Nitpick on the historical science: that soldier might have been a Cossack, but definitely not a comrade.

[@peterbriggs3408]

Did they ever revisit this making the canon out of solid clear ice rather than that white cracked crap?

[@ThatSoddingGamer]

It's a weird oversight considering they did make aggregate cannon balls only to find they didn't need them. You'd think they'd have considered its use for the cannons themselves. Who knows what goes on behind the scenes though.

[@borntoclimb7116]

I love the ice cannon, nice Episode.

[@UchihaMadara401]

nah, how is that not lethal? it leaves a hole in a paddle, surely if it hits your head you're done for

[@sandreid87]

Im still not sure it wasnt the air pressure doing the damage, and not the ball itself.

[@crawlingthroughadulthood]

@@sandreid87 of course it was the air pressure, that's why they called it busted. They are real engineers, not some yt speciallists

[@jessh5310]

The noise the ball makes at 45.16 on Jamies head..... LOL

[@christophermitchellsr9492]

when i first seen what they were going to do with the ping pong ball i had my doubts because of the mass . then when jamie said ( force equals mass times acceleration ) i changed my mind . the ice cannon was fun the thought of doing that had me scratching my head but i loved the way Torrie an carrie an the late great sir grant figured it out . an it did look like a great way to make snow cones

[@Foxtrott_4]

Nooooo, not the whole cartridge flying through the air instead of just the Bullet ☹

[@ThumpertTheFascistCottontail]

somebody fire that animator 😄

[@DevinGates]

That's more bullet per bullet!

[@kkloikok]

They're Californians. They aren't actually intelligent dude. Give them a break they're mentally challenged.

[@xalivt]

the best show ever

[@92xsaabaru-]

8:17 Why is there a picture of Kari in the mop closet of M7?

[@Blackpheonix99]

Okay yeah I was wondering the same thing... Also right above the paper towel dispenser... Like not trying to be a perv buuuuut that looks pretty sus...

[@thorpizzle]

The hole in the paddle at the end was like a real-life cartoon.

[@feelincrispy7053]

Oooo cannons are a sore subject with those 3. If you know you know

[@leandervr]

The ice bullet must have failed because it's just too small. Relatively it has *much* more surface area exposed to hot gas. The ice cannonball probably also lost some mass upon being fired, but it's not exposed to the hot gas for very long, and melting a solid ball of ice take a pretty significant amount of energy. I'm not surprised it didn't vaporize, but I was surprised the pure ice cannonball survived being fired without breaking up.

[@clehrich]

They never tested the structural properties of an ice-hay (or whatever) mixture because the ice ball worked so well. OK, but would such a mixture have resisted the blast if used in the walls of the cannon? Such a missed opportunity here.

[@mikemarx9360]

13:50 that's a hilarious joke 🤣

[@spyersecol0013]

A shot cup or a seal behind the ping pong ball would give you the acceleration you are looking for along the entire length of the barrel.

[@drakodra]

honestly i think that the myth of the ice cannons in reality went something like this: boss we're under siege but we're all out of cannonballs idiot! grab the snow and make ice cannonballs! and because everything was covered in snow the approaching army thought they were shooting from ice cannons or maybe icey/iced over cannons

[@sandig2969]

If that was a pycrete cannon that would've lasted a lot longer I reckon :)

[@Trialwolf]

True but Pycrete may have been considered outside the scope of the Myth. Would be nice to find b-role of this show to see if they considered doing it though.

[@Jvk1166z]

@@Trialwolf they did mention in the myth that they reinforced the ice, they didn't just say the canonballs

[@Trialwolf]

@@Jvk1166z Never said they didn't, in the past they have stated that they always tried to stay true to the spirit of the myth. A producer or researcher could have said that Pycrete may not have been viable for the time this myth was set in (In the paper folding episode they did find a method to fold a sheet of paper more than 7 times but they decided not to use it as it was deemed not to be within the spirit of the original myth). It could have been time constraints which the Mythbusters have said several times that they have had to abandon certain testing methods or drop Myth's altogether. For all we know a producer could have decided to hold off on Pycrete for a possible revisit or that Pycrete would have made this Myth too easy to confirm. These reasons are why I said it would be nice to see the b-role for this episode.

[@budadi]

Ahh yes, another evening with Mythbusters 👍

[@danielmadar9938]

Beautiful 😂❤😂❤ Two comments- they should've added mixed the water with saw dust or paper to reinforce the ice cannon, and should've used a heavier pig carcass (or a heavy ballistic gell humanoid) for the ping pong myth. Some of the ping pong's energy was lost with the flying pork butt...

[@RonPiggott]

Reminds me of the space shuttle accident where the foam insulation busted through the ceramic fin leading to the break up on re-entry.

[@LeftIsBest001]

If that ping pong ball hit you in the eye socket, it could easily be lethal.

[@defeqel6537]

if you look at the pork hit, the air did more damage than the ping poll once the skin was ripped open, so while I agree that the ball itself could be potentially lethal, I wouldn't say it would be definitely lethal

[@mikkoainasoja5018]

That mythical ice canon would likely be made inside of an empty beer or wine barrel, and moved by rolling it. Barrels are much bigger in diameter than what the guys were using, and thus it would be much sturdier. I would give this myth plausible, as I would give to that pinball myth. In my opinion that was a serious damage.

[@donhanscom7309]

I wish they had tried making a cannon out of Pyecrete.. it worked for a boat...

[@death2boredom338]

Would've been amazing to see a hollow titanium ball be put through that haha

[@duncanwallace7760]

I think it's probably the shape of the round cannon ball that makes it so strong. A round ice-bullet might work, like the old-school musket rounds. Also, in Siberia they may have been able to create the cannon in place, making it MUCH bigger and thicker because they didnt have to move it to where it would have been fired.

[@gamikhan9087]

tbf if you hit that into someone's head, I think they kinda just die, it is not like bullet kill you anywhere they shoot you at either, I think what they did is enough for plausible.

[@OldHag73]

The testing of the cannon won't give the right result. The ice crack the second you take it out in the warmth. You can't do that experiment properly when you are in warm climate and get a proper result in warm weather. Look at the ice, it's cracked as soon as it leave your freezer. It is a huge difference workin an ice cannon in -30° and +20°c

[@EllAntares]

The long barrel thing looked like rifle from Trigun

[@jzero4813]

30:15 It's like watching an ape being shown a magic trick.

[@7errafirma]

They only calculate the average speed of that ping pong ball. Initial muzzle speed could be huge and the speed at the impact is way lower than the number they came up with.

[@atrem7942]

How much is caused by the airpressure alone i wondered

[@MEITAR453]

i think you just cant replicate Russia ice, in the middle of the dessert..

[@MrWnw]

No wonder the ice cannon breaks when you start with ice block full of bubbles and cracks. Next time buy a clear ice block. I am sure it would survive 2x the explosives

[@clehrich]

No, Adam, a pork shoulder is called a butt because they were packed into barrels called butts. Nothing to do with the rump.

[@tristindurocher-batley4780]

And I thought the term glass cannon was a double edged sword but ice cannons are even worse

[@SusanPearce_H]

If that supersonic ping-pong ball hit the side of the human temple, it WOULD be lethal.

[@meanmarine24]

The ping pong ball slows down because they air slips around it and compresses on the front side. It's not dependent on length, rather it's a matter of the barrel end being plugged. Making the barrel shorter may slightly alter that, but the problem is still there. Trying to create pressure behind the ball by lowering the pressure in front seems silly. You could reach any pressure differential by putting higher pressure behind the ball. Also a long barrel does not slow the ping pong ball down, but it is more difficult to retain the pressure differential as the chamber (barrel) behind the ball becomes longer and the ball is moving faster.

[@spam.stuff.things]

I think it is not only about creating a pressure difference. Vacuum also removes air resistance when the ball travels through the barrel. Without it the pressure probably increases with every unit traveled as the ball compressess the air in front of it. I think they should have put the vacuum pumps both at the start and end of the barrel.

[@senorperfecto2050]

I always wanted to see them use a silencer/suppressor like form in the pingpong ball barrel

[@emredie7705]

well at last test if pig was solid background, ball can make more damage. because moving is also absorb dmg(i at least i think so). and i m pretty sure it is lethal if it hit anywhere unless legs, arms and shoulders.

[@kuunib7325]

Honestöy they should have tried putting some sort of finer into the ice like cotton or I guess hemp, that makes the ice dummy stronk.

[@markosiskovski1164]

next on mythbusters : can jet fuel melt Steel beams

[@michaelandersen-kk4fc]

not lethal. but still nobody was anywhere near the muzzle. how can they claim it is not lethal, and at the same time have a huge safety area.

[@ManosErikosKlapsakis]

about the ice canon. I think that didn't work today cuz of the temperature. In Siberia the temperature was much lower so the ice canon could work better than that! For me that myth is not closed.

[@CosmosProvider]

You could die from it if you were shot on the throat/neck, head, torso near heart. It is definitely lethal depending on your aim.

[@trollmcclure1884]

people dont like the myths busted when they think they know better. And they dont come back. A ping pong ball at orbital velocity could destroy a satellite. A cannon can be as big as you want and reinforced. It can be just a bore in a room-sized pile of ice. It doesnt have to be round. If you make a wood bed for water and there's -50°C outside you can make square cannons or even one-shot canons. It could have been reinforced with a steel wire or wrapped in a thick rope. You dont know that. They coul have plenty of steel balls if they were shot at with them. It could be ice ball full of nails. There's too many possibilities. It's not busted. At least name these possibilities. People care about the details

[@HeavenlyWarrior]

Everything can kill you if it has the necessary speed or kinetic energy.

[@ManosErikosKlapsakis]

also with the ping pong ball also it's lethal. That myth is confirmed not busted! The ice canon could work with different weather .

[@Star_Jewel_Realm]

You might get badly bruised but it won't kill you. Unless you super charged them Mythbuster style. 😅😅😅

[@trashwebsite_user01]

28:20 - haha bigger isn't always better 🤓

[@RandysRides]

Goes right through a wooden paddle ?? Pretty sure it would do the same to your skull.

[@Magmafrost13]

It's such a shame that they insisted on pure ice for the cannon just because it worked for the cannonball. Would've been good to see a pykrete cannon

[@Thundawich]

Kind of disappointed they didn't fire any heavier objects with the cannon.

[@Sethioz]

why did they call ping pong ball busted? even .50cal is not lethal if you get shot in limbs or it not directly in any organs, try shooting that ping pong ball at someone's throat or head, i call that a lethal hit. also a hit like that right at your heart might cause your heart to stop. i'd call it plausible, it highly depends where you get shot at. they should have used ballistics dummy with proper organ placement and see how much damage that did. in one episode they tested what happens if you get hit with a bottle in the head, like in movies. they made proper dummy with brain and everything to test if it would give you concussion. they should have done same in ping pong ball test.

[@arrau08]

The wave the ping pong ball created on the flesh shows how strong the impact was, and it seems deadly to me.

[@yorkshirebikerbitsnbobs]

Most of that wave was caused by air entering the cavity.

[@Kelvryn]

anything moving fast enough could totally kill someone. There have been plastic straws speared through trees after tornadoes. What the question should actually be is: Can you propel a ping pong ball fast enough to kill someone? Answer is probably no. Can a tornado do it? Maby?

[@stangiles2001]

jamie so mad he cant hit a ping pong

[@gabrielv.4358]

Insane speed

[@Henipah]

Once they got to 1000 mph they should have tried with a golf ball.

[@bluy59]

Allot of the damage on the pig butt was from the extreme pressure expelled from the tube. You can see it.

[@the_stray_cat]

i dont get why they dint reinforce the cannon like they where going to with the balls.

[@AaronSof]

I wonder what the ice cannon would be like if they used ice-crete .

[@DiustheZ]

I call BS on the ping pong ball, that would absolutely 'mortally wound' someone or outright off them if you hit any major artery or organ. It would more than likely rupture an artery and they would get internal bleeding immediately.

[@mrDavo111]

Sure, and a well placed poke could also kill you. It's unlikely though

[@DiustheZ]

@@mrDavo111 Except there's a lot more major arteries and organs that a pingpong ball flying at mach 1.4 could hit considering the damage was inches in depth where a poke is what.. a fraction of an inch?

[@tonyevic]

If you swallow it….probably yes!

[@philipppatzen3]

if you swallow it stupidly enough XD

[@TiagoFilipeCabral]

32:20.... damn... i thought she was another one of Rasputin's poison victims

[@RoderikvanReekum]

Who are the MythBusters? It would be nice to know.

[@krissp8712]

"Adam Savage! Jaime Hyneman. Together they have over 30 years of special effects experience..."

[@stupidphone1725]

just add a piece or cloth to the harrel.

[@Countryboy071]

I once witnessed a girl fire a ping long ball quite a way. Lets just say it wasn't from her ice cannon !

[@jaimdiojtar]

yeah but if the ping ball hitted the head most certainly it was lethal

[@TheZaiakusin]

Now what would happen if you replace the pingpong ball with a golf ball.....

[@yornan04]

SmarterEveryDay tried that...

[@darrellbeets7758]

pycrete balls but no cannon......the pingpong cannon was missing a vacuumchamber at the front, were it wouldnt interact with the ball after it passes much like a gas block on a rifle a shole ass team couldnt think of this.

[@MikeM-s7s]

Leave on cardboard! 33:48

[@Games_and_Music]

When i was regularly playing tabletennis at the local club, we'd sometimes mess around during the packing up of the tables at the end. And i once threw a ball by hand with a lot of curve, it wasn't going really fast but it deflected several meters, it actually looked more like a homing missile, but when it hit the guy in his neck, there was a loud "PANG" and it left a perfectly round hickey at that spot for a week, because it was still there the next week, hah. Of coursse, a farcry from lethal, but it left us all surprised.

[@Tekkx_Avery]

Havn't seen this episode. But I know the answer: Yes, of course it can kill you. Try to swallow it and if it it get stuck in the neck....

[@Game_Lab_Germany]

lets face/skull/head tank the pingpong cannon mythbusters said its not lethal ö.ö not all bullets are made to penetrate. the pure force of this sing to the head is 100% lethal, common test how much force it deliver or better test with with a dummy skull.

[@Ma_X64]

Never heard of ice cannon in Russia.

[@donerskine7935]

Basic misconception and misunderstanding of physics... Force = mass x acceleration. But once the ball has left the barrel, it is no longer accelerating. Acceleration gets the ball to it's eventual velocity. The MOMENTUM of the ball is mass x velocity. It is the momentum, the kinetic energy, that translates into damage to the target.

[@Synthematix]

Can A Ping Pong Ball Kill You? Only if its fired out of katie price's hairy letterbox.

[@Sethioz]

i hate those teasers that pretty much sum up entire episode at start, worst thing ever! i always skip it. just start from 1 and move towards 100, don't start with 100 and then go back to start, it's boring. it ruins it

[@gabrielv.4358]

45:43 Sussy sentence

[@bigmock141]

I want to see golf ball fire on that thing

[@jannis11]

nICe

[@JamesKuffner-cg2pv]

A cut here and a tuck there and Bob's your aunty!

[@jacquesbarnard3690]

Why can't americans use distance consistantly? Yards, then feet, then inches.... ALWAYS GOTTA USE THE ONE WHICH SOUNDS BIGGER..... WHY???????????????????

[@rafedidomenico]

No, you use the one that makes for fewer units