MythBusters S2004E03 Sinking Titanic, Goldfish Memory, Trombone Explosion

-Well, there is a myth that says that
if you're on a ship when it's sinking,

it will suck you down with it

-You're telling me that this thing,
when it goes down,

I'm going to go down with it
because it's going to suck me down

-Yeah

-So, what are the prevealing theories
behind the boat sucking me down?

-Well, apparently there are three
and the first one is that air

that mixes in with the water as
it rushes up from the boat

makes the water less dense
so it's like you're going to fall

through the water quicker that way

Uh, the second theory is that the cavities
in the ship will create an area for

the water ​to rush in and that'll
pull you into the ship and then

the third one is that the ship moving
through the water rapidly towards

the bottom will create a vortex above it
kind of like drafting behind a truck when

it's on a highway

-You know, all these theories seem to me
simple enough to actually test

on the shop. I think I could build a small
water rig with a bubbler and some weights

some small boats and we could see all
three these theories right by the shop

-Yeah, but, you know, I still think that
we need a real boat.

People ain't going to get it
unless we do it with a real boat

(music)

-Until they find a suitable boat,
Adam sets out to test the vortex

and bubble density theories on
a small scale

-Well, what I made is a miniature bubbling
rig and we are trying to show whether

or not the ship produces a lot of bubbles
and the bubbles lower the density of water

people sink whereas normally they'd float
or whether it creates a vortex that

pulls things in after it.

This would be the Titanic, this is
a lead weight, it's pretty darn heavy

and let's say that is our person
right there

We are ready

Squat, nothing

-To make this work, Adam has to rethink
his ratios of weight, density and buoyancy

(music)

-Adam is building a rig four feet square
by ten feet high.

They'll then attach an electric winch and
guided wires to hold a special box

that will simulate the action of
a sinking boat

-So right now I'm actually just
finishing up the PVC matrix that will be

our bubbler and hopefully it'll provide us
with a really attractive stream of bubbles

Then I'm going to make a panel for the top
of this box which has a hole on it

so that not only can we test what happens
when you drop a weight in water but

when you drop a weight with an air gap
in it we can see what happens

We are going to fill this
with 25 pound barbell weights

-Encinal High School in Alameda agrees to
host a Mythbusters midsize experiment

The school's diving pool at 12 feet deep
is ideal for the new rig

-Oh, it's a beautiful story

-The plan is to see what specific forces
are in play when a ship sinks

-At this point I really don't know what
is gonna happen with this

You know, my impression is that if you're
floating above a boat as it's going down,

it's not really going to pull you down

-Jamie's pessimistic about the vortex
theory but he's open to the bubbles

creating lower density.
-I don't know if it's going to blow you up

because of all the bubbles going up or
whether the bubbles will make the water

in that area less dense will make you
go down. It'll be interesting to see

This is lead shot

-Water densitity is the key so
they've made a hydrometer, a simple

flotation device that measures the
specific gravity or density of a liquid

-We'll see how much the density of
the water changes by how far this goes up

and down when the water's aerated.
That's perfect

-Experiment one: the bubble test
-A compressor will supply air

to Adam's PVC bubble matrix.
- Okay, I'm going.

-Alright, I'm going to watch it
Oh, that looks cool from here

(laughter)

-It looks like it's going down, yes
-Oh, way down

-Okay, is out of the... looks like someone
is gonna have to get their swim trunks on

-And that's all the encouragement
Adam needed on a warm California day

-Can we blur out the love handles?
-No!

-Be nice to me alright
-Happy with the bubble effect,

their first weight test should determine
if volume makes it easier to be dragged

down

So to get a closer simulation of
a sinking boat the box is positioned on

the surface and loaded with 200 pounds.
They hope the inrush of water

to the empty box will drive
the vortex effect

-Good, go!

-Wow

-I pulled it down
-That was intense

I didn't realize the result
would be so marked

When I'm in the water as the weight
releases I can definitely feel it pushing

this cushion of water out around it as
it's plummeting and I'll tell you

straight up based in what I see here
you'll definitely get sucked down

and I think the bigger the object,
the bigger the suck

-They increased the box weight
to 300 pounds.

-Alright, hydrometer is ready
-Okay, going

-Go

-Nice sound
-Yeah!

-Where's the hydrometer?
(laughter)

-There it is!
(laughter)

-That pretty much says it
-Wow! I mean it went all the way

to the bottom and hanged up
there for a while

-Once again, the box filled rapidly, drop
like a stone and pulled

the hydrometer down entirely

-Hold on, hold on
-Now it's Adam's turn to ride the vortex

-Okay, auch first of all, second of all
you can feel youself in the vortex

as you're going down, I mean
I didn't separate from the box at all,

my buoyancy had no bearing on the matter
I just sunk right with it until

I hit the bottom.
That was intense!

-The pool testing is done and
Adam's up for the real thing

(music)

Meanwhile the search for the ideal
sinkable boat begins among

the Marina's of embarcadero cove
in Oakland, California

This hunt won't be easy,
the boat they need must sink effortlessly

Any vessel too buoyant will be a problem

-Boat was a piece of junk which doesn't
make me feel too bad about sinking it

For a boat this size it's actually got
a fair amount of volume

which it's what we need. It'd be
a perfect boat for us except for the fact

it's wood and I don't think
is going to go down too quick

because wood tipically floats.
We are looking for the largest boat

that we can afford to sink quickly and
that by my mind would have to be

a steel boat

-A heavy steel tugboat catches their eye
but it quickly becomes obvious that this

old hulk is way beyond their needs.
-I think this boat is so perfect for our

Titanic rig that it'd make me cry
if we were able to get it

It does however look like quite a deal
to make it go

-Two boats have already been rejected
as unsuitable but after some

good detective work they find
a very likely candidate.

Another old tug but at nine tons
this one is more suitable

Adam won't be using a scuba so in case
of emergency he has to learn to breath

from another diver's regulator.
-I've been waiting half my life to see

what it feels like to breath underwater
and that's like really cool so

I'm dying to be on that boat when
it goes down like I'm psyched to done that

like I can't wait.

-It's test day and Adam is excited enough
to be up before dawn.

-Good morning, good morning
(laughts)

Well everyone else crapped out I think
we're the only one who's taking

the journey across the bay to deliver our
little tugboat right here.

It's really nice to be on the bay at dawn
as the sun comes up, it's quite beautiful

uh, and our little tug, Mythtanic,
it's handling the trip just fine

should be ready to sink

-Across the bay, the San Francisco drydock
workers are preparing for this

unusual event.

Their skill will help sink the boat and
recover it.

- All my life my dad used to tell me that

if a boat sinks you have to swim away
as quick you can

because you'll be sucked down with it

-The tugboat captain, Greg Urban, knows
this chilly mirky waters and the dangers

they hold

-I'm very interested in seen what happens

I'm glad it's you that's gonna be standing

on deck and not me so

I think you're gonna get suck down with it

-Despite the predictions, Jamie's still
looking on the bright side.

-Well, you know it's a little brisk
this morning but at least is warmer

in the water perhaps.
(laughter)

-Somehow I don't think so

-With all his underwater expertise,
Jamie knows this is risky.

He's enlisted a dive buddy, Shawn Willis,
a professional with 13 years experience

-Tough to estimate what the visibility
will be like, sometimes currents make it

better with the silty bottom often
currents can stir up a little bit worse

so it makes things a little harder,
a little bit more dangerous,

a little bit more complicated.
(music)

-The tug toes the Mythtanic out to the end
of the drydock.

To make salvage as easy as possible,
it'll be sunk right under the shadow

of the big crane.

-Swing it out, swing it out.

Swing it out some more.

-The boat is going to sink,
we are going to find it.

We are going to hook the cables up to it.
We are going to bring it back up.

And we are going to do it again until
we get too cold or too tired to do it.

-Hey Adam, just letting you know,
we've got fivety feet underneath your boat

right now, fivety feet of water.
Very cold water.

-The biggest fear that I've got is Adam's
safety, you know?

We don't really know what is
going to happen with this boat.

Water is murky, it's cold, it's deep.
This is a dangerous stunt that we're doing

And I guess Adam's life is in my hands.

-Adam doesn't wait around as the sea
instantly gushes in.

-You're only opening one valve,
one valve.

-We've got fivety of water in here
right now.

-The main job now is keeping
the sinking ship in reach of the crane.

-We are now above of you guys so
hold on.

-The tug gives the Mythtanic a gentle
nudge into position.

-Two feet, two feet away.
Alright you bump it.

Alright it's... it's going down bro,
it's going down.

-Surprised by the sea's rapid inflow,
Adam bails out early and misses his chance

Time to reflect and rethink the strategy.

(Music)

-Well, we pretty much know where it is.

(Laughter)

-The speed of the sunk was just like
"woosh"

I mean, my job, I know, was to stay
with the boat and feel the suction.

But I swear to God, standing on there,
my body just goes "Move that way!".

(Laughs)

Not that way!

Survival kicked in a critical moment.

-Jamie and Shawn work fourty feet down,
in the dark for thirty minutes to reattach

the salvage lines.

Question is: Are they gain for take two?

-Are you insinuating that I might not have
the "cojones" to follow through...

-I know you got the "cojones" to do it.
I'm only saying...

-Then what was the question?
-Alright!

- I don't... I don't really want to, uh...

I don't think that we are going to see
anything different that we already saw

with that boat. You know? For us to get in
that sweet spot might take us

a half of a dozen tries and all that
represents to me as a lot of work.

But if you want to do it again I just,
you know, it was hard.

-Yeah.

-It's a difficult decision to scuttle
the boat again.

But they need a result.
They resolved to do it with the cables

in place, but slackened.

-We've seen what the boat does,
it's nothing that scary, um...

I feel pretty good about lowering it on
with the cables still attached this time,

because they're so heavy they're just
go down into the water.

-Ok, hold on to that back there.

-This will be their last attempt to tackle
the old Titanic myth.

Would someone in the water be pull down
with the ship?

-You guys watch out for the cables.
Don't get tangled up on the cable.

Be careful!

Stay with it, stay there, stay with it.
There you go.

-Nope

-Did it suck you down in?
(Laughter)

-I didn't see nobody get sucked in.
(Laughs)

-No suction.
-No suction at all, I mean.

I could not have been more central
to the boat when it went down.

I sat on it, the entire boat just dropped
underneath me and...

I hit the water, my neck hit the water and
I never went any lower.

-And what did I say?
-Heck, once again, Hyneman,

you were absolutely right about how
the boat sank, so uh...

I say let's get this puppy back up and
call it a day, I need a drink.

(Laughter)

-So, no vortex with the Mythtanic but how
do they explain the drammatic test

in the swimming pool?

-In our test we used, like, three hundred
pounds and it went down really quickly.

A boat is not build like that.
It's a lot larger surface area.

It didn't go down that fast.

-We know Jamie, I'm going to go out
on the limb here and say....

There is no effect, that myth is busted.

-Yeah, I agree, you know.
I was right there too, I didn't feel it,

I didn't see it, uh, didn't happen.
-You know and with all the rigging

and stuff that are on a normal ship,
there are some very good reasons

to swim away from a boat
that it's going down.

It could pull you down, you get caught
in the rigging...

But none of them involve suction and
I know our boat wasn't as big as one

of these but with a nine ton boat I think
you would have felt something.

- I agree.

Busted

Goldfish memory

-This myth is a pretty laid back one, huh,
Jamie?

-Yeah, the myth says that you can put
a goldfish in a small bowl and

they are okay with it because they are so
stupid that by the time

they make it around the bowl, in like
about three seconds,

they just forgot where they were.

-So what we want to really test here is
what is the memory span

of the averag​e goldfish.

-What I though we'd do is build a maze
and the goldfish will have to be taugh

how to make it through the maze,
and if they can remember that...

We'll know a little bit more of how smart
they are.

-So what you are talking about is not
a goldfish intelligence test

but a Mythbusters intelligence
test as well.

-You can look at it that way.

-One that I think I will win.

-So, the guys want to train goldfish
to swim through a maze.

-Have you heard of the myth that goldfish
only have three seconds of memory?

-Yes, I have. Their brains are pretty
small and it's about two percent

of their body weight so you can figure
that...

they're not going to have much of
a memory.

-Steve, the pet shop guy, has all the fish
and all the accesories

that Mythbus​ters need.
-I think this is definitely the one for me

Jamie, it's the deepsea diver with
the shark.

-This is a thirty eight gallon.

I have the best food for godlfish.

You make sure you have a good water
conditioner.

-Those are perfect. What do we need?
Ten of those?

-Yeah, five.
-Five in each tank?

-Yeah
-Okay.

-It's the easiest sale Steve's ever made.
Two tanks, ten fish and enough supplies

to feed a whale.

(Music)

Jamie and Adam have given themselves
forty five days to train their fish and

bust the myth.
They've each got a tank and each

will devise their own training method.
The competition is heating up.

-I think that I shall be the best trainer.
Purely because of the fact that uh...

training animals requires above all
consistency.

Adam is not a very consistent person.

(Laughs)

-Turns out Jamie has another advange.
He used to own a pet shop and he knows

his fish.

-In addition to his time in the special
forces and being the international whisks

champion and even being a lion owner,
Jamie's probably one of only handful

people in the world who's actually trained
a goldfish to ring a bell.

I don't have anything like that kind of
pedigree with goldfish training regiments.

Oh, look at that!

-I think I'm in fact just going to leave
mine totally uncovered.

-Our win.

-I'm going to kick your goldfish ass.

(Laughs)

-Nearly six weeks since the goldfish
challenge began.

Today all their hard work will be put
to the test.

-Alright.

-Oh look, they see the orange thing.
They want to go for it.

-Jamie appears to have science
on his side.

Studies have shown that goldfish
repeatedly respond to colour

for food rewards.

-Time is starting now.
-They're off and racing.

-Hey guys! Here's your food.

-Come on boys, there you go.

(Music)

- Jamie's school has learned
its lessons well.

(Music)

But Adam's guys... must have been playing
hockey.

-I think it's quite obvious
what's happening...

Or not happening.

They seem to be fascinated with their
reflection on the other end of the tank.

(Laughs)

- Jamie's crew is halfway through
and going swimmingly.

- You know you want it.

Look at them. They are frantic to go
through there.

-Maybe I should give them a compass.

(Music)

-Oh
-Who's to say that luck doesn't play

a part in these things. They're through
the first barrier, but not for long.

-Oh, no no not back.

-There is no backtracking in Jamie's tank.
The first fish is through.

-One minute.

-The rest of the gang isn't far behind,
except one.

-Interesting to note there is one fish
that is the stupidest one.

There is a little red head in back and, uh
he is the skinniest.

(Laughs)

-Adam apparently has two skinny fish.

-I don't understand the total ignorance
of this panel.

It's like this wall doesn't even exist
for him.

-I would say that without a doubt, one
minute to make it through the maze

is a lot quicker than random.

(Music)

-And for Adam's fish?

-Nine minutes.

-Day fourty three of the goldfish memory
test and Adam's still behind.

-Listen, I don't have any work to do
on this experiment.

These fish have a lot of work to do.
(Laughs)

I'm just giving them the framework with
which to prove themselves.

For all goldfish kind.

-Adam just got stupid fish.
What are you going to do?

-Alright boys, are you ready?

(Adam whistles)

(Music)

-Meanwhile, Jamie's A students are lining
up at the gate.

-They're looking perky this morning.

He's going for it.

-The starting gun has sounded.

Jamie's looking to go under sixty seconds.

-Oh, oh, oh yay. That was, let's see...
twenty five seconds. It's a record!

They were like definitely "Boof".
Way to go guys.

-Mine are eating their own poo.
(Jamie laughs)

-Well, they seem healthy for all that.

-I know everybody's going to take me to
tasks for wasting these fish's time.

Hey! They're both on the second chamber.

Oh! They go back!

(Laughter)

-Can they remember for three seconds?
I'd bager you bet and a lot more.

-George Barlow, from the University
of California Berkeley,

is a professor of integrated biology and
a big fan of goldfish..

-I guess there's some debate about this.
Does condition behavior actually quallify

as memory?
-Sure. Any task that you can, in quotes,

teach to an animal and then retest later.
You have a very objective way of

evaluating whether it remembered it.

From what you've told me I would say, yeah
you have blown away the myth that

they can only remember for three seconds.

-And one of the purported reasons behind
the myth is so that people

who keep godlfish in small bowls
don't feel so bad,

Do you think that it's actually cruel
to keep goldfish in a bowl like that?

-Well, we'll never know.

Adolf Hitler thought it was cruel to keep
goldfish in a bowl because

there was no corner for them in which
to hide and had a law made prohibiting

the use of bowls for goldfish.

But I think in general just an awful
lot of fish kept in aquaria are bored.

(Music)

-Okay guys...

I got awake this morning.

-Jamie is confident his fish are drawing
on all their memory cells.

It's the final day. Day fourty five.

Will they find their food faster?

-Okay, let's go.
-Alright, timer's starting.

-There we go. We're going through one.

Now go back through.

(Music)

Oh, they're looking like
they're going to do it...

-Twenty seconds.
-Oh they've lost the record.

-Twenty five seconds.

-There we go.
Almost.

-Thirty five seconds.
Come on handsome.

There it comes.

-There we go.

-Not bad at all. Fourty seconds.
-Fourty seconds.

I think that judging by what I'm seeing
that that's probably the threshold,

plus or minus thirty seconds
to get through.

And and thirty seconds is pretty good to
make it through four holes.

It's clear that they have learned and it's
clear that they do in fact have a memory

longer than three seconds.

-Absolutely. I...I mean, I'm impressed
how fast that is you know my fish

on average sort of randomly take between
like three and twenty minutes...

To get to their food.
I mean, you guys definitely know

what's going on.

Myth busted.

(Laughter)

-Thanks Adam.
(Adam laughs)

-Alright. Good night fish.

-See, is that kind of behavior that
screwed him up.