Ugh!
Narrator: on this episode of "mythbusters"...
Adam and Jamie bite the bullet on an all-time classic myth.
I'm told it's only going to hurt a lot.
Do some people tolerate pain better than others?
Ow.
From natural redheads...
I am proud to be one of them.
...to men versus women,
Which group has the right stuff?
Jamie: those are some tough mothers.
And is swearing really a cure...
Fudge!!
...or just a curse?
Oh [bleep] sweet relief.
Meanwhile, tory, grant, and kari
Tackle the myth of ballistic barbecues...
Let's torch this thing!
...to see if a propane tank that's feeling the heat...
we have the best job ever!
...is really a rocket just biding its time.
3...2...1!
[ laughter ]
Who are the mythbusters?
Adam savage...
Am i missing an eyebrow?
...and jamie hyneman.
Relax. this won't hurt a bit.
Between them, more than 30 years of special-effects experience.
I ate a radio for science!
Narrator: joining them -- tory belleci...
I am ...on fire聜
...grant imahara...
Burn!
...and kari byron. it's terrifying!
They don't just tell the myths.
They put them to the test.
First up, a myth for the masochists.
Pain!
Okay, that's creepy. what are you doing?
Don't you remember when spock was talking to the lava monster?
Okay, never mind.
We are doing a whole set of stories
Specifically about pain.
I've got one -- you're a pain in the [bleep]
Okay, no, that's not one of the ones we're doing.
We got three stories.
One is that women can stand more pain than men.
Two is that redheads can't stand very much pain at all,
And the third -- and i think you're gonna like this --
Is that supposedly cursing
Increases your ability to withstand pain.
Well, i bleeping love that.
I thought you would.
Narrator: now, adam has more than a passing acquaintance
With pain... ow. ow.
...and here's just a few of his greatest hits.
But adam himself hasn't a clue
If his tolerance for pain is any better than the next guy.
Jamie: we're gonna have to stitch your mouth shut,
I think, for this.
Na-hah, you wish.
So, how's this gonna work?
Well, clearly we're gonna have to subject a lot of people
To pain in order to test these stories.
I can do that.
While i'm sure that you have some fascinating ideas,
The fact is that professional scientists
Have been studying this subject for years,
And i think it would behoove us to go to them
and ask them what techniques they'r using
Because, remember,
We've got to do this without damaging anybody.
Oh.
Okay.
The best man to consult on the subject
Works at stanford university.
Your aches and spasms are his bread and butter.
Dr. chu, how is it you know so much about pain?
Well, i'm an anesthesiologist, but i'm also a pain researcher.
And i have a lab here at stanford
Where i work on discovering new therapies
And treatments for pain.
In order to do that work,
I need to be able to reliably induce pain in my patients.
With dr. chu's help,
We'll road-test four kinds of, uh, clinical torture
To find out the best one for testing the myths.
They, uh.probabl won't cause any real damage.
First up is heat.
This little black box here
Is actually a precisely controllable heater,
Which soon we will strap to jamie's arm,
And increase the heat until he can't stand it anymore.
What could be better than that?
Hi, jamie.
Hello.
Narrator: jamie's told that his arm will get steadily hotter
Over the next 60 seconds,
Or until he can't stand it no more.
So, here's the button that you'll press.
This goes in your right hand.
So, either red button will turn off the heat immediately.
Okay.
Abby also requests that he speaks out
The instant he first feels real pain.
And that would qualify as pain.
Ow!
But this is jamie we're watching --
A man so tough, he occasionally rusts.
So, that maxed out.
[ chuckles ]
Well, thank you. that was fun.
Thank you.
So, here's the question for our man of steel...
Is this what we're shopping for?
I have to say that was quite painful,
And it did leave a mark.
Whether we want to subject a bunch of people to that,
I'm not so sure at this point.
narrator: next up, we'll change lab rats an methods.
This one promises pain like you wouldn't believe.
I am about to have capsaicin,
Which is the primary element in various spicy peppers,
Injected just under my skin.
I'm told it's only going to hurt a lot.
Narrator: now, we've already had an excruciating brush
With capsaicin
When tory, grant, and kari
Bravely set out to find a cure for hot chili mouth.
If capsaicin does that to your tongue,
Just imagine the pain from a hypodermic injection.
Hi, adam.
okay, now what i want you to do is no move
When i do this, okay?
That'll be your instinct, but do not move.
Okay, here we go.
Adam: okay.
Ow! oh!
Wow!
On a scale of zero to 10?
[ groans ]
Oh, god! okay, maybe a 6.
Ugh, it really feels like i'm being burnt!
See, i'm not used to feeling a pain
That's not actually causing me damage,
So i really want to, like, move
And run water on it or something.
Yeah, you want to see something, too,
To make it worth it, right?
Oh! whoa!
On a "mythbusters" pain scale,
This is not quite as bad as getting my tongue pierced...
Woman: here you go. little breath in...and out.
...especially the fact that it goes away after 10 minutes,
But i don't think i'd want to do this
To a bunch of test subjects in our shop.
I'd say this is a no-go.
I'm gonna go now.
Narrator: so, while adam recovers,
It's jamie's turn back in the hot seat.
Next up is electric pain.
Soon a pair of electrodes will be strapped to jamie's arm,
Touching his skin, and a current will be run through them.
This will irritate his nerves and cause a local pain response,
And then [chuckles] that's not all --
Then this device, called a von frey hair,
Will be poked around the painful area
To map the area of sensitivity.
If jamie has any facial expressions at all,
This is likely to be thrilling.
Narrator: dr. chu marks the shape of a star
On jamie's left forearm.
The plan is to prod him when this is all over
To test his sensitivity.
Now, that's pretty. okay, jamie.
I'm going to hook you up to this electrical current
And i'm gonna let it run for 30 minutes,
And then i'll be back.
That's a long time for jamie to slowly suffer.
Wow, this is kind of like
Being hooked up to an electric fence for a half-hour.
It's not excruciating, but it's not very nice.
In due course, dr. chu returns
To inflict some scientific stabbing.
Well, i have a great idea now
Of your overall electrical-pain threshold
And your area of sensitivity,
Which was what this test was designed to measure.
Okay, so that means we can turn it off now.
So, now to the fourth and final torment.
We all know that extreme cold can kill.
It can also hurt like hell.
Jamie: adam's gonna be putting his hand
All the way down into this ice bath
Where it's just above freezing.
First he'll feel cold, then he'll feel pain,
And then when he just can't stand it anymore,
He'll pull his hand out.
Now, this is called the cold pressor test,
And it's the oldest and most well-established
Pain-induction technique used in pain research.
Narrator: the temperature is just above freezing,
And the rules are the same as before --
Just hang on as long as you can.
adam: look, it's one thing to read about a technique
Like immersing your hand in ice water
and quite another to do it.
And the most surprising thing --
And i guess this shouldn't be surprising to me --
Is that it hurts -- it hurts right away,
And it's quite intense.
Narrator: adam would like to go the distance,
But it's not gonna happen.
No, here we go!
Aaaah.
That's it.
Ow!
That's intense! yeah. good job.
Adam lasted just 59 seconds,
So we know that it hurts like the devil.
Aaaah.
After sampling four distinct kinds of supervised soreness,
All that remains is to choose their poison.
Do you feel more manly now?
A little. a little bit.
Shall we recap what we learned at stanford?
I think we need to throw out chili peppers and electricity
Because they're designed to test sensitivity,
Not how much pain you can take.
Okay, that leaves heat and ice.
I'm going with ice
Because it's been around the longest
And it's the most widely used.
Ice it is.
Well, let's start by testing whether or not women
Actually do have a higher pain tolerance than men.
Okay.
So, it's gloves off between women and men
To see who can outlast the deep freeze.
But before we can settle this test of the toughest,
The boys need to scratch-build a rig
That can serve up the pain and cater for comfort.
To make the testing more tv-friendly,
Adam turns a normal kitchen clock into a giant stopwatch.
Now, to operate this clock, i've rigged up
A sort of electronic-armrest dead man's switch,
So the moment you put your hand in the ice
And rest your arm on the armrest,
The clock starts.
Then the second you lift your arm out, the clock stops.
Narrator: jamie's recirculating pump
Should ensure the ice water stays at one degree celsius
For as long as the testing takes.
The chill chair is ready for action.
I like it.
Upstairs, 25 men and 25 women
Have no idea what they're in for.
AmericasCardroom.com brings poker back Million Dollar Sunday Tournament every Sunday
That could ruin your next barbecue.
So, you're looking excited. what's up? it's our myth.
It's a good one, which kind of reminds me of my childhood.
Okay, hit me.
All right, imagine a garage or a shed is on fire.
Inside is a barbecue with...a propane tank.
It explodes and turns into a rocket,
Launching 150 feet into the air.
Oh, i've heard of this one.
It's very similar to the water-heater rocket.
The heat causes the pressure inside the tank to build,
Then there's a catastrophic rupture
And sends the tank flying up into the sky.
Wait, wait, wait -- this reminds you of your childhood?
Yeah. i'd rather not talk about it.
My parents are still a little upset.
Narrator: like they said, this isn't the first time
We've, uh, adapted a pressure vessel...
Or deliberately set one on fire...
Or even tried to turn a gas tank into a missile...
But if this myth is true,
Catastrophe could be brewing in your own backyard.
The story goes that a propane tank
Once became a rocket,
And its perfect trajectory hit 150 feet.
Look, i got to say i've got my doubts about this.
How so?
Propane tanks, just like all of the pressurized vessels,
Have a pressure-relief valve built in.
When the pressure gets too high, they simply vent off the excess,
Thereby averting the catastrophic failure.
Yeah, but what if the fire is so intense
That the pressure is building faster inside the tank
Than the relief valve can dump out?
I suppose it's possible.
Fun day at the bomb range!
[ laughter ]
Now, for this myth, we need a burning garage
With a propane tank inside of it.
Now, since no one's gonna let us burn down a garage,
We need to build our own.
But we don't have time to build a full-sized one,
So we're going to make a miniature one.
But we're still gonna build it up to code.
It's gonna have studs every 16 inches.
It's gonna have three walls, a driveway, and a roof.
Now, that should be plenty of material to burn
In order to get this garage hot enough
To turn this propane tank into a rocket.
Narrator: here on the show, we like to say
That every day's a good day for an explosion.
But some days are definitely better than others.
I thought the dangerous part
Was gonna be the exploding propane tank.
You all right? oh, no!
It's hardly a firm foundation,
But the guys know that today,
The joys of shed ownership will be fleeting.
Whoo!
They're now ready to install the stunt barbecue,
And the star of the show.
Hey, don't forget the propane.
It came straight from my garage.
But there's still some fuel to add to the fire.
Grant: so, this kind of looks like a lot of firewood, right?
Well, it is, because what we want
Is for this fire to burn long and hot.
Narrator: so they stack the shed with wood and charcoal --
Two common commodities that should catch fire
And raise the temperature.
Tory: now, this fire is gonna get so hot
That there is a good chance that this tank is gonna explode.
Narrator: but we want a rocket.
And if the relief valve does its job, this could turn out
To be nothing more than a backyard bonfire.
Then again, one of the great things about "mythbusters"
Is that we're so often wrong.
After a liberal splash of gasoline...
That ought to do it.
...the team shows its flair [flare]
For setting a fire.
Grant: all right, you guys ready?
Ready! let's torch this thing!
In 3, 2, 1.
Kari: whoa!
Run!
Narrator: each passing second feels like 10
As they hightail it back to the bunker.
Oh, that thing is going up! oh, my god!
Okay.
By the time they arrive, the shed's an inferno.
Okay, the flir cam says 302 degrees.
Look at that -- it's just all white.
Narrator: then, with the temperature passing 800 degrees,
The safety valve finally kicks in,
Doing exactly what it's supposed to do.
There it goes!
The relief valve just broke.
Look at that -- it's like a flame thrower.
So, thar she blows,
And the cylinder didn't move an inch.
The valve released the gas pressure
Faster than the tank could build it up.
Grant: the important thing is that the tank did not rupture.
There was no explosion.
And we saw a jet of fire, but no thrust,
Which would make a rocket.
Narrator: so the shed bites the dust,
But there's room for improvement.
So this myth is not confirmed under normal circumstances.
It looks like we're gonna have to disable
The pressure-relief valve to get any sort of result.
Maybe we need to go back to the shop, change the circumstances
To get one of these tanks to act more like a rocket.
All right.
Narrator: coming up, adam and jamie
Finally settle the biggest gender myth of all.
Can women really take more pain than men?
Hurts, doesn't it? yes, it does.
Narrator: this myth is called "no pain, no gain,"
Though i must admit it's often hard to see an upside.
Adam and jamie have settled on their torment of choice,
Which is sticking your arm in an ice bath
To see who lasts the longest.
And the very first contest is men versus women.
The volunteers have all been declared fit and healthy.
None of them know there's a 3-minute cap on the ice dunk.
In fact, they don't even know why they're here.
And now it's time for women versus men,
Specifically the myth
That women have a higher tolerance for pain than men.
Why is this interesting?
Well, men are viewed as strong, and women are viewed as weak.
And wouldn't it be lovely if the reverse were true?
Narrator: it sure would, and we're about to find out.
Yeah, so, i want you to keep your fingers apart
So that they get as cold as possible.
Okay.
And hold your hand still in the bucket.
You don't have to do this. are you okay with it?
I'm fine. okay.
Melissa, commence.
Other than that,
The instructions are much like the guys got at stanford --
Sing out when it hurts and pull out when it's all too much.
That's pain.
Jamie: okay.
You got it?
I got it.
Narrator: as the seconds tick by,
Melissa proves more than a match for the arm-numbing pain.
Jamie: and you're done.
You're done. we have a 3-minute safety cutoff.
[ laughs ] excellent.
You did amazing! oh, my gosh!
Narrator: that's a positive start for girls versus guys,
But the following females fall way short of that magic mark.
Now, be sure to tell us whenever you start to feel pain.
All right, it's starting to hurt.
Okay.
Narrator: the next four contestants
Are much more like adam --
They all last less than a minute.
While adam crunches the numbers,
Our paramedic sanjay is on hand to check their vitals.
You feeling dizzy, light-headed, anything like that?
Any chest pain, shortness of breath? okay.
Continue drying your hand and come with me.
All right.
But how can a simple tub of cold water
Cause so much discomfort?
So, how does ice water cause pain?
Well, you have special receptors in your skin
Called "nociceptors,"
And these are specifically to sense temperature.
So when your skin temperature gets low enough,
These send a signal to your spinal cord
And then to your brain,
And this is what you interpret as pain.
Now, the goal here is to get you to remove your hand
Before you receive any actual damage.
Narrator: so, the tolerance testing begins for the men,
And just like the women,
They have no idea that this is a battle of the sexes.
Go ahead.
All right, keep your fingers spread.
There we go.
And tell us when you first experience pain.
For the record, that takes just 15 seconds.
Okay, i've got some pain now. okay.
Half a minute later, thomas, who looks as tough as teak,
Has had enough.
[ clicks tongue ]
All right, then. whew!
It hurts, doesn't it? yes, it does.
Okay.
In the next 60 minutes,
Many more men take the one-degree plunge into pain.
[ groans ]
Okay, done. excellent.
and some do beat the clock...
And that's it. that's 3 minutes.
All right.
You can tell by the ice that's stuck to your forearm.
Okay.
Narrator: ...while others just seem doomed from the start.
Okay.
Jamie: excellent.
Adam: nicely done.
Watch your step coming off here.
Narrator: stephen succumbs to unbearable pain.
Sanjay will take it from here.
Okay. thanks for coming in.
Stephen, thank you. thank you.
Narrator: thanks to all those who've rolled up their sleeves
For popular science.
Adam's done the arithmetic,
So we won't keep you waiting on men versus women.
The final figures
Are the average number of seconds they lasted.
Adam: ta-da!
We have crunched the numbers
From all our test subjects.
Would you like to know the result?
Yes. okay.
Here it comes.
The result is...
Myth confirmed!
Women did, in fact,
Have a reasonably higher tolerance for pain
Than men in our study.
I'll be darned!
Hah! in your face, men!
Oh.
Up next, hopes are sky-high for a real backyard rocket.
Does it look like it's getting rounder?
[ explosion ] whoa! ohh! aaaah!
Narrator: tory, grant, and kari are testing the myth
That a superheated propane tank could rupture
And take off like a rocket 150 feet in the air.
So far, all they've done is burn down a shed.
Now it's time to disable that pesky safety-relief valve
From an empty tank.
So, these propane tanks
Have a lot of safety features built in,
And they don't want you
To be able to go in and defeat them,
So us professional yahoos have to grind our own tools
Because this is a nonstandard bolt.
So i'm gonna take this perfectly good wrench
And make it into a custom removal tool.
Narrator: and that's as much as we're going to show or explain,
Because trying this yourself is a reall.bad idea.
Suffice it to say that before long,
Grant's removed the device and plugged the hole
To simulate an old tank with a busted valve.
I've got to say, with this safety valve disabled,
I see a big boom in our future.
Narrator: back on the range,
Tory reveals the other major modification in plan "b."
Instead of burning a shed,
They'll heat their blocked-up tank
With a portable propane-gas range.
So, we're setting up a burner,
Attaching a 20-foot hard line to that,
And then to that, we're gonna attach a 200-foot line
Down the bomb range to our feed tank.
Narrator: now, just so we're all crystal-clear,
This feed tank pumps propane direct to the burner,
So the flames stay lit.
It's in no way hooked up to our canister rocket.
A pressure-relief valve,
Which we've dismantled from this particular tank,
Is there to prevent a key disaster.
It's called a bleve.
Now, that's an acronym
For "boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion."
A vessel that has a pressurized liquid inside, when it ruptures,
Can have a catastrophic explosion.
Narrator: they should get their bleve,
But grant doubts he'll witness the launch of a missile.
The problem is we don't know where it's gonna rupture.
I think it's gonna rupture probably on this seam
And go wham!
I still don't think it's gonna be a rocket.
Narrator: to find out if he's right,
Tory lights up the stovetop...
Here we go.
...while grant pumps the gas.
Grant: come on!
Kari: this could be big.
Grant: it could be really big.
Tory: it's gonna be a huge fireball.
Or a really awesome rocket!
Look at the bottom. it's blackening.
And you can see the blurry heat fog right above it.
Narrator: 10 minutes in,
This modified tank looks like it's ready to burst.
Is the tank --
Does it look like it's getting rounder?
It does. kari: yeah, it does, right?
Aaah! whoa! ohh!
Well, that wasn't necessarily a rocket,
Because pieces went that way, that way, that way, that way.
Narrator: in fact, they went every which way but vertical.
[ laughing ]
There's a piece right there!
That was --
No way!
Glad you're in the bunker, huh?
Wow! holy crap!
Narrator: the actual blast was so strong,
It blew out the flame from the burner.
Some of the shards flew 300 feet sideways,
But stray bits of metal do not make a rocket.
So, this is what's left of our tank,
And it's pretty much what i expected to happen.
They rupture -- however, they rupture in random spots.
Kari: we definitely achieved a bleve.
Our tank ruptured and lost all of its energy all at once
Rather than any sort of nozzle-like activity.
Narrator: what we want is a tiny hole punched through the base
To release all the force of the pressurized gas.
And if a tank was part rusted in just the right spot,
There's a good chance we'd get our rocket.
Oh, i think we could definitely do that.
Let's go try it. all right.
So, we're back to the shop.
Now, before we start weakening these tanks
As if they were rusty or old tanks,
I need to find out exactly what i'm up against.
So what i'm gonna do is cut one of these in half
Just to find out how thick the wall is,
'cause we want to cut
Halfway through the thickness of the wall,
Not all the way through and puncturing it.
Narrator: ever so carefully...
[ thunk ]
...tory splits the empty tank in two,
Then pulls out the calipers.
Knowing that the base of this tank is .083 inches thick,
This is where we want to weaken the tank
So that this fails before the rest of the tank ruptures
And hopefully creates a nozzle through which we get thrust.
Narrator: so grant sets the drill to just half that depth,
Boring a divot to approximate a neglected tank
That's part rusted through.
Now it's on to make a rocket.
Kari: all right!
Narrator: out on the bomb range...
Well, at least it's not raining.
Oh, dear.
[ coughs ]
Narrator: if this was nasa, they'd call off the launch.
But perseverance pays off as the fog soon lifts,
And hopes are high for a genuine liftoff.
This should be fun.
For this myth to be confirmed,
We're actually gonna have to propel that tank
150 feet in the air.
That's a 5-gallon tank.
That is gonna take so much thrust.
[ zip! ]
[ whistle! ]
That's a lot of thrust.
Narrator: once again,
They'll heat the tank with a propane burner,
And the pressure-relief valve is blocked off.
Is it good yet?
This will be the ultimate test of a compromised container.
Now we're ready to see if a 5-gallon barbecue gas tank
Can really take flight.
Okay, ready to start!
All right, turn it on.
Good.
[ siren wailing ]
Let's see if we get a rocket.
Kari: i think it's gonna work this time.
I'm feeling really good about this experiment.
Yeah, i feel confident.
That weakening right on the bottom,
It's in the perfect place to form a rocket nozzle.
Whatever happens, it's gonna be spectacular.
Narrator: but it's clear that they'll have to be patient.
After almost 4 minutes,
The tank isn't bulging like the last time.
Then...
Kari: i think --
Oh! oh! oh!
I don't think that was a rocket!
That was absolutely not a rocket.
It just blew up.
Narrator: once again, the blast extinguished the burner.
It's a splatter spectacular,
But the myth remains vertically challenged.
Kari: we got a rupture that started from the bottom.
It peeled apart the tank,
Threw it in many different directions,
But nothing looked like a rocket.
Narrator: it's another disastrous failure to launch,
But the bit that burst first went exactly to plan.
Tory: and did you notice where it ruptured?
I mean, exactly where we weakened the tank.
Still not a rocket, but you know what?
Before we give up on this scenario,
We used a full tank here.
What if the tank in the garage was almost empty?
Another explosion? okay, i'm in.
I'm game.
Narrator: grant's theory that less is more
Might well be the key to unleashing the power of propane.
And who can say no to another explosion?
Straight ahead,
Adam's redheaded peeps are put to the ultimate pain test.
I hate cold.
Oh, good.
Narrator: so far, kari, grant, and tory
Have totally failed to confirm the myth
That a barbecue propane tank could fly like a rocket.
They've blocked off the relief valve...
Pieces went that way, that way...
Narrator: ...then drilled out the bottom to simulate a rusty tank...
I don't think that was a rocket.
But grant thinks the key to success
Is to stop way short of filling the tank.
Grant: now, a nearly empty propane tank
Might be the key to creating a rocket.
Let me illustrate with this water bottle.
Now, the water in here represents the liquid propane.
It's incompressible.
There's no room for the gas to expand and build up pressure.
But if we remove most of that liquid...
Now we have all of this volume
For the gas to expand and build up pressure.
An.tha might be what turns this into a rocket.
Kari: i'm having a hard time believing
That this is gonna happen after the last few tests,
but since we ar changing the circumstances just slightly,
Putting less propane in,
We might have a different conclusion.
Narrator: this time, kari does the cooking...
And the running.
[ siren wailing ]
No one knows just what's gonna happen, or when.
It's starting to look like it's swelling a little bit.
Well, it's turned almost completely black.
That's when it exploded last time.
Propane rocket, here we go!
Narrator: and sooner than tory expected...
Kari: oh! hey!
[ all cheering ]
We got a rocket!
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
That was not 150 feet in the air.
And it didn't go straight up. it kind of went bink!
All right, but you have to admit
That is the best thing we've seen so far.
Narrator: in fact, it's the first tank they've seen
that shot up like a missile an stayed intact.
Kari: we're all incredibly excited right now.
I mean, we actually created something
That looked like a rocket.
Narrator: a 60-foot launch is not the 150 they wanted,
But it's promising and totally spectacular.
You'd be a brave man to call this one busted.
Grant: it's totally plausible.
I mean, it didn't make it to 150 feet,
But it did look like a rocket.
This is like a lot of our myths.
I mean, we have a bizarre set of circumstances
That gives us a totally wild outcome.
We didn't get that 150 feet.
What can we do to make that go 150 feet?
Ooh. [ laughs ] ooh. [ laughs ]
Narrator: laughter like that can only mean one thing --
They will do whatever it takes to match the myth.
You want more? we've got more.
Log on to discovery.com/mythbusters
And jump in!
Narrator: at some point, you've probably pondered this yourself --
Can some of us tolerate more pain than others?
[ chuckles ]
Relax. be quiet!
So far, it's hardly been a case of damsels in distress.
The testing shows women are clearly more stoic than men.
What's next, adam?
Next is a myth that i take a little personally,
And it is that redheads
Supposedly have a lower tolerance for pain
Than regular people.
So, once again,
You get to experience pain for science, huh?
No. no. no.
I did my duty walking on hot coals, man.
Phht!
I remember it like it was yesterday.
This was the time
When the whole team walked the walk on hot coals,
And the only one to suffer was our resident redhead.
The rules are exactly the same as for men versus women,
And it already seems there's some truth to the rumor.
I hate cold.
[ chuckles ] oh, good.
[ both laugh ]
Okay. there we go.
Perfect.
Woman: i've heard that redheads have a lower tolerance of pain,
But i don't actually know a large enough sample group
To confirm or deny that, so we'll see what happens today.
Narrator: we sure will...
Done.
Excellent.
...as two dozen more women...
It's ridiculously cold.
Isn't it?
...and men... whenever you're ready.
All right.
...wave the flag for the redheaded regiment.
Perfect.
Man: i think it is a myth.
I think we may feel it faster than other people...
Now it's starting to hurt.
...but i think we can stand it just as well, if not better.
And you made it to 3 minutes.
Out you come.
Narrator: brian's the first of a small batch to challenge the myth
That the redheads can't take it...
You made it 3 minutes.
Done.
Pull your hand out. excellent work.
Whew!
But they last long enough
To make busting this part of the myth
A real possibility.
All right, jamie, it's time for the one
I know that you've been waiting for --
Redheads versus non-redheads.
We crunched the numbers. you want to know the result?
Yes! okay, here they come.
The myth that redheads have a lower tolerance for pain is...
Busted -- hugely!
Look at the redheads!
They kicked the butt of everybody else we tested.
Well, those are your peeps. are you proud?
I am proud to be one of them, yes.
Still to come,
Things are looking up for the propane rocket.
3, 2, 1.
[ explosion ]
And can serious cussing give sweet relief?
[bleep] [bleep] [bleep] [bleep] [bleep]
Narrator: the last launch of the propane-gas tank
Looked close to perfection.
They just couldn't manage the mythical 150 feet.
So, here's the plan --
To replicate the results of the myth,
Tory builds a 10-foot rocket launcher.
He's also come up with a sure-fire way
To punch out the perfect nozzle.
I've got a 9mm pistol.
It's in a ransom rest,
And it's pointed at the base of our tank.
Now, that ransom rest is connected to a window motor.
All i need to do is run that motor.
It will pull the ransom-rest lever and fire the gun.
narrator: that's a whole new way to shoo a rocket.
Back at the range for the very last time,
Tory's rig is deployed in a matter of minutes.
But the force of the bullet remains a concern.
If we shoot all the way through, making two holes,
All of that pressure is gonna vent out of the second hole.
So we selected a small enough caliber handgun
to shoot in,
But it doesn't come out.
Narrator: let's hope they've guessed right.
Tory: we've taken everything we've learned
From our previous tests and applied it to this last one
In order to replicate the results of the myth.
We got one tank to go to 60 feet,
But we want our next one to go to 150 feet.
Narrator: the flares are set to light the flame
Once grant turns on the gas.
And the gun safely mounted below the burners
Will eventually be fired remotely by tory.
This is my favorite part --
Replicating the results.
All right, the gun's live! the gun's live!
We're on our way.
We have the best job ever!
[ laughter ]
Narrator: as the flames start licking the steel,
They figure they've got around about an 8-minute wait.
Whenever we have to wait for something to explode,
It seems like time goes really, really slow.
Tory: i know, right?
Grant: and hopefully,
That bullet's only gonna go through the bottom
And give us a nozzle.
Narrator: so the watch continues
For those telltale signs of imminent tank failure.
You know what? i think it's round, dude.
Narrator: if they wait any longer, the tank might explode,
So it's now or never.
Firing the gun should breach the bottom
And give them their rocket.
In 3, 2, 1.
[ all cheering ]
It's still spinning!
[ laughter ]
Kari: that was a brilliant launch,
And the suspense leading up to it was just a nail-biter.
Narrator: with a perfect 9mm nozzle and a launch tower,
This really was a proper propane rocket.
And if the tank had fins
To keep its trajectory straight and true,
Well, who knows?
Kari: when you take it back to the original myth,
Yes, we did not get the 150 feet,
But we got something that really looked like a rocket.
I think it's still plausible.
I agree -- plausible.
Plausible.
Under the perfect storm of conditions,
I think you could get a rocket.
Narrator: adam and jamie have already taken one for the team,
Then tortured some strangers
To find out if some folk cope better with pain.
All right.
So what's next?
Well, allow me to demonstrate.
[bleep] ow!
Question -- did swearing make that hurt less?
I don't know!
Well, that's our next myth --
Does swearing increase your tolerance to pain?
Aah!
It's a fair enough question,
But testing it out poses obvious problems.
We've cursed on the show before, plenty.
But what you may not know
Is that not only do they bleep the sound of our curses,
But often if our mouth is visible during a curse,
They blur it so you can't read our lips
And see what nasty things are coming out of us.
And every time they have to blur it, it costs a lot of money.
So i figure i'm going to do the editors a favor for this myth
And actually make a piece of headgear
Which blurs my mouth for them,
Then all they have to do is a bleep,
And bleeps are cheap.
All right, here goes the first test.
Initiating the curse-proof tool.
How about this?
[bleeping]
...eating [bleep]
No blurring for the editors!
[ laughs ]
Given that this setup is all the same,
How is this test any different than the others?
For this test, our sample size will be five,
Except instead of averaging our data
Across all five test subjects,
In this test, each subject will be compared to themselves.
In order to isolate the act of swearing
From the act of speaking,
Our test subjects are going to be repeating
A number of non-swear words over and over again
While they're undergoing the test.
Narrator: kari, tory, and grant are sworn in to make up the five.
Now, this is a test in two parts --
First, the control, where they preselect ordinary words
To scream out when it hurts.
Okay, there are your words -- five non-swear words.
Narrator: first, grant...
Ohh.
Narrator: ...and then kari...
Ohh!
Oho-ho!
...hang on as long as they can.
Doughnut!
Fudge!
Blueberry!
Sugar.
Schnitzel!
Goodness.
Piston!
But both fall way short of the 3-minute limit.
I think that's it. that's -- gah!
Ohh!
Okay, i'm getting tunnel vision.
I really can't last that long.
[ sighs ]
Adam's the next one to chance his arm...
Puppies! kittens!
Babies! ducklings!
Oh, baby hippo!
But again, he can't last more than a minute.
Puppies! puppies! kittens! kittens!
Baby hippos!
Babies! ducklings!
Aah!
The next man to try to maintain some control is tory.
In 3, 2, 1.
Gosh dang it, it's cold!
Cold!
[bleeping]
Tory's jumped the gun with his potty mouth.
Tory: on a scale of 1 to 10, i think i peaked out about 15.
Narrator: and then he finds out he's in double trouble.
Oh, my god, it's completely numb.
Tory, thanks for participating,
But unfortunately we have to disqualify you.
Why?
Number one, you actually swore during the test,
Which is what the test is about,
And you weren't supposed to swear,
So you're out because of that,
And you also lasted past the 3 minutes.
It could have been because of the swearing.
We don't know.
So i'm done getting tortured
Is basically what you're telling me?
Yeah.
But can jamie do better?
We're about to find out.
Fudge!
Fish!
Lightning!
Hasenpfeffer!
Sure enough, he muddies the icy waters
By going the distance.
Jamie: if you outlast the first test,
That automatically disqualifies you for the second one
Because there's no improvement to be made.
I did, and so i'm out.
Narrator: so we need two replacements for jamie and tory.
Staffers will and yvette both take the test,
And qualify to fill out the quorum.
Now for the pg part of the program,
As adam fits grant with the swear guard.
That's fantastic!
Yeah. okay.
Go do the test. all right.
See you later [bleep]
this will sully grant's image,
But remember -- it's all in the name of science.
[bleeping]
They start to lose meaning after a while.
Oh [bleeping]
Ow!
Okay. aah!
Aah.
Crap!
Will and yvette continue the blue streak.
Then sweet kari steps up,
Primed with words that would shock a longshoreman.
Oh, my god!
[bleeping]
It actually seems to be working
As kari goes on to beat the clock.
[bleep]
And the last one to hope that his mother's not watching
Is adam.
All right, five dirty words.
Here they come.
Now let's see if some cussing makes adam last longer.
Here we go!
3, 2 [bleep]
1.
All right!
[bleep] [bleep]
Oh, my god! [bleep]
Hard to say if the swearing is helping
As adam pulls out at just under a minute.
[bleep] [bleep]
There we go!
[bleep]
[ laughs ]
Oh!
I got to stop! oh!
[bleep]
Once he's tallied the timings,
Jamie rolls out the stats on the swearing.
Everybody was on the plus side. indeed.
And the average increase is 30%.
Wow!
It is incredible.
[bleep] shouting obscenities,
Compared to non-cuss words...
Fish!
...actually increased, on average,
Their tolerance to pain by a whopping 30%.
But remember, kids, like we always say --
Don't try this at home.
[bleep] oh, sweet relief.
So, where do we stand?
Well, let's go down the list.
Number one, the myth
That women have a higher pain tolerance than men.
Turns out to be true. yep.
Number two, the myth that redheads
Have a lower pain tolerance than regular people.
Surprisingly, that's busted.
And finally, the myth
That cursing increases one's tolerance for pain.
That would be confirmed.
While experiencing some of that pain may have sucked,
I'm actually quite pleased with how definitive our results are.
Well, you know what they say.
What? no pain, no gain.
[ laughs ]
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