Mythbusters "Jaws" episode

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mwerner

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Can't think of a better forum for this....

The Mythbusters guys did a show on "Jaws" as part of Dicovery channell's "shark week".

They decided to test a number of things about the movie, including whether a shark of the size described could pull the boat and swamp it, whether it could pull down the floats that were harpooned into it, whether it could ram and hole a boat, and that sort of thing. All slightly looney, but fun.

Of more interest was "Can you explode a scuba tank by shooting it?"

Seems likely, eh? Lots of air pressure in one of those little dudes. For the 1% of the population that has not seen the film, Sherrif Brody shoots the scuba tank with an M1 Garand. The tank is lodged in the shark's mouth, and the thing blows up spectacularly, saving him from becoming dessert. (Shark already ate Quint)

I didn't know.... There are two types of tanks, steel and aluminum. They found that the ones used in the film were the aluminum variety. In cross-section, the base is quite thick. The boys expressed doubt that the '06 would penetrate (shoot, I coulda told 'em that...)
They set up an empty tank, and sure enough, the 30-06 ball ammo zipped right through.
They set up a mockup "sharks head" inside a shipping container, with a remote to fire the M1.
Alas, no explosion. The holed tank took off like a rocket, zipping around the inside of the container for several seconds. They tried shooting the tank from the side, hoping for a bigger rupture, but it was the same result.
So, no exploding shark.... :D
 
mwerner said:
Alas, no explosion. The holed tank took off like a rocket, zipping around the inside of the container for several seconds. They tried shooting the tank from the side, hoping for a bigger rupture, but it was the same result.
So, no exploding shark.... :D
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So, what the heck are we supposed to do then if we're about to be eaten by a Great White? :eek:
 
Sherrif Brody shoots the scuba tank with an M1 Garand.

It has been a while; but I believe that it was an M1903 rifle. The bolt action 30-06 rifle issued during WWI.

n2s
 
I have a feeling that a full tank will exhibit different properties than an empty one, and do they not use composite tanks yet?
 
s0rce said:
I have a feeling that a full tank will exhibit different properties than an empty one, and do they not use composite tanks yet?
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They did test it with full tanks. Basically making such a small hole in the tank turns it into a rocket, not a bomb.
 
It was a Garand, they showed the clip from the film. The empty-tank was just a test to see if the round would penetrate.

Reminds me of an interesting bit about a "shark rifle".

Essential details were this: A detective from one of the West-Coast departments was driving down the Pacific-coast highway, following another car.
All of a sudden, the car began to veer wildy, and ran off the road. Suspecting a DWI, the officer ran up and found that the driver, a woman, had apparently been shot!
She expired from a head wound, struck apparently from a round that had come from somewhere out at sea. Examination showed that the bullet was from a .303 Enfield, and was obviously nearly spent. Had she had her window rolled up, she may have survived.
The detective made it a personal challenge to find the shooter, a task that took some three years of investigation. He eventually found a fisherman who had been well over a mile offshore, and became bored as nothing was hitting. He dug out his Enfield "shark gun" and started firing at floating trash. One of the bullets ricocheted from the water, and by incredible bad luck, killed the unfortunate woman.
 
the episode was nice, but what really drew my attention was...

that hot red head :eek:
where had she been during all the other episodes??
 
that hurt so much to watch that garand be in there, what if the tank would have exploded :grumpy: they could of atleast used a new "garand" atleast if one of those would have been damaged there would have not been a big loss.
 
A Dogs Best Friend said:
So, what the heck are we supposed to do then if we're about to be eaten by a Great White? :eek:
Click to expand...

Jump on top of your air tank and shoot a hole in it with your .30-06. You will then rocket safely out of the shark's reach.
 
That was a great episode of Myth Busters. If they rerun it be sure to see it. I paricularly liked their experiments in punching feeding sharks. Jamie actually put on chain mail, stuffed bait into his wetsuit and boxed sharks. The sharks were detered and did not get more aggressive.

Regarding the air tank test. It would have been more accurate and interesting if they used a complete shark body. I think that the pierced tank would have been propelled down the sharks throat and would have popped the shark like a balloon.
 
Not to go off topic, but did anyone see the final 5 minutes of the show that preceeded Mythbusters? It was called Anatomy of a Shark Bite. In the last five minutes they showed the footage of pulling this guy out of the water after being attacked by an overly-curious bull shark. His leg looked like a friggin half-eaten chicken wing.
 
Things like that Air tank don't explode from having holes punched in them, Making the pressure in them expand to the breaking point on the other hand does, Like heating the air (or whatever) inside. I have seen car tires on burning cars explode once the air them had expanded enough the the rubber was weakened, sounded like the whole block blew up for a sec. Very cool, but unfortunate for the owner.

And Komondor I saw that, a Shark bite looks very much like somthing to avoid, ouch.
 
DEA said:
the episode was nice, but what really drew my attention was...

that hot red head :eek:


where had she been during all the other episodes??
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kerri(IIRC) has been in a lot of them she 's a hottie isnt she??
 
yea, but i didn't notice her taking centrestage as much as she did in the shark episode
she's usually a non speaking part, ainnit?
anyone know where we can get the series on dvd?
 
mwerner said:
It was a Garand, they showed the clip from the film. The empty-tank was just a test to see if the round would penetrate.
Click to expand...
I remember it as a Garand as well. I remember Brody having to clear a jam as well.
 
Kari Byron is on lots of episodes. Not only is she lovely to look at, but has a great personality (on the show anyway), knows how to use power tools, and is very artistic. Plus she gets a maniacal giggle when they blow stuff up.

Mythbusters is one of the best shows on TV, and Kari Byron certainly adds to that. Actually most of the folks on that show seem like they would be fun to hang around. Hip nerds that like to destroy things, what's not to like?
 
Would the tank have exploded if they had used a tracer round? I know they didnt in the movie but I was just wondering.
 
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