"Attention, viewers..." "Do not try anything you are about to see at home." "We're what you call experts." "NARRATOR:" "On this sticky episode of "Mythbusters"..." "Relax." "This won't hurt a bit." "NARRATOR:" "The team tackle a trio of duct-tape tall tales." " Fun for the whole family." " [Laughs]" "NARRATOR:" "First, Adam and Jamie strength-test the mythical material in "Car Lift."" ""Why?" you ask?" "Because secretly you've always wondered, and that's why we're here." "NARRATOR:" "Then they ask," " can it keep your boat afloat?" " I'm going in." "NARRATOR:" "One that's already sinking..." "I think we're gonna need some help from the camera crew." "NARRATOR:" "And one made of nothing but the tacky tape." "ADAM:" "You can keep your duct-tape prom tux." "We got a boat!" "NARRATOR:" "Meanwhile, Kari, Grant, and Tory..." "[Cuban accent] Say hello to our little friend!" "NARRATOR:" "...find out if it can stretch to sticking a cannon together." "[Laughs] Run!" "NARRATOR:" "Who are the Mythbusters?" "Adam Savage..." "I reject your reality and substitute my own." " NARRATOR:" "And Jamie Hyneman." " Bye-bye!" "NARRATOR:" "Between them, more than 30 years of special-effects experience." "Joining them..." "Kari Byron..." "Look, Ma!" "No hands!" "NARRATOR:" "...Grant Imahara..." " Aah!" " NARRATOR:" "And Tory Belleci." "We're popping popcorn with lasers!" "NARRATOR:" "They don't just tell the myths." "Here comes chaos." "NARRATOR:" "They put them to the test." " JAMIE:" "What you got there?" " This is pretty cool." "It is a wallet made entirely out of duct tape." "I was thinking we could do an entire segment on duct tape." "A segment?" "We could do a whole episode." "Heck, we could do a whole season on the mythical properties of duct tape." "You know, you're right." "Let's do a whole hour on duct tape." "Okay." "Recognize this?" "A roll of tape." "And that's just the beginning." "NARRATOR:" "Duct tape's supple vinyl, adhesive strength, and fabric reinforcement..." "MAN:" "Not bad!" "NARRATOR:" "Means its versatility knows no bounds..." "One short strip secures tons of coiled steel." "NARRATOR:" "...which has led to some wild, weird, and wacky mythical claims." "[Horn honks]" "What's the plan?" "Well, I'm thinking that the mythical properties of duct tape generally fall into two categories." "One is strength, i.e., its tensile strength and its adhesion." "And the other is that it's so versatile you can do anything at all with it." "I say we start by testing its strength." "You mean like lifting a car with it?" "Perfect." " Let's go." " Hold on." "Before we jump right to that, why don't we do some discrete strength tests just to find out what we're in for?" "Okay." "NARRATOR:" "So before stretching our miracle mythical material to its car-lifting limits..." "JAMIE:" "Let's start up the crane." "NARRATOR:" "...the guys are going to start with a smaller, uh, force." "Many people say about duct tape that, well, it's like the Force." "It's got a light side and a dark side, and it binds the whole universe together." "NARRATOR:" "No, not the universe." "They'll begin the strength testing by seeing how much tape it takes to bind Adam." "Relax." "This won't hurt a bit." "NARRATOR:" "Channeling his dark side," "Jamie "Dexter" Hyneman goes to work securing his victim." "No!" "Ow!" "And he's enjoying it a bit too much." "JAMIE:" "So, Adam, this is 20 pieces of tape." " You holding up?" " I'm doing good." "It's actually strangely comforting." "Feels like a really nice blankie." "All right." "Let's do it." "[Laughs]" "This is cool." "It's like I am the plywood." "JAMIE:" "Well, so far, you're not going anywhere." "ADAM:" "No, I'm not going anywhere." "Although I tell you, I can feel myself settling in here quite..." "Whoa!" "[Laughs]" "Wow." "Really, I'm almost weightless." "Perhaps I should point towards the mat?" "I'm just suggesting." "There we go." "Oh." "Whoa!" " Hey!" "[Laughs] - [Creaking]" "Oh!" "Oh!" "Oh." "That was just the rigging settling, right?" "JAMIE:" "Yeah. [Laughs]" "Dude, this is actually quite comfortable." "Two rolls of tape equals a whole afternoon of fun." "Fun for the whole family." "[Laughs]" "NARRATOR:" "Of course, it goes without saying... but we're going to anyway..." "Please don't try this at home." "Adam and Jamie are trained duct-tape strength-test professionals." "ADAM:" "Lest you think that I am foolhardy or reckless for allowing my 180 pounds to be held up by two rolls of duct tape, this is actually quite a safe system." "I feel quite comfortable." "It's a distributed system, which means it has many points of failure, a lot of redundancy built in by all the different pieces of duct tape stuck to the plywood." "So I could hang out here all day." "NARRATOR:" "While Adam's hanging around," "Kari, Grant, and Tory are about to go ballistic." " Hit me." " Wa-pchh!" "Okay, so what's the myth?" "You've heard of a potato cannon, right?" "Yeah, you take a bunch of PVC pipe glued together, seal off one end, add some propellant, add a potato, ignite the propellant, and, bang, you're launching potatoes." "Exactly, and as most teenagers and Internet anarchists know, you usually use a cement to seal the PVC piping." "But there's a just-as-reliable, much quicker way using duct tape." "Apparently, duct tape is strong enough to withstand the forces of the potato cannon." "All right." "Sounds easy enough." "So we make two cannons... one the traditional way and one with duct tape... and see how they compare." "NARRATOR:" "If used responsibly, potato cannons" " are fun for the whole family." " [Giggling]" "NARRATOR:" "And here's how they work." "A series of PVC piping is glued together with PVC cement." "Potato is squished into the barrel." "Propellant is squirted into the combustion chamber." "Ignite that propellant with a spark, and just like a real cannon, the projectile is launched." "But the team want to know, can you really replace the PVC cement with plain old duct tape?" "Now, this may look like a pretty random bunch of materials." "I mean, we're talking piping, duct tape, potatoes." "But to me, this looks like the glorious beginnings of a good old-fashioned potato cannon." "And that's exactly what I'm gonna build." "Basically, a potato cannon is like any cannon." "You have an explosion happening in the combustion chamber." "Okay, that is my combustion chamber, held together with duct tape." "Gases are expanding, and they need to escape, so they look for the path of least resistance." "[Laughs] Now, that should be the potato." "That's why the potato launches... wshoo!" ".." "Across the field." "Mmm." "Baked potato." "KARI:" "Now, the big question is, can the duct tape hold up as well as the actual cement that you use to put these pipes together?" "NARRATOR:" "So, with the cannons complete, the team makes its way to its detonation destination." "KARI:" "So, we got us some potato cannons, and we can't fire them in the shop." "We've come to the Alameda runway, where we have a big expanse of space right here where we can shoot off into the distance and explore whether duct tape is as strong as a traditional glue that holds together a potato cannon." "TORY:" "He's just relaxing on his porch, shooting off his potato gun." " Trying to hit San Francisco?" " TORY:" "Yeah." "GRANT:" "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, let me introduce you to the latest items in the Kari Byron line of home destruction." "This is a spud chucker made entirely out of PVC tubing with actual PVC glue." "And this is the duct-tape tater tosser." "But this has duct-tape fastening." "This is the setup for our control test." " We have Buster in the chair." " Time to load her up." "GRANT:" "We've got a scale to tell us how fast the potatoes come out of the barrel." "And just for laughs, we'll be measuring exactly how far they go." " This is gonna be great." " TORY:" "Ready?" "NARRATOR:" "With a couple of squirts of the classified propellant, the control cannon is good to blow." "All right." "Light it up!" "KARI:" "Okay, we got the spud chucker, a." "K.a. Spudzooka." "In 3, 2, 1." " TORY:" "Whoo-hoo!" " GRANT:" "Whoa!" "TORY:" "All right." "Should we go see how far that potato went?" " Absolutely." " [Potatoes firing]" "[Laughter]" "KARI:" "Splat zone." "TORY:" "All right." "What did we get?" " GRANT: 267 feet." " That's pretty good." "NARRATOR:" "Pretty good?" "Sure, but they want a pretty good data set." "And for that, they'll need multiple shots..." " Whoo-hoo!" " KARI: 397." "NARRATOR:" "...and more bad puns..." "KARI:" "And the next Spudnik." "TORY:" "Yeah!" "NARRATOR:" "Before they get the all-important distance average." "375." "So the potato cannon is working great." "We got some good distances." "GRANT:" "Yeah, we got an average range of 346 feet and a speed of 179 miles per hour." "So, next step..." "duct-tape tater tosser." "I think the true test here is, will the duct tape hold up?" "TORY:" "This could be explosive." "NARRATOR:" "So, can duct tape contain an explosion capable of sending a spud over 300 feet at a speed of 179 miles an hour?" "All right." "Let's do it." "NARRATOR:" "Surely it's too much to ask of this humble yet highly versatile material." "KARI:" "Duct-tape tater tosser." "In 3, 2, 1." " GRANT:" "Oh!" " TORY:" "Whoa!" "It worked!" "The duct tape held together." "Yeah, it didn't explode." "NARRATOR:" "Not only did it not explode, the first shot from the duct-tape tater tosser was right in the slot." "387." "That is right in the range." "TORY:" "That's almost exact, and it didn't blow up." "KARI:" "Which is really what counts." "But just to make sure, I think we might have to fire maybe a few more off, right?" "NARRATOR:" "Right, because although they know it works..." "TORY:" "Whoa!" "NARRATOR:" "...the question is, does it match the regular cannon's reliability?" "[Bird calling]" "Hey!" "Get away from our test!" "He's eating our sample!" "GRANT:" "Now, to you, it may look like a sea of cones." "But to me, it's data." "Not only that, it's consistent data." "Let me lay it on you." "Our spud chucker, held together by PVC cement, had an average range of 346 feet and an average speed of 179 miles per hour." "Our duct-tape tater tosser, which is a potato cannon held together entirely by duct tape, had an average range of 336 feet and an average speed of 160 miles per hour." "That's a difference of 3% on the range and 11% on the speed." "Now, given varying winds, differences in the masses of the potatoes, and difference in amounts of propellant," "I'd say that's enough to call their performance identical." "JAMIE:" "Duct tape was originally invented by the Army, and they used it to seal up ammo cases, and they called it duck tape..." "you know, "quack"..." "Quack, damn you." "...because it would repel water." "Later on, they started to use it for heating and air-conditioning vents, things like that, because they would seal it up." "But basically, the formulation is the same." "It's a plastic coating on the outside to seal things up." "It has a fabric structure that gives it its strength." "And it has a natural rubber adhesive on the inside so it sticks to stuff." "NARRATOR:" "And it's that combination of strength and stickiness that has led to the first myth." "Can it suspend a car?" "[Laughs]" "NARRATOR:" "To find out, Adam and Jamie are weighing in with some strip-by-strip numbers." "JAMIE:" "We need to find out how much a single length of tape will support in terms of weight so that we can determine how many we need to lift the car." "Now, this is our tape-testing rig." "And one end of the tape goes on a bar on the forklift, the other end of the tape goes on this flat metal surface, and we keep adding barbell weights until the tape breaks." "80 pounds." "Here we go." "[Whirring]" "Ah, it's..." " There it went." " [Laughs]" "ADAM:" "Wow." "We figured out pretty much the exact weight threshold" " on the first try." " Yep." "I'd say about 70 pounds for a one-time lift." "NARRATOR:" "So all they need now is some wide-open space and a car they don't mind dropping." " [Tires screeching]" " Dead car driving." "ADAM:" "Ahh!" "[Laughs]" "[Coughing]" " Let's get started." " Okay." "NARRATOR:" "Lt'll be a simple setup." "A crane, like this one, and a hook, shackle, and single crossbar." "This thing right here is what we're gonna attach the tape to." "NARRATOR:" "And hanging from the other end of the myth-inspiring sticky stuff will be the car." "JAMIE:" "The car weighs about 5,000 pounds." "Now, each strip of tape will hold about 70 pounds." "That means we'd get away with lifting the car with around 80 strips of tape, I think." "We'll call it 100 just to be safe." "ADAM:" "[Deep voice] Jamie!" "This is your conscience." "It's time to start working." "JAMIE:" "There are a lot of things you can do with duct tape." "You can bind things together." "You can seal things up, like ducts and so on." "But what we're looking for here is how sticky it is." "Think I've got it down to a reasonable pattern." "JAMIE:" "If we do our job right and we actually are able to lift the car off the ground, that cloth in the tape is gonna give way before the adhesive does." "It's starting to look like a cathedral of duct tape." "That makes sense." "I mean, duct tape's almost a religion with some people." "JAMIE:" "[Laughs]" ""Why?" you ask?" "Because secretly you've always wondered, and that's why we're here." "We've used 99 separate strands." "All right." "Here it is." "Last one." "Used up five and a half rolls of duct tape." "And by our measurement, this ought to be just enough to lift this car." "I think it's gonna." "Let's get it off the ground." "JAMIE:" "Let's start up the crane." "NARRATOR:" "The crane winch cranks into action." "JAMIE:" "This is it." "NARRATOR:" "And millimeter by millimeter, it gently pulls the car skywards." "JAMIE:" "Okay, I can see it starting to come up." "ADAM:" "Come on!" "[English accent] It's got a very loose relationship with the ground right now." "JAMIE:" "Oh, it's almost painful to watch." "Aah!" "So, it looks like duct tape can be used to seal a potato cannon." " And that's got me thinking." " Ooh, that's got me worried." "It should, because I'm thinking that you make an entire cannon" " out of duct tape." " Wait a minute." "You're talking about a genuine black-powder cannon firing real cannonballs?" " Out of nothing but duct tape?" " Yes!" "Kari, you should start thinking more often!" "I know!" "But we're Mythbusters." "We have to ramp it up." "Okay, hang on a second, you guys." "Inside of a real cannon, the pressures are significantly higher than inside a potato cannon." "Maybe we should find out if duct tape is even strong enough." "We'll take a steel pipe, seal off one end with nothing but duct tape, load it like a cannon, fire it, and see if it withstands the forces." "And we'll start with 1 -inch thick, then we'll go to 2, 3, 4 inches, until we find out the thickness that it needs to be to hold up." "NARRATOR:" "A cannon, a regular one, works a bit like this." "The black powder explodes in the combustion chamber, and the expanding gases throw the cannonball along the barrel." "So first up, to find out how much duct tape is required to withstand those pressures, the guys are going to replace the back end of the combustion chamber with inch-thick tiles of tape however many it takes." "[Laughs] I see injuries in my future." "So it's time for me to whip out my cannon." "Now, let's just say I know a few things about building cannons." "However, this time, we're building it out of nothing but duct tape." "Now, duct tape is strong, but is it gonna be strong enough to withstand the kind of forces that are exerted by exploding black powder?" "So I need to make a strength gauge." "All right." "Let's go to work." "That way, we can put the duct tape under the same conditions that a cannon would be under so we can test the limits of this duct tape." "I mean, black powder and duct tape?" "That doesn't sound like science." "That sounds like a family reunion." "So this is the strength part of our strength gauge." "It's a plastic frame I've cut out for layering duct tape." "I'm gonna make a 1 -inch-thick sheet that I'll then cut down into 1 -foot-by-1 -foot square tiles." "They're gonna bolt onto the back of what Tory's making, and when we ignite our black powder, we'll find out how much duct tape it doth take." "So, that is 1 inch thick." "Yay!" "All right." "Let's cut it up into tiles." "So we've used 37 rolls of duct tape." "At 60 yards a roll, that's 2,220 yards of duct tape." "TORY:" "Hey, dude, you got something on your face." "GRANT:" "That's one and a quarter miles to make all the tiles we need for our strength test." "NARRATOR:" "So, with the duct-tape tiles and strength gauge complete, it's off to a familiar and favorite location." "TORY:" "So we've come here to the bomb range, our favorite place, to test this safely so that nobody gets hurt." "It's a strength gauge." "It's not a cannon." "NARRATOR:" "And if you're wondering exactly why it's not a cannon, here's the man with the can..." "uh, strength gauge." "First, we're not using a cannonball." "We're using a piston." "It's the same diameter and weight as a cannonball, but it's not a cannonball." "Anybody got any duct tape?" "Second, we are not using a fuse." "We're using an electric remote system to light up the gunpowder." "And most importantly, there is no steel back at the end of this steel tube." "It's gonna be a duct-tape panel." "Once we load this up and fire it off, what we're looking for is the piston to fly out of the barrel and have the duct tape intact." "If that happens, then we know duct tape is strong enough to build a cannon out of." "After looking at how thick that 1 -inch duct-tape panel is," "I'm thinking one panel is gonna be enough." "Really?" "Just one?" "I think it's gonna take at least two." "I would bet on two." "I think it's gonna take at least three." "All right." "Put your money where your mouth is." " I got 5 bucks." " I got 5." "Okay." "So who holds the money?" "Cameraman." "[Laughter]" "All right." "We're hooked in." "KARI:" "For this to be a good, successful test, what we're looking for is that the duct-tape tiles, whatever thickness we end up with, will be intact while the piston blows out the other end of the strength gauge." "Okay, so this is 1 -inch-thick slab of duct tape in the strength gauge." "KARI:" "This is your chance at $15." "TORY:" "All right." "Here we go." "In 3, 2, 1!" "ALL:" "Oh!" " Pay up, suckers!" " Wow!" "Wait, wait." "Let's survey the damage first." "I want to make sure it held up." "NARRATOR:" "Incredibly, it seems to have worked first time out." "And it's disbelief all 'round." "KARI:" "There's no way this test worked on the first go." "There's no way!" "Whoa!" "TORY:" "It worked!" "GRANT:" "A 1 -inch thick slab of duct tape was enough to withstand the kind of force to launch a cannonball." " KARI:" "Whoa!" " GRANT:" "Oh!" "That's perfect, man." "It burned the heck out of it, but it didn't blow out." "No, it's beautiful." "It just burnt off the wax paper, too." "It didn't even go through the first layer of duct tape." " This stuff is incredible!" " GRANT:" "That's amazing." "We got a great result from the duct-tape strength test." "It looks like duct tape is gonna be strong enough to build a cannon out of." "Now all we need to do is build the cannon." "But you know what the best part of this experiment was?" "I won the bet." "Give me my money, punk." "Give me that." "Adam:" "Oh, come on, baby." "NARRATOR:" "Adam and Jamie are attempting to lift a car with just 99 strips of duct tape." "And they're close." "Real close." "JAMIE:" "It's got one wheel..." "and it's off!" "ADAM:" "It's off the ground!" "[Laughs]" "JAMIE:" "That's kind of nuts." "Why you need to do this, I don't know, but it's cool." "It's holding." "NARRATOR:" "It's holding." "And with a flight time of a minute and counting, the result is clear, leaving just one remaining question." "It's only a matter of time before it comes crashing down." "It'll be just like a zipper opening up." "ADAM:" "Yeah, as with all flights off the ground, taking off is optional, landing is mandatory." " [Tape rips]" " There..." "First one went." "[Tape rips]" "JAMIE:" "That's two strips of tape that are gone now." " ADAM:" "Ooh!" " JAMIE:" "That's three, four." "There it goes." "ADAM:" "Oh!" "[Laughs]" "Nice!" "Oh!" "[Laughs]" "NARRATOR:" "Exactly like a zipper." "Plus, just like Jamie suggested, it wasn't the adhesive that gave way but the tape itself." "ADAM:" "Wow!" "I love how consistently it broke all the way along that sharp point." "JAMIE:" "Yeah." "I don't see a single piece of tape that lost its adhesion." "They all ripped right in the middle of the tape." "ADAM:" "That's true." "[Laughs]" "Yet again, tools and materials used in ways for which they were never intended." "In the case of duct tape, if you've got enough of it, you could move the world." "ADAM:" "Not a bad way to spend the afternoon." "JAMIE:" "[Chuckles]" "What's next?" "This is a good one for you, Captain." "Have you ever had to use duct tape to fix a leak in a boat?" " My boats don't leak." " Okay." "Well, just imagine that you're out on the open seas, your boat's got a leak in it, and this is the only thing you've got to repair it." "Will it do the job?" "Waterproofing, adhesion." "Sounds like a good test." "I thought so." "NARRATOR:" "And so our two Mythbusters, one an optimist..." "ADAM:" "What a gorgeous day for a boat ride." "NARRATOR:" "...and one a pessimist..." " JAMIE:" "Or for sinking a boat." " ADAM: [Laughs]" "NARRATOR:" "Arrive on the shores of Frisco Bay, ready to set this myth adrift." "Well, if we're going to repair a hole in a boat with duct tape, then obviously we're gonna need a boat with a hole in it." "We've got a boat." "It doesn't yet have a hole." "But I'm about... to remedy that." "NARRATOR:" "It's a sizeable hole in the hull, but confidence in the sticky cure is still high and dry." "ADAM:" "This is a no-brainer." "The tape's gonna hold just fine." "Under these conditions, this size hole, we could sail all day." "NARRATOR:" "However, Jamie "Glass Half-Empty" Hyneman is prepared for the worst." "JAMIE:" "If you're gonna get in a leaky boat, you need to remember a couple things." "The first one is a life preserver." "All right." "Let's put this puppy on the water." "And the second one is something to bail with... like a bleach bottle or something like that." " There we go." " ADAM:" "All right." "I'll step in." " JAMIE:" "Okay." " NARRATOR:" "Well, it floats." "It successfully supports..." "one Mythbuster..." "Two Mythbuster!" "I don't see any water." "That's always a good sign." "NARRATOR:" "And the dinghy with its duct-tape patch is looking good to row." "ADAM:" "[Laughs]" "NARRATOR:" "Plus, it's also standing the test of time." "JAMIE:" "Should have brought my fishing pole." "Properly applied, the duct tape actually seems to be doing fairly well." "I have to say, though," "I wouldn't take off across the ocean with that kind of patch." "It works, but it scares me a little bit." "NARRATOR:" "And with good reason, because at the 30-minute mark..." "Where's that water coming in from?" "NARRATOR:" "There's a hint that the duct tape isn't a permanent solution." "It's pooling in the bottom there." " Yeah." " That's kind of a bad sign." "It clearly works." "We're still afloat, but I'm not too happy with it, 'cause we're gonna have to start bailing before long." "ADAM:" "I would say that it's not waterproof, but it's absolutely water-resistant." "JAMIE:" "I'll buy that." "NARRATOR:" "It's a testament to the tape that after 40 minutes, they're still afloat." "ADAM:" "It's just a little wet." "NARRATOR:" "But Adam has a tougher assignment in mind." "I think our duct-tape patch is holding up pretty well." "But honestly, when I think "boat repair,"" "I don't think of repairing the boat on the dock and then putting it in." "If you're on the dock, you're gonna have materials you need." "Duct tape means you're in an emergency situation." "I would like to create that emergency situation." " You want to get wet, huh?" " I do." "Rip off the patch." "Water's pouring through the hole." "Duct tape's the only thing we got." "We got to fix that hole." "[Chuckles] And the water's cold." "Yeah." "Oh, there we go." "Whoa!" "That's a bona fide emergency we got going on there." " I'll start making a patch." " You start making the patch." "NARRATOR:" "Like the little boy and the dike," "Adam is plugging the hole digitally..." "ADAM:" "[Laughs]" "NARRATOR:" "...while Jamie goes to work with the mythical material." "JAMIE:" "If you have to apply duct tape underwater, you're gonna have a hard time, because the water forms a film that inhibits the adhesive from really connecting with the surface you're trying to put it on." " All right." "I'm going in." "Ready?" " Okay." "It's really frustrating." "It's just like the adhesive is not there." "ADAM:" "Unsurprisingly, it's not sticking very well, but it is sticking a little bit." "All right." "Take your foot off." "I think we start the clock to see how that repair does." " What do you say?" " JAMIE:" "Starts now." "ADAM:" "Okay." "TORY: 1!" "NARRATOR:" "Kari, Grant, and Tory have seen that 1 -inch-thick duct tape can withstand the explosive pressures of a cannon." "And the team is going to play it safe by making its duct-tape cannon barrel 2 inches thick." "And to get the perfect shape, it's going to build it around a removable steel form." "KARI:" "Okay, so here's the plan." "We have our internal diameter plug." "We're going to grease this up." "You know what Jamie would say here." "When in doubt, lube." "KARI:" "We're gonna cover it in wax paper." "TORY:" "All right!" "KARI:" "Then we're gonna start a cross-hatching system with all our duct tape to get to our target thickness so we have the perfect duct-tape cannon." "NARRATOR:" "With almost 20 rolls of tape used and the end in sight..." "I think it looks like a giant duct-tape zeppelin." "Or a big silver sausage." "Or that." "NARRATOR:" "The team starts thinking through the next stage of the build." "GRANT:" "One of our big concerns is that the cannon will simply collapse on itself." "So I'm going to make a smaller wooden form that we can use to safely transport this to our testing site." "Ta-da!" "Here it is." "TORY:" "And another problem that we're gonna face is that the cannon itself may just fold." "So I got to come up with some kind of support system that runs the entire length of the barrel that will allow us to attach to our stand." " Yeah!" "2 inches!" " That's it." "All right." "We hit our target point." "Now the hard part..." "getting this off the form." "I don't think it'll be that hard." " I think we prepped really well." " Okay." " All right." " Famous last words." "Optimism, guys." "Optimism." "NARRATOR:" "Exuding the confident glow of the well-prepared," "Kari has no doubts it's going to work." " TORY:" "Ready?" " GRANT:" "Yeah." "NARRATOR:" "The boys... not so much." "Yeah, it's slipping right off." "GRANT:" "Okay, so we've got this whole plan, right?" "We drill the hole, we put air pressure in, and it should just kind of slide right off the form." "We drilled the hole, put the air pressure in, nothing." "So we drilled another hole, we put more air pressure in..." "That's good." "It's moving." "GRANT:" "And it started to move a little bit but still not really coming off that easily." "Oh, move it." "Move it." "GRANT:" "Finally, we wrapped the strap around the cannon, pulled on it with the forklift, and then it popped right off." "TORY:" "Oh, there it goes." "It's coming off!" " KARI:" "Yay!" " Yeah!" "[Laughs]" " Yeah!" " We did it." "Yes!" "[Cuban accent] Say hello to our little friend!" "Nice." "[Normal voice] Oh, that is a beautiful thing." "The boys had their doubts about us getting the duct-tape cannon off of the metal form." "That is sick!" "That's a duct-tape cannon." "This might actually work!" "Nice!" "That is awesome!" "I knew it was gonna work." "Now all we need is gunpowder and cannonballs." "NARRATOR:" "Adam and Jamie are kings of the world." "But inevitably, just like Kate and Leo, they're going under." "ADAM:" "Well, it's not looking so good for duct-tape repair of a boat in situ." "In damp conditions, as it were." "And it doesn't look like our boat is long for the world here, but we're gonna wait it out." "JAMIE:" "I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say we're officially sinking, because, like, we're sitting in water." "ADAM:" "Yeah." "[Laughs]" "Well, it's pretty clear to me that applied dry, duct tape actually implements a not-unreasonable boat repair." "Uh-oh." "Oh!" "Oh, yeah." "Applied wet... not so much." "Here." "I think we can still get back to shore." "JAMIE:" "Duct tape for boat repair?" "Well, like a lot of things, the devil's in the details." "Have you ever paddled a sinking boat?" "JAMIE:" "No, that I haven't done." "With a dry surface, a super-clean one, properly applied, it'll work fairly well for a while." "Anything else, forget about it." "ADAM:" "Whoop!" "Okay, I think we're gonna need some help from the camera crew." "So, leaky-boat repair..." "I'm calling it plausible, even if it's not ideal." "Hell, out on the open water," "I'd rather have this than nothing by a long shot." "I agree, but I was thinking, why mess around with patching boats and such nonsense?" "Let's up the ante and actually make a boat out of duct tape." "I love it!" "I knew you'd find the open water inspiring." "Be sure to bring your life vest." "NARRATOR:" "Yep, our salty sea dog Hyneman and Cap'n Savage love a nautical-engineering challenge." "ADAM:" "We're escaping!" "NARRATOR:" "They escaped Alcatraz in a boat made of raincoats." "They raised the Mythtanic with Ping-Pong balls." "They've even made a speedboat" " out of frozen newspapers." " I'm king of the world!" "Whoa!" "NARRATOR:" "And now a boat made out of duct tape?" "But it won't be just duct tape, surely?" "JAMIE:" "Now, because it'd be a little floppy if it was all duct tape, we're gonna use steel wire to make a grid to hang the duct tape on." "Oh, it's pretty." "[Grunts]" "NARRATOR:" "Which just leaves the key ingredient... lots and lots of it." "But is it enough to float a boat?" "JAMIE:" "If you're gonna build a boat out of duct tape, you need to think about the duct tape as cloth or like an animal hide." "It's kind of like weaving." "And in fact, that's what Native Americans used to do, is build boats out of animal hide, and they would make a lightweight wood structure that they'd stretch it over." "Well, we're gonna do the same thing, but instead of wood, we're gonna use steel because we can work quicker with it." "Of course, otherwise, the boat is a pretty normal, modern sailboat design." "NARRATOR:" "With the second layer being applied, the cornerstone of their design should be noted." "It'll be sticky side to sticky side." "That's the last one." "The hull is done." "NARRATOR:" "But they're not quite done yet." "They need a sail." "And in a classic "Mythbusters" moment, we reduce the next hour of hard work and problem solving into a crisp 10-second montage." "[Laughs]" "Yeah, baby." "You can keep your duct-tape prom tux." "We got a boat!" "If I was alone on the open sea, the last thing I'd ask for is 23 rolls of duct tape." "But apparently, this is enough to make a boat." "690 square feet." "If you laid each of these rolls end to end, they would span the Golden Gate Bridge." "And soon, we're gonna take them sailing." "TORY:" "All right." "Let's put this duct tape to the test." "NARRATOR:" "Kari, Grant, and Tory are about to find out if you can make a fully functioning cannon from duct tape." "Look at this arsenal of absurdity." "NARRATOR:" "The test will be a simple performance comparison with a real steel cannon including muzzle velocity, range, and whether it, you know, catastrophically fails." "TORY:" "Now, you may recognize this cannon from "Prison Break,"" "where we tried to launch a prisoner over a prison wall." "[Laughter]" "This time, we're gonna be using it for a control test before we fire off our duct-tape cannon." "We're gonna be using the same amount of black powder as we did on our strength gauge." "KARI:" "That's four shotgun shells." "And we've placed cones at every 50 yards so we can see just how far our cannonballs travel." "TORY:" "All right." "That's 500 yards." "I don't think the cannonball's gonna go much farther than that." " Do you?" " GRANT:" "No way." "And finally, to check the speed of the cannonballs, we've set up this scale." "Because, remember, for this myth to be confirmed, it should have similar range, similar speed, and, most importantly, the duct-tape cannon cannot blow up." " See you back there." " Okay." "Sure, leave me with the dangerous job." "NARRATOR:" "With the four shotgun shells' worth of black powder in the combustion chamber, all that's left to do is light the fuse." "All right." "Here we go!" "NARRATOR:" "Oh, and run." "[Laughs]" "GRANT:" "Run, Forrest, run!" " Yeah!" "You guys ready?" "!" " I'm ready." " Are we lit?" " TORY:" "We're lit." "NARRATOR:" "The inexorable, heart-thumping excitement of the lit fuse." "Whether it's your first or hundredth, there's nothing quite like it." " KARI:" "Whoo!" " GRANT:" "Oh!" "Yeah!" " GRANT:" "Nice!" " TORY:" "Whoo-hoo!" " That went far!" " That's great!" "Right in the cone zone." "NARRATOR:" "That's some serious real steel and black-powder hardware." "It threw the cannonball the full length of the course." "KARI:" "That looks like a divot right there." "TORY:" "It totally is." "[Laughs]" "It went over 500 yards!" "GRANT:" "So, I've reviewed the high-speed footage, and Tory's cannon was able to fire an 181/2-pound cannonball at 195 miles per hour and a distance of 500 yards." "So that is our goal for the duct-tape cannon." "But to be honest, I will be very happy if our duct-tape creation doesn't explode upon ignition." "NARRATOR:" "Adam and Jamie have set themselves the ultimate duct-tape challenge." "ADAM:" "We got a boat!" "NARRATOR:" "And in the shadow of the Bay Bridge..." "ADAM:" "And... seated." "NARRATOR:" "...the final preparation for Stuck On You's maiden voyage is just about complete." "It's now or never." "Let's get it to the water." "JAMIE:" "Yep." "It's getting close to the moment of truth, and all that's separating us from Davy Jones' locker is a little bit of tape." "That's good." "I don't know whether it's gonna work or not." "But if it doesn't, I'm getting wet and cold, and I'm motivated not to do that." "NARRATOR:" "As unlikely as it seems, and surely in a world first," "Adam and Jamie are attempting to sail..." "Let me get out of the way." "There we go." "NARRATOR:" "In a boat made out of duct tape." "JAMIE:" "Ta-da!" "ADAM:" "Ho ho!" "Hup!" "Hup!" "Hup!" "NARRATOR:" "And despite the chaotic start, it appears the boat really does float." " You got the tiller and rudder?" " JAMIE:" "Yeah." "ADAM:" "You see any water down there?" "JAMIE:" "Not a drop." "Preliminary reports are that it's seaworthy." " Permission to climb aboard?" " JAMIE:" "Come on in." "All right." "Here I go." "I'm in!" "And we're away." "[Laughs]" "Oh, this is the life, eh?" "JAMIE:" "So far." "NARRATOR:" "Understandable skepticism." "We don't have much wind." "NARRATOR:" "But even "Glass Half-Empty" Hyneman..." "Try not to put your feet through the bottom." "NARRATOR:" "Relaxes as they catch a draft and get under way." "ADAM:" "This thing's holding water." "I don't see a drop of water." " Yee-haw!" " [Laughs]" "JAMIE:" "This is actually working." "There we go." "ADAM:" "Oh, yeah." "Hey, give me some skin there." " Ow." " Ow!" " KARI:" "Whoo!" " GRANT:" "Oh!" "Yeah!" "TORY: [Laughs] It went over 500 yards!" "NARRATOR:" "Tory, Grant, and Kari's real steel cannon can." "Now it's time to see what the duct-tape cannon can do." "KARI:" "Now we have a target for our duct-tape cannon, and I'm hoping we get the same sort of distance out of this, 'cause this would be a really nice addition to our arsenal." "NARRATOR:" "But the guys are getting ahead of themselves." "They seem to have a sticky problem." "KARI:" "One of the pros and the cons of duct tape is the fact that it is so flexible and malleable." "So it's great that we can actually make a complex shape like a cannon, but the big question is, can it hold that shape long enough to shoot off one of our cannonballs?" "Excellent." "In order to fire off this cannon, it is gonna be tricky, because loading it, we got to move quick." "Because as soon as we pull out this plug, the duct-tape cannon is gonna lose its shape." "I mean, as strong as the duct tape is, it's not rigid." "Oh, shoot." "Oh, that's a tight fit." "We might have a bomb here instead of a cannon." "TORY:" "So if it loses its shape, there's the potential that the ball gets stuck inside the barrel." "Oh, this has just gotten a lot scarier." "If that happens, it's gonna trap all that pressure from the burning black powder." "Instead of getting a cannon firing off, we're gonna get a giant explosion." "That would be okay with me." "NARRATOR:" "When catastrophic failure equals an explosion..." "Lighting it." "In 3, 2, 1." "NARRATOR:" "It's a win-win as far as Tory's concerned." "Get out of here." "This one could be dangerous." "Run!" "GRANT:" "All right." "The fuse is lit." "It looks good." "NARRATOR:" "So this is it." "Can a duct-tape cannon withstand and brace the force required to throw an 181/2-pound cannonball 500 yards?" "Or will the soft and malleable barrel grip the ball and cause it to bomb?" "GRANT:" "Okay." "It's gonna be soon." " KARI:" "Whoo!" " TORY:" "Yay!" " It worked!" " GRANT:" "It works!" "TORY:" "It didn't blow up!" "We made a duct-tape cannon that works!" "I love it." "Let's shoot another one off." " NARRATOR:" "It worked." " Whoo!" "NARRATOR:" "And a happier bunch of ballistic Mythbusters you're unlikely to see." "GRANT:" "It's gorgeous." "Look at that." "There's no deformation." "Everything is still pretty much intact." "And we launched the ball pretty far." "NARRATOR:" "But exactly how far?" "[Laughter]" "That is cool!" "It went like 125 yards." "GRANT:" "So, according to my calculations, our duct-tape cannon fired the cannonball at 136 miles per hour, which is only a 30% reduction over Tory's cannon." "Now, it suffered a little bit in the distance." "It only went a quarter of the way, but that's still 125 yards." "And just bear this in mind." "That cannonball is 181/2 pounds." "One cannon is made out of solid steel, and the other cannon is made out of cloth-backed polyethylene-coated rubberized adhesive tape." "NARRATOR:" "So, performance-wise, it didn't quite match up." "But there's no doubt it's a fully functioning cannon." "And with the fat lady warming her tonsils for the confirmation aria, the guys load up one more time... you know, just to be sure." "KARI:" "I always get really excited when we get to confirm a myth, 'cause we always are busting them..." "Overwhelmingly, we bust myths." "This one, duct-tape cannon, is actually confirmed..." " GRANT:" "Whoo-hoo!" " TORY:" "Yeah!" "KARI:" "And now we have a duct-tape cannon!" "You know what that looks like to me?" " Confirmed." " Yeah, absolutely." "It didn't go as far as the regular cannon," " but it did work." " GRANT:" "That's right." "No explosion, and it went the distance." "Confirmed." " Whoo!" " Now more duct tape." "Love it." "Duct tape and black powder..." "two of my favorite things." "And here on "Mythbusters," we figure out a way to bring them together in the form of a cannon, and a cannon that worked, that didn't explode." "We confirmed this." "I just can't tell you how happy I am." "Good times, everybody." "Good times." "If you're like us and you can't get enough of black powder and duct tape and check it out." "ADAM:" "[Laughs]" "NARRATOR:" "You could say Adam and Jamie are enjoying themselves." "[As Captain Kirk] Scotty, I need more power." "[As Scotty] I'm giving it all we got, Captain, but I just can't push her any further!" "NARRATOR:" "They've managed to make a sailing boat out of duct tape." " [Bird caws]" " ADAM: [Laughs]" "I got to say, we knew that duct tape stuck together was reasonably waterproof, but it also has a really nice tensile strength." "It's made just a fabulous skin on this boat." "JAMIE:" "I think the key to it is making one nice piece of fabric out of the whole skin." "Adhesive to adhesive was miles ahead of just putting tape on any which way." "ADAM:" "So with a couple of days and a couple dozen rolls of duct tape, we set ourselves the task of making a viable, seaworthy vessel." "And while it's true that failure is always an option," "I have to say, success is pretty sweet." "NARRATOR:" "And as far as Adam's concerned, it's a financial success as well." "ADAM:" "Dude, I think we can stay out here all day." "This boat is not gonna fail any time soon." "I don't think I have to pay 500 bucks." "You're absolutely right." "[Laughs] I love being right." "JAMIE:" "Well, Adam, you know what they say." " ADAM:" "Yeah?" " Whatever floats your boat." " [Laughs]" " JAMIE:" "I somehow didn't think it was gonna be duct tape, though." "ADAM:" "[Laughs]"