# How many myths have been "Confirmed" on MythBusters? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 12, 2009, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-myths-have-been-confirmed-on-mythbusters/517301 "2009-11-12T10:00:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-myths-have-been-confirmed-on-mythbusters/517301/1 "2009-11-12T10:00:59Z")
And, as part II, when was the most recent one? I ask because nearly every episode I’ve seen lately has had the myth well and truly busted, and not only that, it seemed highly unlikely that the myth was going to be anything _but_ busted… ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-myths-have-been-confirmed-on-mythbusters/517301/2 "2009-11-12T10:26:52Z")
[http://mythbustersresults.com/](http://mythbustersresults.com/) They get some surprising “confirmed” results. Maybe my favorite was their method for walking by a motion sensor undetected. . . ETA: [Link found](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8vmd3DkzDg). ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-myths-have-been-confirmed-on-mythbusters/517301/3 "2009-11-12T10:39:39Z")
Thanks for the link . ---
**Author:** ![Gustav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/919ad9/32.png) [@Gustav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gustav)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-myths-have-been-confirmed-on-mythbusters/517301/4 "2009-11-12T10:55:39Z")
I would imagine as the show progresses they have to move towards increasingly exotic myths, and it seems natural that the confirmed/busted ratio will creep slowly but steadily towards zero. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-myths-have-been-confirmed-on-mythbusters/517301/5 "2009-11-12T11:13:55Z")
My favourite “Confirmed” was that elephants are afraid of mice. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-myths-have-been-confirmed-on-mythbusters/517301/6 "2009-11-12T13:20:16Z")
> [@Gustav](#): > > I would imagine as the show progresses they have to move towards increasingly exotic myths… Like the one last night about freezing a human head in liquid nitrogen and shattering it T-1000-style? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-myths-have-been-confirmed-on-mythbusters/517301/7 "2009-11-12T13:42:26Z")
> [@](#): > > And, as part II, when was the most recent one? None of the myths in episode 130 (broadcast 11-4-09) were confirmed. But two myths on episode 129 (broadcast 10-29-09) were confirmed: you can put out a grease fire with water if you have a lot of water and you can use a block of hard cheese effectively as a cannonball in some circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-myths-have-been-confirmed-on-mythbusters/517301/8 "2009-11-12T16:42:48Z")
And then there are the ones they aren’t able to duplicate - but which are PROVABLE in real life. The main one I’m thinking of there is the jet engine blowing a car over (which there’s film of, happening in real life). ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-myths-have-been-confirmed-on-mythbusters/517301/9 "2009-11-12T16:48:03Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > And then there are the ones they aren’t able to duplicate - but which are PROVABLE in real life. The main one I’m thinking of there is the jet engine blowing a car over (which there’s film of, happening in real life). They revisited and confirmed that one using an actual plane. ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-myths-have-been-confirmed-on-mythbusters/517301/10 "2009-11-12T17:37:14Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > My favourite “Confirmed” was that elephants are afraid of mice. That’s the one I was going to mention. I was as astonished as the guys were. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-myths-have-been-confirmed-on-mythbusters/517301/11 "2009-11-12T17:38:43Z")
My favorite “Confirmed” was the Escape From Alcatraz. 1. The boat made out of raincoats and contact cement worked. 2. The tides did carry them straight to the beach by the bridge. That doesn’t mean the criminals succeeded. But, it was certainly possible. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-myths-have-been-confirmed-on-mythbusters/517301/12 "2009-11-12T18:19:55Z")
One confirmation that impressed me was the interweaved phone books being virtually impossible to pull apart. And the one where they found that holding a bedsheet up in front of you will fool a motion detector was surprising. Kari, Grant, and Tori were doing it as one of those “let’s get all the silly ideas out of the way first before we go on to the realistic possibilities” and had a completely unexpected confirmation. eta: I see VarlosZ already mentioned the bedsheet one and provided a link as well. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-myths-have-been-confirmed-on-mythbusters/517301/13 "2009-11-12T18:34:43Z")
The bedsheets was easier, but the fluffy yellow costume would have worked if she walked slower, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-myths-have-been-confirmed-on-mythbusters/517301/14 "2009-11-12T18:41:28Z")
And some things have a “busted” that’s really more like a “confirmed” - a surprising result, in other words. They did a little throwaway one on bulls in china shops where they discovered that a bull is actually very agile and will not crash into stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-myths-have-been-confirmed-on-mythbusters/517301/15 "2009-11-12T18:46:16Z")
I kind of enjoyed the duct tape special where it turned out there’s basically nothing you can’t do with duct tape, including a fully functional cannon and a sailboat. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-myths-have-been-confirmed-on-mythbusters/517301/16 "2009-11-12T19:16:31Z")
_MythConfirmers_ wouldn’t be as catchy a name for the show. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-myths-have-been-confirmed-on-mythbusters/517301/17 "2009-11-12T19:23:01Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > And some things have a “busted” that’s really more like a “confirmed” - a surprising result, in other words. They did a little throwaway one on bulls in china shops where they discovered that a bull is actually very agile and will not crash into stuff. Yeah, that one was pretty cool. The bull easily navigated through the tiny aisles of the china shop they created, not touching or breaking a single thing. ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-myths-have-been-confirmed-on-mythbusters/517301/18 "2009-11-12T20:04:18Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Yeah, that one was pretty cool. The bull easily navigated through the tiny aisles of the china shop they created, not touching or breaking a single thing. It really makes sense when you think about it, they are herd animals after all. It’s not like they can say “Step aside, bull coming through!”, and todays cattle is probably bred to be extra nimble due to living in enclosures for hundreds of generations. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-myths-have-been-confirmed-on-mythbusters/517301/19 "2009-11-12T20:23:07Z")
My favorite was the mentos and diet soda eruptions. They kept coming back to that one with improvements and variations. Wasn’t their highest eruption something near thirty feet? ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-myths-have-been-confirmed-on-mythbusters/517301/20 "2009-11-12T20:26:10Z")
The recent grease fire episode confirmed that throwing water on a grease fire can cause a huge fireball. Although that one was kind of hilarious – they tweaked it a bit by saying that the myth was specifically that the fireball would be 30 feet high. I believe this was so that when they did the very first experiment, and the ensuing fireball was about 25 feet high, they were able to say, “Oh, but the myth said 30 feet high! That was not 30 feet; therefore more experimentation is necessary!” Fun to watch, though. I am definitely not complaining. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-myths-have-been-confirmed-on-mythbusters/517301.md?page=2)