Mythbusters

jlckansas

I watch Mythbusters as much as possible on the Discovery Channel. I was trying to come up with some alt-hist myths that could be proven to maybe send into the show, they ask for ideas from the viewers all the time.

So any ideas folks? I am cross posting this to both the before and after 1900 forums.

My idea was the lead used by the Romans for water pipes, drinking vessels and liquid storage containers that some historians say was poisoning them and was wondering if this was true or not.
 

freivolk

Mako_Leader said:
Could the faked moon landings really have been done for real?
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One thing I always wondered with this bogus was, why should the Russians should go along with. I mean, we all know that they would find out, the USA were never really good in keeping secrets from the KGB.
 

RPW@Cy

Mako_Leader said:
Could the faked moon landings really have been done for real?
Click to expand...

I really hope that was tongue in cheek:mad:

On topic - they have certainly done historical myths - Archimedes' death ray and the Confederate IRBM come to mind. whether these count as ATL depends on your POV I suppose.
 

jlckansas

Yes that is what gave me the idea for this thread. They did do one on the moon landings to prove they were real. I can see where things like the Death ray and CSA rocket would make good alt history, and if they actually worked they would not be ASB.
 

Dan Reilly The Great

Banned
freivolk said:
One thing I always wondered with this bogus was, why should the Russians should go along with. I mean, we all know that they would find out, the USA were never really good in keeping secrets from the KGB.
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quite right, they were putting most of their effort to keep their secrets from the GRU.

Yeah, I"m being nitpicky, whatev's :p
 

TofuTanker

I've always wondered if it's true that if you pour lighter fluid into a campfire, the flames will travel up the stream and cause the can to explode.

But back on topic, could WWI fighter pilots really un-jam their machine guns by hitting them with a hammer, like in Flyboys?
 

TofuTanker

I remember when they tested the stories of Japanese officers cutting off the barrels of US machine-guns that had gotten soft from overheating.

They couldn't really slice through the swords, but apparently if the guns were overheated, then dunked in water (the gunners would do that to cool down the gun barrel), they would get brittle enough to get broken. I also remember the episode about a WWII American bomber crewman who fell without a parachute and supposedly survived because an exploding ammo dump cushioned his fall. I don't remember the verdict on that one.
 

RPW@Cy

Timmy811 said:
Confederate intermediate-range ballistic missile!? :eek: :confused:
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Yup. The myth tested was that the confederates managed to build a rocket that hit Washington DC from something like 120 miles away. Adam and Jamie attempted to build a hybrid rocket using only materials plausibly available to the confederates, and although they got it to fly it only went about a mile so they called it busted.
 

RPW@Cy

KyleB said:
They couldn't really slice through the swords, but apparently if the guns were overheated, then dunked in water (the gunners would do that to cool down the gun barrel), they would get brittle enough to get broken.
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I think they got it to work once, with a barrle that was very old and worn out and a sword that was being swung mechniclly with far greater strength than any human could manage. To all intents and purposes it was busted.


I also remember the episode about a WWII American bomber crewman who fell without a parachute and supposedly survived because an exploding ammo dump cushioned his fall. I don't remember the verdict on that one.
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Busted. The shockwave simply wasn't powerful enough to arrest his fall, and in any case the amount of shrapnel flying around would almost certainly have killed the crewman even if he had slowed enough to survive the fall.
 

GrayAnderson

RPW@Cy said:
Yup. The myth tested was that the confederates managed to build a rocket that hit Washington DC from something like 120 miles away. Adam and Jamie attempted to build a hybrid rocket using only materials plausibly available to the confederates, and although they got it to fly it only went about a mile so they called it busted.
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Y'know, given the range of most artillery at the time, if not for the likely costs and transportation trouble, this could have made a beautiful mess of some Union encampments. I'm imagining somebody loading it up with some shrapnel-heavy stuff (perhaps a thin layer of iron shards or nails) and firing one or two into an encampment. Not a game-changer by any stretch, but certainly something to make life frustrating for the Union and complicate logistics.
 
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