MythBusters (2003–…): Season 8, Episode 4 - Bottle Bash - full transcript

Remember, do not try anything
you are about to see at home.

Ugh!

On this episode
of "Mythbusters"...

Adam and Jamie get feisty
with a bar-fight fable.

What's the matter,
old man?

Been too long since
your last bar fight?

...they want to know
if an empty beer bottle

really does more damage
than a full one.

God, that is nasty!

Meanwhile...

You have to massage the leather.
Makes a better cannon.



...in a ballistic-material
mystery from history...

Fire!

Is this
where the legs were?

...Kari, Grant, and Tory
take on the tall tale

of the Swedish
and Irish cannons...

Whoo-hoo!
Let's go to battle!

...made from leather.

Who are the Mythbusters?

Adam Savage...

...Here comes chaos!
... Bye-bye!

...and Jamie Hyneman.

I call it
my little pop gun.

Between them, more than 30 years
of special-effects experience.

Joining them... Kari Byron...



Explosives and electricity.
Whoo!

...Tory Belleci...

This is
your big chance.

...and Grant Imahara.

Now for something
completely gratuitous.

They don't just tell the myths.

They put them to the test.

We're not gonna
have to start drinking

in the middle of the day
again, are we?

Luckily, no. This is not a myth
about getting drunk.

It's a myth
about what happens

after you've
already gotten drunk

and gotten yourself
into a bar fight.

And the myth is that getting hit
with an empty bottle

is worse for you than getting
hit with a bottle that's full.

Allow me to demonstrate.

No silver-screen
bar-fight scene is complete

without one.

However, unlike the movies,

in real life, a bottle bash
is extremely dangerous.

How dangerous?

Well, award-winning
forensic scientists

list skull fractures...

...concussions,
and scalp lacerations...

...among the possible injuries.

They also conclude
that an empty-bottle smash

will do more damage.

But is this really possible?

Could a lighter, empty bottle

really harm you
more than a heavier, full one?

So, how do you want
to test this one?

Fake bottle.
Don't do this at home.

No, seriously, how are you
thinking we should test this?

Exactly like that,
but with real bottles.

Except with
head protection.

We'll have a closer look at what
kind of forces are involved.

Okay.

So, let the bar fight commence.

Even though after a few beers

it might seem like a good idea

to hit somebody over the head
with a beer bottle,

it's probably not.

Nevertheless, we feel inclined

to get up close and personal
in our testing.

And that's where this comes in.

This is a football helmet
outfitted

with a specially designed array
of accelerometers

that will register
any movement of our skull

and help us determine whether a
full versus an empty beer bottle

is more harmful.

Plus it's a nice excuse

for me to hit Adam over the head
with a bottle,

which I regularly want to do.

You ready?

You know, before I put this on
and take some hits to the head,

let's put this
on a non-human analogue

just to make sure it's safe,

see what kind of forces are involved.
... Okay.

He's ready.

I'm ready.

We're ready.

Okay.
Safety-systems check.

Wow.

Uh, that's not
what happens in the movies.

Now, it seems like

these are a lot harder to break
than we thought.

And I think that's because
of a couple of main reasons.

What's the matter, old
man? Been too long since your last bar fight?

One is, in the movies,
you're always seeing people

smack each other over
the head with bottles,

and the bottles
break fairly easily.

Well, those are fake bottles.
It's the movies.

And, number two, who among us

hasn't dropped
and broken bottles?

They seem quite fragile.

But the fact is they're not.
They're actually built to ship.

They're built to last.

And when you look at shots
like this...

This... and this...

It's pretty clear these things
are tougher than they look.

Adam, however,
is as tough as he looks...

...Ow, ow.
... not very.

So, when our expert
crunches the numbers...

That was about 107 G's.

...the experiment
takes a safer turn.

And about 100 G's

is the average concussion
that we see in the field.

I don't think I'm gonna
be wearing that helmet today.

I don't blame you.

The helmet, doing what
it was designed to do,

was flexing on impact,

absorbing energy

and making it difficult
to break the bottle.

Cue our hard-headed
head stunt man

with his crown of data-
collecting accelerometers.

Huh. Well, there you go.

Did you get a reading?

Yeah, it's about 54 G's.

Awesome!

Awesome.

But one data point
does not a sample make.

So, in a frenzy
of beer and broken glass...

33.

...Hard Man Hyneman
smashes away...

11 G's.

...until he's satisfied
with a sample set of seven...

34.

...which yields an average
of 28 G's.

Awesome! Let's continue
with an empty bottle.

Remember, the myth is that
an empty bottle, when smashed,

is more damaging
than the full.

Are you peeing?

No.
... Okay.

It's the comparison
that's the key.

Okay, here we go.
Empty beer bottle.

And as the numbers come in,

it's clear that comparison
does not favor the myth.

13 G's.

So, it's about 11 G's.

Less G's-force to the head
from the empties

appears to indicate they do
less damage than the full ones,

but Adam's got an issue
with the experimental design.

In general, the data
seems to support the idea

that it's not looking
very good for the myth,

but we're seeing huge variances
in the "G's" load on this guy,

depending
on how hard Jamie swings,

which is very hard to control.

Clearly, moving forward,

we're gonna need to remove
the variance of the human arm

and go with
a mechanical solution

to solving this problem.

All right, Kari, what do
these things have in common?

Okay, creamer, cheese,

leather chicken, duct tape,
and a steel pipe?

Saturday night
at Adam Savage's house?

Very close. No.

Saturday night
at Jamie Hyneman's house?

No. Cannon.

Okay, I get everything
but the leather.

Well, that's the next myth... we
are gonna try to build a cannon

out of nothing but leather.

...O-kay. Really?
... Absolutely.

In the 17 th century,

King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden
came up with the idea.

It was a copper core
with iron bands reinforcing it,

mastic fabric,

and, finally, the entire thing
was wrapped in leather.

That's not a leather cannon.
That's a cannon covered in leather.

But wait. There's more.

Later that century at the
siege of Ballygally Castle,

Irish troops
actually built a cannon

using nothing
but leather.

It was about 5 feet long
and about 5 inches thick.

Leather cannon.
I like it.

The Mythbusters and cannons

have a long and explosive
history.

Ho ho ho! I think
we killed Captain Kirk!

There was
a cheese-firing cannon...

A cannon made from
duct tape...

And, not to mention,

the famous cannon
that fired chicken.

So, who better

to get to the bottom
of this mystery of history?

Did the Swedes and Irish

really make a viable
and effective cannon

from cow skin?

So, my leather man,
what's the plan?

Well, we definitely need
to build both versions,

Swedish and Irish,
but before we do that,

I think we need a benchmark.
... What do you mean?

Well, we've built proven concept cannons before,
like the duct-tape cannon,

but those weren't
weapons of war.

I mean, we need something that
can compete on the battlefield.

So, we need to compare it
to a cast-iron period cannon.

Exactly... we'll find out
how much black powder they used

and how fast the projectiles
come out.

Yeah, and then, on those specs,
we'll be able to judge

how well our two cannons
are doing.

I like it.

So, first up,
it's down to the bomb range

to get the lowdown
on period-accurate hardware

from period-accurate experts.

Wow!
- This is Bonnie Blue.

The Confederates tended
to name their cannon.

Yeah, we have a tendency
to do that, too.

Let's get her off the truck
and fire it up!

We're at the Alameda County
bomb range,

where we're about to fire off
a Civil War period cannon

known as the parrot gun.

Yeah. That looks good.

Now, the myth that
we're working on says

that the Irish and the Swedish
created a leather cannon.

Now, this cannon's
appro ximately the same size

and fires appro ximately
the same-size ammunition

as the leather cannons.

You know it's go time when
Grant's got his game face on.

It's go time!

So, we're going to
fire this off,

check the muzzle velocity,
and use that

as a yardstick against the ones
that we want to build.

Look at that. Perfect.

If this doesn't stop
a cannonball,

I don't know what will.

How about a stack
of Union soldiers?

Meanwhile,
Grant is getting set up

to measure
what old Bonnie Blue can do.

As you know, on our show we love
to use the high-speed camera,

'cause it gives us
all these juicy, gorgeous shots

of things that happen
in a blink of an eye.

But today it's going to
be a scientific tool.

Come on. Let me show you.

So, we've aimed the high-speed
camera at this scale,

which is set up
next to the cannon.

It has one-foot increments.

Given a known frame rate, we can
count how many frames it takes

for a cannonball
to cross one of the increments.

And that would give us
the cannonball's speed,

which will form the benchmark

for how well our Swedish
and Irish cannons perform.

Hit it!

Okay.
Let's talk black powder.

Firing off the cheese cannon...

maybe this much black powder.

Clear.

Duct-tape cannon...
maybe this much.

...Go ahead.
... Hit it.

And when we blew off
Buster's leg, maybe that much.

...Good?
... Hit it.

This is 6 ounces
of black powder.

That is what we'll be firing
in our parrot gun.

Gun is loaded.

All right.
Muzzle velocity test.

On your go!

3...

2...

1... clear.

...Ohh!
... Ohh!

Yeah! Good shot!

That thing split it!

Look at that!

...Ohh! Bull's-eye!
... It is!

Nice shot!

So, the whole point
of today's experiment

was not to find out
whether that cannon fires.

We know it does.

The point was to find out
how fast a real cannon

could fire a cannonball
of the same size

that the Swedish and Irish
leather cannons

were supposed to have fired.

Okay, I believe
we have 389 miles per hour.

And we have that answer...
389 miles per hour.

So, that's the benchmark.

If the team can get
their mythical leather cannon

to fire that fast,

there could be some fact
to this historical fable.

What we need, then,
is some kind

of mechanical
bottle-bashing rig

and a setup that helps us
compare the injuries.

It's like
a bar-fight robot.

Okay, well,
you get started on that,

and I'll go talk
to the neuro guy

and see what kind of injuries
we're looking for on heads.

Okay.

So, while Adam builds a rig

to bash brains
with rigorous regularity...

...Jamie talks
to a bashed-brain expert.

So, what exactly happens
in a concussion?

A concussion is when you
transfer a force, external,

through the skull
to the brain.

Think of the skull
as a bo x,

and you've got
the brain inside

that has the consistency
of jell-o.

This is your brain.

I'm about to turn it
into a jell-o mold.

Here we go.

There we go...
one gelatin brain mold.

When a concussion occurs

and force is delivered
to the skull itself,

the skull moves relative
to the brain.

Brain stays in one place, and
the skull moves against it.

That can bruise the brain
that's hitting the skull,

and it can actually damage
the brain opposite that.

Oh, what am I doing?

I'm making gelatin brains.

What are you doing?

It's all a function
of force, Jamie.

It's how much energy

is transmitted
to the skull and to the brain

that determines
how severe the concussion is

or how much injury there is
to the brain.

There we go!

That's what I'm thinking!

It sounds like
the bottom line

is that whatever kind of blow
moves the head more violently

is what's gonna cause
more of a concussion, right?

Absolutely.

All right,
the whole purpose of this rig

is to precisely, and
at the same speed every time,

swing a beer bottle
into our model head

to see if we get a concussion
or how bad a concussion we get.

So, first, the arm is held
in tension by this spring.

The vise grip here
holds on to the beer

until it swings into the head.

So, we release the pin,

and the arm swings around
all the way to the head.

Here's the head on the neck,

weighing roughly
about the same as a human head.

Hold on, let me add
the pi?ce de r?sistance...

a nice gelatin brain.

Now, we'll watch this
on the high-speed.

We'll see
the brain bounce around.

And if we can see a difference

in how much the head moves
and the brain bounces around,

we might be able
to tell something

about the kind of concussion
you'll get

when someone breaks a bottle
over your head.

But before
the brain-bashing begins,

Adam needs to know

exactly how fast
he needs to swing his bottles

to ensure they break.

For that, he's got
a smaller version of the rig...

And a pig.

Here's the experimental setup.

I'm gonna take these bottles

and twhack this pig right
in the brain until they shatter.

This arrow right here and the
high-speed camera above it

will tell me the exact speed
at which these bottles shatter,

both full and empty.

This is gross science in action

in 3, 2, 1.

Awesome!

Gross but awesome.

It's a horror movie, all right.

But throughout
the violence of the hams...

This is for the money
right here, all right?

...Adam gets enough hits...

That has to hurt.

...with full
and empty bottles...

Success!

...to get a good idea
of the speed they need

for a guaranteed smash.

And that speed turns out
to be about 50 feet per second,

or 34 miles per hour.

So, now that they can calibrate

the big rig's swing speed,

Jell-O Head is ready
to take one for the team.

Kari, Grant, and Tory

are delving deep
into ballistics history

to uncover the mystery of
two cannons made in a tannery.

We're trying to replicate
two historical cannons,

both referred to
as "leather cannons. "

The first one
is the Swedish cannon.

It's got a copper core tube

that's wrapped in some iron
bands and some other stuff

and basically has
a leather veneer.

The second canon
is the Irish cannon.

This is from the early 1700s.

And, now, this one is a more
authentic leather cannon,

if you ask me.

This one's entirely
made out of leather.

With the hide soaked
to make it more malleable,

it's time to focus
on the first of the builds.

Guess which one it is?

It's a new dance.
It's called "Directing Traffic. "

So, here's how you build

an authentic 17 th-century,
all-leather Irish cannon...

paint on the glue...

Insert a one-inch-thick plug
at the back end...

Roll the hide
around a steel form...

Hopefully, this
is gonna be strong enough

to withstand
exploding black powder.

...laminate enough layers
to ensure

a one-inch-thick barrel
with a five-inch diameter...

Is it just me,
or does our bad-ass cannon

look more like
a hot dog?

...tie it off
and wait for it to dry.

It's not the prettiest thing,
but I think it'll work.

That's what they said
when they hired me.

With the Irish cannon
wrapped up and ready to blow,

Grant, in a more culturally
sensitive fashion than Tory,

is going to
give us the background

on the Swedish cannon.

Now, in the 1600s in Europe,

everybody had pretty much
the same design for a cannon...

giant, cast-iron.

Unfortunately, these cannons

were incredibly heavy
and cumbersome,

and it took several men
and several horses

just to move them into position.

Along came the king of Sweden,
King Gustavus Adolphus ll,

who had a brand-new idea
for an army,

an army
that was incredibly mobile

that could deploy quickly.

He threw out
this idea of a cannon

and came up with something

that was lighter
and more portable.

Now, in truth,
there wasn't much leather

in a Swedish leather cannon.

In fact, it had a thin-walled
copper tube for its barrel...

It's your basic
sawed-off leather cannon.

...with a brass plug
on the end.

That was covered
with several layers

of canvas soaked in mastic.

What the heck is mastic?
Well, it's a type of resin.

Now, we don't have mastic,

but what we do have
is a two-part epo xy resin.

On top of that were four
iron bands to reinforce it.

Then more canvas and mastic.

They'd paint another layer.
That way, it gets embedded.

And when it hardens,
it's gonna be very strong.

And, finally, on the top,
was leather.

Now, it was called
a leather cannon,

but, in fact, it was a hybrid.

It had a metal barrel.

The important thing is that
it was lightweight and mobile.

Mobile, you say?

Well, with these wheels,

they can roll on
down to the bomb range...

Charge! Whoo-hoo!

...where we'll find out
whether these mythical cannons,

built to spec,
could have really worked.

Okay, here we go.

One full-beer-bottle
concussion test

in 3, 2, 1.

It looks great.

Seems to work.

Except it doesn't.

A look at the high-speed...

...Whoa!
... Wow!

...confirms
the beer isn't clear.

The problem is,
the beer is obstructing

our ability
to see the brain.

...Yeah.
... Isn't that always the way?

So the way to go
is carbonated H20.

We're ready.
Let's do it.

Full-beer-bottle
concussion test...

3, 2, 1.

Didn't break.

...High-speed.
... High-speed.

Wow.

That's a lot of force.

You see how the skull moves

and then the brain's in one place.
... Yeah.

Hits the side of the skull
on the front side.

And then look at that...

the brain's going
completely to the opposite.

Oh, wow. Look at the waves
inside the jell-o.

That's what happens
in real life.

The full-bottle hit

clearly falls
into the "not good" category.

Another wasted beer.

Cue the empty-bottle
comparison.

Somewhere,
kittens are crying.

What do you think
is gonna happen, buddy?

Really?

No, I never
saw it that way before.

Okay.

...You ready for the empty bottle?
... Ready.

All right, empty-bottle
concussion test...

3, 2, 1.

I don't even need
to see the high-speed.

I can tell by looking at the
guy's face that he's messed up.

Sure, he's not a pretty sight,

but he's actually
a lot better off

than he was after the last test.

The lateral movement of the
skull is significantly reduced

with the empty bottle.

Boy, there's nowhere
near the amount of head movement

relative to brain.

So, it is moving around,

but not near as much as it was
with the full bottle.

Yeah.

Yeah, you're delivering
less force with an empty bottle,

no question.
... Awesome.

That's, like,
a result.

Let's put the two
up next to each other

on the screen just like that.

Okay, now play.

Look at that!
It couldn't be clearer.

The full bottle is far worse.

That's another headache

for this forensic-science
inspired myth.

So far, Adam and Jamie
have yet to see a sign

that an empty bottle,
when smashed,

can cause more damage.

But they're not done yet.

The additional mass
in a full bottle

does seem to impart more energy
to a target skull

when it's broken over it,

and that can lead
to a concussion,

but we're talking
about head injury here.

And so that could
also be skull fractures.

It could be skin lacerations.

So we're gonna have
a close look at those, too.

Buddy, remember that time
I built the machine

to swing bottles of beer
at your head?

No, you don't!

Mmm.
That's a delicious memory.

Now what we're gonna do is test
out the Swedish leather cannon,

in which most of the metal
of the barrel has been replaced

by other materials
to make it lighter.

Whoo-hoo!
Let's go to battle!

Then we'll move on
to the Irish leather cannon,

which it's all leather.

All right, folks,
what I have here

is 6 ounces of black powder.

This is what we're gonna be
using to propel our cannonball.

Now, when we fired
the parrot gun,

it was traveling
at 389 miles per hour.

That is fast,
the same amount of energy...

it would be like hitting

a baseball
going 1,200 miles per hour.

Folks, this is something
you do not want to play with.

So, with a firm grip on
the explosive potential involved

and all of
the technical jargon...

Okay, where's
the pokey stick?

...the team lock and load.

Venting!

All right, loaded.

Okay, gonna go hot.

...You ready?
... I'm ready.

Fire in the hole!

This is Swedish cannon
in 3...

2, 1.

...Yeah!
... Yeah!

Look at that!
It worked!

Or did it?

Now, when we came out here,

some of us thought that
this was going to shoot off like a cannon,

some of us thought
it might explode.

It pretty much did both.

Holy crap!
Look at this.

It just completely
blew out the back end.

Well...

One-shot wonder.

We actually had the cannonball
shoot out of one end

while the end bits
shot out the other.

It's not looking too good.

But a quick assessment
of the targets,

and the team
are much more positive.

Hey, it did the job,
come on.

Give it up
for the Swedish cannon!

It didn't make it
through the sandbags,

but it did make it through
the second barrel.

And once
the numbers are crunched,

it gets even more interesting.

So, we tested our Swedish cannon

with the same-size and -weight
cannonball,

the same amount of black powder.

I'm getting 667 feet per second,

which is over 450 miles an hour.

That's 50 miles an hour
faster

than our parrot gun.
... What?!

And I've got to say...
it's performance

was equal to
or a little bit better

than the all-metal cannon.

It had a muzzle velocity
that was higher.

Maybe it was a tighter pack,

so, that way, it shot the ball
faster... who knows?

We only missed the "x"
by that much.

Minor problem...
we blew out the breach.

But bear in mind,
this was our first attempt

to make this type of cannon.

I'm sure the Swedish didn't
get it right the first time.

So as far
as a battlefield weapon,

the Swedish cannon
had superior maneuverability

with very good accuracy.

Unfortunately,
longevity could be a problem.

And as it turns out,
historically, it was.

So, in the context

of the parrot-rifle
performance benchmark,

the lightweight hybrid cannon
matched up,

which just leaves
the Irish question.

The wheels came off.
Good sign.

So, we've got 6 ounces
of black powder...

...All right, ready to load?
... Black powder.

...a 3-pound cannonball...

Ooh.
That's nice and tight.

...and a barrel that's
one inch thick of leather.

You add all that up,
I think you're gonna get "boom. "

All right, everybody,
clear muzzle from now on.

This whole idea of building
a cannon out of leather,

it's absurd.

Run away!
Loaded!

But, I mean,
if you're desperate

and that's the only material
you have available to you,

I guess, sure, why not try it?

But, I mean,
we know how powerful

exploding black powder is.

Come on,
Irish leather cannon!

All right, this is
Irish leather cannon. Ready?

The forces involved... I mean,
is a one-inch wall of leather

gonna be enough to contain it

in order to launch
this cannonball?

Fire in the hole!

I'm very curious
to find out.

My feeling is
it's probably not gonna work.

...2, 1.

Aah!

Whoa!

Nice!

Aah! Aah!

Look what happened!
Look where the cannonball is.

It's like two feet
in front of it. Bink!

It was more dangerous
to be behind this cannon

than in front of the cannon.

Yep, it's pretty clear

the Irish cannon
failed on all counts.

The back end blew out,

and even with modern glue,
the barrel untraveled,

so the guys
can't even try again.

What we were looking for
for this myth to be confirmed

was very simple... lethality.

Say the Irish were fighting
leprechauns, it might be lethal.

Look at how far
the cannonball went.

We tested the parrot rifle
and the Swedish leather cannon.

And with
the same-size cannonball

and the same amount
of gunpowder,

they were able
to launch the ball

at 350 to 450 miles per hour.

Now, as far as the
Irish leather cannon goes...

...I can't call that lethal.
... No.

...with the best
available information,

built to those specifications,

this one is busted.

But that does not mean
we're gonna end here.

We are gonna see what it would
take to build a working cannon

out of nothing but leather.

It might not be possible,
but we're gonna try.

But what about other types
of head trauma?

What about a skull fracture?

To find out, Jamie...

That's what
I'm talking about.

...is taking a piece
of pig skull...

7 millimeters.

Same thickness
as a human skull.

...to calibrate and manufacture
a polyurethane plastic

that fractures in exactly
the same way as a human skull.

Pulled from the pan
while pliable,

he forms it into shape
before it hardens.

We've got the base,

and we've got this insert
that goes over this cavity.

And when we hit it
with a beer bottle like so,

if we get a fracture,

we know that we would have
fractured a real skull.

To get a realistic mass,

Jamie adds a brain's weight
of ground beef.

That's it. 6 pounds.

Meanwhile,
Adam has built a bar

for the soon-to-break-out
bar fight...

Welcome to the
"Mythbusters" Bar.

Can I interest you
in an empty beer?

...which means Meat Head,
with his inability to duck,

is about to get a headache.

Mr. Hyneman says it's time
to bash some heads in

and chew some gum.

And he's fresh out of gum.

Take it away.

Okay, skull-fracture rig

in 3, 2, 1.

All hell broke loose.

We've got broken bottles,
we've got broken head,

and meat spilling out
all over the place.

Adam's no doctor,

but "broken head"
and "meat spilling out"

is a fairly accurate
diagnosis.

Oh, man! That is...

it's clearly
shattered the skull.

Totally shattered the skull.
The rig worked.

Yep, Meat Head
did us proud, huh?

All we need now is to try this
with an empty bottle.

Yep.

More data!

More data,
with a side of sampling

and a comparative-observation
salad coming right up.

Empty bottle of beer
coming right up.

Buddy, we're gonna do this
at least one more time,

and if it's any consolation,
it's gonna hurt you

a lot more
than it's gonna hurt me.

When you're ready.

Empty bottle
into skull-fracture rig.

3, 2, 1.

Now, that's what
I'm talking about. 1.

Now you've broke it!

That's why we can't have
nice things!

Nose fracture.

No fracture
on the skull.

The whole purpose of
this experiment is to figure out

if it's worse to get a full
bottle broken over your head

or an empty bottle
broken over your head.

Personally, I want neither.

But if I had to choose,

especially when it comes
to skull fractures,

like this test here,

the full bottle delivered

more damaging skull-fracturing
force than the empty bottle.

But we're not done
for, upon closer examination,

Jamie and I note
many lacerations

in the skull of this meat head.

And we wonder, perhaps
in the area of lacerations,

an empty bottle might be worse
than a full bottle.

We don't know,
so we're gonna stretch some skin

over one of these heads

and start hitting that
with broken bottles. Yeah!

Down at the bomb range,

the myth
of the Irish all-leather cannon

took a hiding.

I just can't
call that lethal.

No. I mean,
that's pathetic.

But our team of tanners
aren't done yet.

They've set themselves
the challenge

of building
an effective, viable cannon

from nothing but cowhide.

You have to massage the leather.
Makes a better cannon.

Actually, what makes
a better leather cannon

is attention to detail.

And this time around,
the team is going all out

to iron out the issues
from its last outing.

All right, so, one thing
we figured out the other day

when we fired off
our pure-leather cannon...

when the ball came out,

it actually delaminated
the inside of the cannon.

So what I'm doing right now is
scraping up this leather enough

so that the glue will bite down
on this leather,

and it'll stay together when
we fire off the next cannon.

So, just like
everything else on this cannon,

we're beefing it up,
so to speak.

This is our super breach plug.

Made out of 42 layers
of leather.

This is gonna get rolled
into the cannon.

Charge goes here.
Cannonball goes here.

When we set it off, hopefully
it goes like "ba-boom,"

and that like "ba-boing. "

Now I'm working
on the breach section.

And what I have done
is take the same cowhide,

cut it down
to 2-inch-wide strips.

I'm putting on the contact
cement on both sides,

and then I'm laying
those strips lengthwise

around the back end
of the cannon.

This is gonna strengthen up
our breach area.

So, that way,
it is strong enough

to withstand the explosion
of black powder

in order to get
our cannonball to launch.

With the back end
sufficiently built up, glued,

and beaten into submission,

the team is optimistic
about their chances of success.

This is the blast chamber,

and we're talking
about a 12-inch diameter.

Not only that, but the breach

has been reinforced
with so many straps

that we have about that much
holding up the back end.

I think there might be
a possibility

that we've made ourselves
a working leather cannon.

Now, I have
a few finishing touches...

Just to, you know,
give it a little bit of beauty.

So, under a veil of secrecy,

our material girl

applies her fashionable
finishing touches.

Then it's back down
to the bomb range...

drumroll, please...

...for the big reveal.

I was getting bored with
the plain, old leather cannon,

since we did so many.

I thought, why not...

...jazz it up
a little but?

It's a designer cannon!

Wow. That's crazy.

That is funny.

You just pimped
this cannon out.

It looks the business,
but can it pack the punch...

a 6-ounce black-powder punch?

When we ignite this,
it's gonna expand

to three 55-gallon drums of gas.

That's a lot of energy,

and that is what's gonna fire
our ball out of our cannon.

Or blow our cannon up.
Either way, it's gonna be cool.

If I'm gonna be testing
what happens to someone's scalp

when they're hit over the head
with a bottle,

I need a suitable
scalp analogue.

And to find it,
"Dr. Franken-Hyn-Eman"

figures out some scalp
attributes he wants to emulate.

That's moving about the
same as the skin over my skull.

Poked through at 2.43 pounds.

This is very sort of fibrous.

Next, he finds
the artificial materials

with those physical attributes.

A vinyl epidermis
absorbent subcutaneous layer

and of course blood...
lots of blood.

Oh, no.
I have blood everywhere.

It all comes together

in a disturbingly accurate
analogue of human skin.

The epidermis
goes on it like so.

And when I cut it,

with any luck,
it's gonna bleed.

And with that...

There you go.

...our fake-skinned Meat Head

is ready
to take one for the team.

Let the lacerations
begin.

Laceration test
with a full beer bottle.

3, 2...

God, that is nasty!

...1!

Uh-oh!

Oh, there's definitely
some cuts there.

Yep.

Oh, it bleeds. Nasty.

Nasty.

And if it was needed,
a further graphic illustration

of how dangerous it is
to use a bottle as a weapon.

Just put that there, and
we'll put the other one there.

And we know that
that's our full bottle,

and we'll compare it to the empty one.
... Okay.

Okay, here we go.

Laceration test...

empty beer bottle
into our meat buster.

3, 2, 1.

A successful smash.

And, as with the full bottle,

it's immediately obvious
damage was done.

I like my fake skin.

It's nice fake skin.

And an up-close comparison
sees very little difference

in the damage to that skin
between the two tests.

I don't know about you,
but I look at these,

and they look pretty much
equivalent to me.

You know, give or take
a nick or two, it's the same.

Yeah.

The original myth
is that having an empty bottle

broken over your head
is worse for you

than having a full bottle
broken over your head.

Well, from our testing, from
the standpoint of your brains,

it's not true.

You'll get
a much worse concussion

from a full bottle
than an empty one.

And also from our testing,

on bones,
the full bottle is also worse.

It's much more likely
to cause a skull fracture

than an empty bottle.

Now, with the
skin-laceration test,

actually, for the first time,
they're about even.

But that still
doesn't make the statement

that the empty bottle is worse
supportable.

So it's still not looking
very good.

In fact,
I'd almost say it's busted.

O- kay, the myth
that it's worse to have

an empty bottle broken over
your head than a full bottle.

Let's recap where we stand

from the standpoint of your brains.
... It's busted.

From the standpoint
of your skullbone.

Also busted.

From the standpoint
of your skin.

No difference.

...Well, you know where that leaves this myth.
... Busted.

Totally busted.

Kari, Grant, and Tory
are about to find out

if leather
can be a lethal cannon.

This is our target...
we have a barrier of milk

backed by a triangulation
of three water barrels.

Why milk?

Well, because it's gonna look
really cool on high-speed

when our cannonball
crashes into it.

And speaking of high-speed,

with the aid of the high-speed
and this scale here,

we're going to be able to catch
the velocity of the ball

and see if it matches
our parrot gun.

And finally, here we have
our designer-inspired

ultimate, completely reinforced,
100%- genuine leather cannon.

If only the Irish
had something this stylish

at the siege
of Ballygally Castle,

well, who knows if the cannon
would've exploded?

But at least
they'd be fighting in style.

However, it's not style,

but performance substance
that ultimately matters.

Remember,
the benchmark we're using

is the parrot rifle's
muzzle velocity

of 389 miles per hour.

Plus, it has to be capable
of multiple, successful firings.

Oh, man, this is the prettiest
cannon I ever seen.

Kari has disguised
our cannon as a purse.

All it needs now is Jamie's
favorite slippery solution.

I saw this
on "Dirty Jobs" once.

...Really?
... Yeah.

Except for it was a cow,
wasn't it?

...Yeah, whatever.
... Don't worry, Betsy.

So, why are we lubing up
the barrel?

Well, the last time we tried
the Irish leather cannon,

built to
historical specifications,

the cannonball had a difficult
time getting out of the barrel,

and it delaminated
the innermost layer.

We don't want that
to happen this time.

So we're adding lube,

and hopefully, it'll come
shooting right out the end.

...You in?
Yep.

...That's it.
... Okay.

Let's do it.

I think we have a very
good chance... 80% at least.

The other 20% is "it explodes. "

So, it's time to find out
if the bling leather cannon...

Can.

Here we go.

Designer-inspired cannon.

3, 2, 1.

Whoo!

It worked!

100% leather!
We should fire that again!

...And it didn't blow up!
... Whoo! We did it!

We made
a leather cannon!

Yeah!

The reaction says it all.

We made a leather cannon,
and it worked!

From back behind
the blast shields,

the test looks to be a success,

but up close, the evidence
begins to contradict

their initial reaction.

Punched through the carton,
no problem.

...Here.
... Hey!

Unlike the parrot rifle,

which easily punched
through two water barrels,

the leather cannon only
just pierced the milk carton.

You're definitely gonna give
somebody a bruise with that.

A lethality assessment

that's backed up by the numbers
from the high-speed.

...So, I've got 52.5 miles per hour.
... Wow.

You could drive faster

than that cannonball
came out of the cannon.

Yeah, but, look, it was
entirely made out of leather.

...I think that's awesome.
... That is awesome.

The less-than-lethal
muzzle velocity

was caused
by what is the final nail

in the leather-cannon coffin...

the delamination of the barrel

and deformation
of the combustion chamber.

And that can only mean
one thing.

It looked like it was gonna
be plausible for a second there,

but if you can only get
one shot out of it,

I think this one's busted.

Busted.

But, man!
What a way to go out!

That's looking cool.

At least we got
one good shot out of it.

Leather...
it's good for fashion,

not good for artillery.