Sonic Boom Glass Test - Mythbusters - S05 EP22 - Science Documentary

on this episode of Mythbusters ready hit it  gear up your ears it kind of wakes you up in the morning and button up your bulletproof vest  protecting for two you see because there's Guns Galore and Big Audio Dynamite first Adam  and Jamie ask can a sonic boom break glass fire up a film Fable to find  out if you can Ben Lewis so Duck and Cover because this is going to be fast stay with us who are The MythBusters Savage I'm ready to go  man and Jamie heinle it's like a wet t-shirt contest between

them more than 30 years of  special effects experience wow joining them thank you they don't just tell the  myths they put them to the test [Music] all right I hear this one's a loud one  what's the story Sonic Boom what's that Sonic Boom what about a sonic boom sonic boom  breaks glass well sure Sonic Boom can break glass the fans are saying that any Sonic Boom  breaks any glass windows glasses you name it that sounds like fun well the best part is that  we get to ride in a jet you want to lay

down a bet where are you going dude [Music] when  something this noisy goes faster than the speed of sound the sonic boom created  is a powerful and visceral experience the question is can any old Sonic Boom really break  glass and for answers the guys are going to fly with the world famous Blue Angel dude come on back  I was just kidding I want to hear all about these Jets it's not just about the Jets the myth is  that any Sonic Boom can break glass and you and I both know that bullets go super

sonic sometimes  you're suggesting we start with guns and glass exactly I love it and then we go for the Jets  can I find the jet please can I be the one who flies in the jet why should you get to fly in the  jet cause I'm gonna be funnier on camera in the jet well okay you need to log some training hours  first because we need to know that you can handle it before you go supersonic I cannot believe the  Blue Angels Are Gonna Fly just for our experiment they're not this is a training exercise we

're  just tagging along oh this is so cool [Music] before the guys bring out the big guns  to test the bullets it's off to the Naval Air facility at El Centro California  the winter home of the Blue Angels they've kindly allowed Adam to join one of their  subsonic training sessions so that he can qualify for the supersonic test flights later on Adam's  going to be going up in a Boeing fa-18 Hornet the fa stands for fighter attack and their twin  engines put out a total of 32 000 pounds of thrust

[Applause] which propels him at up to about 1400  miles per hour are just under twice the speed of sound but first Adam is getting a brief briefing  at a crash course in combating g-forces a negative G is like a roller coaster it's a lightheadedness  the stomach feels like it's coming up to combat that all we're going to do is take  long deep breaths and that helps with the nausea positive G's are the ones that make it  feel like there's an elephant sitting on your chest when he's in the maneuv

er it's  going to force all the blood from your upper body down into your toes and you  want to combat that the way that we do that is the anti-g strain maneuver and  it's going to look something like this if you start seeing yourself going to g-lock  you'll start to see this gray tunnel that's gonna look like it start closing in on you closing in on  you don't fight it it'll go from Gray to Black and you'll pass out I'm deterred by that possibility  Let's Go Fly our excited little jet fighter r

ookie right here these are the yellow and black handle  that's the ejection handles hands off at all times let me just call up power  here until we go take off okay they're going into the pause and hold right now reply I am Adam in Blue Angel number seven is  ready for the experience of a lifetime Here Comes The Mill power it's about 20 knots there  they go and they call this a job there's 89 100 there we goes 240. 230.80 I am ready hit it [Applause] oh and we're flying holy crap at one point th

ey  were going along the runway and then all of a sudden they were gone straight up going up to 2000  feet wow we even had six years of doing incredible life-changing kind of crazy crap on this show  and that takes the cake that's the best thing I've ever done it's kind of just a way to see  the world upside down as we can cruise on out wow speechless strapped at 35 000 pounds a plane  Greening through the air upside down oh that's I mean it is absolutely like every special  effects film you've

ever seen it's that cool wow [Music] okay so what's with the hardware well we have  a new movie myth that has MythBusters written all over it and since this movie's come out  we have been inundated with requests to do it in fact it is the most requested myth  of the year you're talking about the movie wanted right exactly and in that movie  a secret society of Assassins shares the ability to curve a bullet that's right just  with a little bit of a flick of the gun you curve the bullet around an

obstacle and hit your  target [Music] are really dangerous a gun too when your Target's hidden behind a side of pork  and Angelina Jolie what's a secret assassin to do shoot the target well supposedly with a  swing of the arm and a flick of the wrist in obligatory action movie slow motion the bullet  curves around the obstacle saving your bacon okay so how do you want to test this I said we  just go for it exactly I mean in the movie James Mcavoy was able to curve a bullet after only a  few trie

s with minimal training which makes us perfectly qualified okay but let's say on the  off chance that none of us are fifth generation secret superhuman assassins maybe we could break  it down look at the rifling aerodynamics and I don't know throwing a robot for good measure  okay you got a point there what's wrong you guys feeling ballistically challenged I said we just  let our cold-blooded assassin instincts take over okay um how about you hand me the gun and then  we'll go with that plan how

about you get your own gun just give me the gun nope all right  but before the team lost load and hit the road Carrie knocks up a trio of villainous targets  bad guys are done and one pretty and pink poor kind obstacle in the movie James McAvoy is trying  to learn to curve a bullet by shooting around a pig to hit a Target on the other side now as  a vegetarian who's pretty grossed out by raw meat I don't think we need to use real pig this is  what we got cute little silhouette of one [Music] an

d the location for our gun toting Trio to  potentially bend their bullets is deep in the heart of wine country yeah Napa Valley Northern  California so start out testing our curving bullet myth we're actually going to try it ourselves  but because this involves swinging a live gun around [Music] we need a lot of open space okay  so for our first test we just need to control well target practice to make sure we can all hit  the target yeah because there's no point curving a bullet if we can't hit

our Target yeah sounds  good it looks like I'm the first Target so our Trio of would-be Assassins select their weapons  line up and let loose let her have it Carrie foreign [Applause] the black [Applause] I love that smell well it looks like  we're all hitting the target you guys ready to start curbing bullets sure  let's do it now to get our bullets to curb we're gonna have to put spin  on it just like putting spin on a ball so the question is what technique do you  use to use the old cup spin

love maybe a lighter or the old bowling shot I don't know I  guess I'm just gonna see what feels comfortable [Music] I think you must have been practicing  in the mirror you've got some moves it's like an aerobics workout [Music] a little early I'm a draw James McAvoy didn't get  it on the first one but neither Grant him ahara North Tory belleci got it at all it's really interesting it happens  very fast the characters in the movie have this ability to speed up their heartbeat and  you know it

makes everything else slow down apparently I don't have that ability it just goes  boom and then you know it's gone next up is Carrie and Co as I am six months pregnant I will be  wearing a bulletproof vest protecting for two years I do have to say the freakiest thing in the  world you shoot a bullet baby kicks weird [Music] [Applause] as I suspected I don't have superhuman  strength abilities or shooting capabilities what are you gonna do I'm just a regular girl hope Gunslingers coming close to

the Target  never mind curving a bullet it's quite clear that imitating the movie just isn't going to cut it  but before heading back to the shop to move this myth along there's the small matter of leftover  ammo Now for Something Completely gratuitous foreign [Music] a bullet I am ready hit it to find out if the energy from  a sonic boom can break glass ES the U.S Navy's flight demonstration Squadron  specifically pilot Lieutenant Ben walborne is taking Adam for a training flight  in preparati

on for supersonic testing wow it's all little in the gray tunnel there  yeah depending on what the Jets doing Adam's either going to be weightless or he's going  to be experiencing about seven and a half G's which means that it'll feel like he weighs  1400 pounds kind of like having an elephant on his chest now if he follows his anti-blackout  techniques that he was taught about in our safety briefing he shouldn't pass out you got it come  on stay with us stay with us we got it come back you wou

ld think I'm with you if almost passed  out there for a second but given his past history I think he's gonna spew I'm excited to feel  a little nauseous I think I may throw up all right you got the bags back hold on [Music]  incredibly despite blowing chunks on several occasions The Experience still blew Adam's  mind there were two kind of mind-blowing things about that experience one is that while  I am using every ounce of strength and energy I have just to keep from passing out Lieutenant  wo

lborn is going through everything that I'm going through except for these highlighting a 50  million dollar plane going through these motions and talking to me all the time normal approach  will do is we call a carrier break it's a bit of a dynamic maneuver if you don't want to  see that we can just do a straight into land the second one is that even though I passed out  even though I threw up even though my dignity is or lack thereof is on display for television it  can be contract from the exp

erience at all [Music] dude I mean if you take a look at this  shot of me throwing up from the side of the boat in South Africa that day sucked  on the plane I just want more we saw you go down the runway nice and level and then  all of a sudden you were going straight up we have fired a whole crapload of rockets on the  shovel we've never ridden in one ready hit it and we're flying that thing is fast it is pretty  fast we did that vertical takeoff we were going about 30 000 feet per minute clim

b rate up there  did you break the speed of sound no I did not but you can right you guys break the sound barrier  all the time yes but never to their show the FAA prohibits flying supersonic over populated  areas in order to fly supersonic we'll go out to restricted zones or at least 30 miles off the  shore are you ready to barf the speed of sound yeah we've got this experiment and in order to  perform it we need you to break the sound barrier for us do you think you can make that happen I  thi

nk when you set something up like that for you fellas can you handle it totally let's do  it with the training flag complete it's back to the shop to regroup and maybe take a little nap  Mr Adam Savage blowing chunks for science again all right where do we stand well you blue chunks  you passed out a bunch of times you're cleared to fly so I get to fly Super Sonic now oh hold  on a second there cowboy remember we were gonna start with Sonic booms from Guns first  all right I've got a table full

of glassware I've got a 50 caliber rifle we're good to go  that sounds like a perfect day let's do it so while Adam gets busy with the corridor of  glassware heinemann is handling the hardware if you're not aware of the 50 caliber is  the Big Gun there's not really anything that civilian can get a hold of that's  any bigger or more powerful than this it kind of puts a smile on your face if  you're a gun enthusiast and the peaceful pastoral location I love the smell of gunpowder  in the morning l

et's do it that's about to be interrupted by the sound of violence is a familiar  scene to The MythBusters team this bucolic setting is in fact the shabo gun range and we've shot many  bullet related myths here including sniper scope son of a gun I don't see anything and a  couple of what is bulletproof episodes today we want to find out if one  of these can break one of these but not by hitting it merely by passing by yes  today is all about the sonic boom let's talk Sonic booms now the first t

hing you need to know is that  sound travels at 761 miles per hour at sea level now this bullet goes supersonic when it's fired  and it goes about 1984 miles per hour and what is happening is that there's a shock wave created by  a kind of a conical wall of sound trailing behind the bullet as it's going through the air and when  that wall of sound actually crosses a person the person experiences that as a sonic boom you can  think of this kind of like a boat on the water and the boat is leaving

a wake behind it and you're  like a dinghy kind of floating nearby and when the Wake passes across you you start to react  to it now what we're doing here is seeing what glass will do when that pressure wave goes through  the glass will it break it we're gonna find out it's a Phil mcfable that has the  mythbuster message boards in a spin can you really Bend It Like for Angelina [Music] well so far despite the team 's efforts  there's been no sign of a bullet bending shot that's looking pretty st

raight to me it doesn't  look like it's curving at all swinging a miss Cactus shots went nowhere near the  target little early on the draw so to test this properly they need to match the  movie characters super human speed strength and accuracy so needless to say we failed miserably  at trying to curve the bullet ourselves but you know what we're only human and the characters  in wanted have superhuman abilities so that's why we're resurrecting this it's a short  swinging robot became a bat swin

ging robot that became a hot swinging robot and it's about  to become a bullet curving robot it can swing its arm at superhuman speeds and what's more it can  fire the gun at precisely the moment we want it to take off some of the rust change it around again  not only will Grant's Gunslinger Shoot Straight every time it'll impart the arm swinging action  that supposedly responsible for curving the bullet but not in the shopping going down we need  a completely controlled environment to test our

crazy gunsling and rig so we've come  down to the South San Francisco police department they have a firing range  and they're going to let us use it while Grant Gets Ready for Action Tori and  Carrie prepare to get the results down on paper to find out whether or not these bullets are  curving but in order to do that we need to be able to track the path of our bullets so we've  set up five frames of paper down the gun range eight feet apart that way when the gun goes  off the bullet will punch a

hole in each one of those sheets of paper science's body now the  bullets are flying straight those holes should all line up we should be able to see that  by pointing a laser pointer down the hole holes are not lining up the more curving bullets so the first test step is at regular human speed  now I know we've already done this test ourselves which qualifies as human speed but the robot is  capable of perfect execution and that's what we need to do is take out any differences in  our timing o

r our aim and do it perfectly normally here on MythBusters we're pretty  safety conscious but on this experiment in particular because you got a gun going a  full 360 Degrees around we have an extra set of precautions exhaust valves open open check  and because Tori and I are going to be in the danger zone here we're wearing full bulletproof  right here we're turning elbow to home pin is in trigger cylinder is out you ready to load the gun  almost check 10 more steps damn secondly I've got a 25

Point checklist to make sure that we can  load and discharge the weapon safely okay it flies down check and when we load the weapon we've  got this safety tape right here to keep us out of the horizontal plane and finally we've got a full  wall of ballistic Shields closing off that entire side of the range from this weapon that ought  to cover it here we go we are loading the gun all right we are loaded and hot okay pull the  elbow pin pulled pressurizing the shoulder it's going to be a name rea

dy ready  safety pin pulled let's go get out of here with Grant's 25 point plan complete  the Gunslinger is locked loaded and ready to unload okay this is going to be human  speed here we go three two one foreign good shot let's go see if we  curved that bullet [Music] I can see two and three if the bullet did curve  fourth we got all five frames that was a good test the holes in the five sheets of paper the physical  evidence of the bullet's trajectory won't line up here's the laser and lined w

ith the hole can you  see it all the way science is so unforgiving the Bullet didn't curve we could see the laser down at  this end straight shot at human speed [Music] now for us this confirms that human speed is not going  to curve a bullet we did it ourselves we tried it with the robot now it's time to ramp it up and  see if superhuman strength is gonna curve it can a sonic boom from a bullet break glass Adam and Jamie are about to find out right  little bullet here is your motivation here's

how it's gonna work we're gonna put you down the  barrel of this and then Jamie I know how you like Jamie's gonna pull the trigger Sonic Boom from  seven and a half inches at that point I would really appreciate it if you used all your gases  expanding in that direction to start traveling down this way towards the glass right about  1984 miles per hour and three I'd like you then to travel down the middle part of the glass  past the glass past the glassware the light bulbs the wine bottle too an

d then if you feel  like it if the physics are right and you're in the mood and you'd like to break some glass  with your Sonic Boom you go right ahead one [Music] that is a hell of a thought uh thud  Adam and Jamie could feel through the air but a thud for which the glassware  didn't care it all looks pristine it does at seven and a half inches away from the bullet  the glass didn't break in fact it didn't even move dude you can see bullet that's awesome  Shockwave following behind it you're go

ing to see anything it would probably be starting  to happen now I don't see any movements I can't believe from the thud I feel from firing  the weapon that I don't see a single anything I think we gotta push way in I do too let's say  four inches apart two inches each from the bullet sounds good all right based on the fact  that we didn't see any reaction before I don't think it's gonna break two  inches from Center in three two one once again Adam and Jamie gather at the  glass disappointed by

the lack of carnage everything is pristine as the high speed  illustrates there wasn't even the slightest tremor ah I don't see anything I gotta say I mean if  a bullet passed that close to me I'd be scared to death and those glasses it's like nothing's  happening which is enough evidence to convince our her suit Hoosier at this point I don't think  the bullet's gonna break the glass add with a glass lined up just half an inch from the center  line now don't try this at home we're trained profe

ssionals contact with the banana sized  50 caliber bullet is a distinct possibility not a lot of margin for error  let's do it three two one I don't think that was a shock wave me neither me  too that looked to be a direct hit on the wrist see that right there that's not a sonic boom  that's a bullet hit that's where the bullet contacted the frame started shattering glass  and the glass itself traveling with the bullet all the way down the corridor tearing crap  up as it went yeah the rest of th

is is from the shrapnel probably huh yeah so the Bullet  hit the glass and darned if it didn't break it where do we stand all right well at no distance  where the bullet passed by the glass did we get any movement from the glass check when we hit  the glass with the bullet the glass broke check at this point we don't have any evidence  that a Sonic Boom at least when coming off a bullet has any significant effect on any  thickness of glass Chair King to pawn four check so this part of the myth a

  sonic boom from a bullet breaking glass is like Adam's glass Corridor well  and truly busted well darn it would appear that bullets only seem to damage things  that they actually hit who knew [Music] Adam and Jamie now know that the Sonic shock  wave from a passing bullet if they even create one doesn't break glass so really their best bet  is the Jet and back at the Naval Air facility Adam is all set to break the sound barrier for  science strap in it's time to go supersonic meanwhile 55 mile

s away in Yuma  Arizona oh there's a hissing sound Jamie is preparing a Glass Menagerie for  Adam's supersonic flybys if you happen to have a supersonic jet you can't just go flying  around anywhere you want creating Sonic Boom you got to come to a place like this the Marine Corps  Air Station Yuma which is one of the few places you can legally do that that's why we're here  MythBusters Blue Angels test site plenty of space nice Shrubbery probably quite a few Rattlers but  uh we can build a hous

e here [Music] [Applause] how do I do it and there's a glass window in it yeah it's all real glass and what we need  now is a rundown of the test protocol okay buddy here's the deal pay attention we're  here to see if we can break some glass with a sonic boom so Adam's up in the sky in an  fa-18 Hornet he's coming in at supersonic speeds he's going to get lower and lower  with each pass all right so we're about 13 of the house zone now a good hint is when  all those glasses in front of you start

to break you want to brace yourself all  right good with Adam just moments away the final piece of the prep puzzle can  be put into place for the first test run we need to make sure we get a direct  flyover from the Jets so how do you do that well they're going to put out some  smoke so that we can see where they're at we'll go ahead and put our smoke on right  now smoke on ah there they are and then we're gonna signal them with a mirror so they know  right where to fly the jet we are ready for

the first time okay uh we'll be turning in and  we'll be accelerating for the first pass at 8 000 foot level seven Pao ready for eight  thousand foot pass we just got work from Jamie's here we go that's the cue for lieutenant  walborn to do the jet fighter equivalent of putting his foot down because  he after burners [ __ ] 0.85 one box 1.03 and because Mach 1 is the speed of  sound Adam Savage is now supersonic wow Mach 1.06 so as they pass directly overhead they've got  the speed they need bu

t with the test side us back in the distance the impact on the ground  is distinctly underwhelming was that supersonic that was no boom that was nothing  and we're slowing down back down I've heard him louder than that going over  my house nope and a quick tour of glass alley confirms that so far the myth that any old  Sonic Boom can shatter glass is looking busted we're going to have to do a lot  better than that if we're going to see any glass breaking we're going to  go for 2 000 feet hopeful

ly that'll do it [Music] Harry granitori have discovered that if you simply  mimic the movie Wanted well Bend bullets too early have to look at the high speed but I'm pretty  sure I curved that one they've even built a deadly accurate gunslinging robot given it  the exact same side arm action is the myth and still failed to get anything but a straight  shooter the bullet didn't curve so next up they're raising the bar and ramping up the robot so  the great thing about this test is that the chara

cters are superhuman not Supernatural I  mean they're not vampires they don't use magic they don't have telekinetic powers to curve  the bullet all it is is super human speed and strength and that we can do in abundance  we've calibrated the rig to twice what a normal human can do loading the gun with the live  round twice as fast we'll see how that goes ready all right let's get out of here all  right so it's all ramped up now it's time to see if we can cover the bullet this is what  it all com

es down to all right live round at super human speed you ready let's get it  on here we go you guys in three two one Center shot and the paper trail once again neatly  illustrates the path of the projectile tomato through the second frame yeah third yes fourth and  the fifth frame this is a good test let's check the alignment okay you see the laser uh I see the  laser it's a straight shot there's no deviation whatsoever superhuman strength and we still have  a straight shot yeah despite flicking

the robotic arm around at superhuman speeds when the bullet  leaves the barrel it leaves in a straight line and that leaves this part of the story done  and busted I know what you're thinking you're sitting at home thinking ah The MythBusters gave  up too soon it was only one shot but look here's the reality this robot's capable of swinging its  arm harder and faster than a Major League hitter maybe if I saw three quarters of an inch half  an inch maybe even a quarter of an inch it would be wor

th continuing on but you know  what we're not seeing any deviation at all it's time to move on [Music] so far supersonic Savage has completed  One 8 000 feet Sonic Boom flyby well that was eight thousand feet and  it was 1.06 Mach that was nothing they're not done yet this time they're wrapping  it up by bringing it down we are banking in the position we're getting the 2 000 feet elevation  in order to do another personic pass from Sonic Boom from 2000 feet well that's a lot closer than  8 000 s

o it might do it seven Pao ready for a 2000 foot pass coming down to two thousand feet for  this one all right we are accelerating [ __ ] one 1.03 we are headed straight for the 2000 feet  at top 1.07 it seems so peaceful Adam flying overhead at the speed of sound and then wow  [Music] that was something I call that a bull I didn't expect that I couldn't hear a gosh  darn thing and then all of a sudden it was like a shotgun just went off right next to  me it's a classic sonic boom and a classic

illustration of the difference between the  speed of light the speed of sound you see the supersonic jet fly by in silence then the  sound moving at 761 miles per hour catches up but the big question is did it do any actual  damage nothing it's all intact it's obvious that The Closer the jet is to us here on the  ground the more intensely we experience the sonic boom nothing now we don't know exactly where  the sweet spot for breaking glass is quite yet no cracks but we do know that this is one

of those  funky relationships where the power of that Sonic Boom is going to be dropping off exponentially  the further away the jet is from the glass on the ground so it's a question of how low can you  legally go like some kind of SuperSonic Limbo Dance the guys bring it down one more night  here we go we're commencing the 500 foot run we're accelerating now we gotta see some broken  glass okay he just came over the horizon 500 feet oh no huh wow [Music] that was loud really loud but despite 

the powerful ground level experience a myth that a sonic boom equals shattered glass is looking busted not one single item of glassware  was even splintered no broken glass not looking good at this point not at this geographical point  but a few hundred feet away at base camp the team make an interesting Discovery hey Pete hey Jamie  what do you got what would happen was on the 500 foot pass the sonic boom ripped through this  trailer opened up all the cabinets and came out right here on the Sky

light and blew it completely  off yep just like a popped up on a soda can so it opened all the doors it did it didn't break  any glass it did not break any glass but it blew the top off the RV it did I'll be darned so if  you park in a restricted military zone where a low-flying supersonic test flights are taking  place I don't see any damage to any of these but uh that's odd it opened all the doors this could  happen but in reality very little damage was done maybe the event was already weakene

d and getting  back to the myth no glass was smashed [Music] Karen brandatory have ramped up their robot to  super human speeds but the sidearm action used to bend bullets in the movie just doesn't work in  real life nothing this is more fake film physics Whoa We can't go busting this myth yet I mean  they did have a cool collection of customized guns and special engraved bullets okay I see  where you're going with this maybe it's not just the sidearm flick that gives us the curing  bullet exact

ly maybe it's a function of altering the bullets and guns themselves that's giving  the bullets that curve yeah I mean it seems logical you change the surface of the blood or  its balance that could affect the trajectory okay but what about the gun well the main thing  that makes the bullet go straight is the rifling in the barrel yeah the helical grooves caused the  bullet to go into a self-stabilizing spiral so I guess the next step take the rifling out of the  gun alter the bullets and see if

we get a curve so in their final bid to bend the bullet  Carrie takes on the task of smoothing out the gun Barrel's rifling got to do it we have a smooth  barrel meanwhile Tori has been attempting to upset the bullets finally balanced aerodynamics now the  three sets of bullets are done the first set I've changed just the aerodynamics of the bullet and  the way I've done that is I've taken a hacksaw and cut grooves along one side of the bullet the  other set what I've done is I've changed the w

eight and the way I've done this is I've drilled  out half of the bullet and then I filled it with car body filler so that way it's unbalanced  now finally the third set of bullets I've Incorporated both where I've drilled out half the  bullet this way it is no longer balanced and it's no longer aerodynamic add with the ammo altered  and their gun barrel smooth I'm gonna make some arrests it's back to the South San Francisco  police can I get my bike back sorry [Music] inside the firing range in

order to  capture the all-important high-speed camera shots the team is reverting  to a stationary shooting position at first up the team fires off a few shots  with a regular gun and the altered bullets but on each occasion there was no Bend to the bullets  flight path got it that's a straight shot no Kirby it seems the rifling in the guns Barrel can  keep any old bullet on the straight and narrow great shot no curving whatsoever but I  think when we've switched to the barrel that has no rifli

ng all bets are going to be  off and that bullet is going to do whatever it wants to and from the very first test with  a grooved bullet okay Groove bullet d-rival gun it's clear how important rifling is look at how  Wild that bullet went without the rifling yep one look at the first pane of paper and you can see  the bullet must have gone through sideways that was what the heck happens that despite the Head  Over Heels flight it still traced a straight line through the air look at that it's a s

traight path  and no matter how the bullet is altered grooved unbalanced and a combination of both the result is  the same every time whoa look at how unstable the bullets are now that there's no rifling yeah it's  like going whoosh but still it's not curvy now it's clear that the massive forward momentum of a  speeding bullet nah straight path simply overrides any minor adjustments to its aerodynamics or  balance so it's looking like no matter what we do physics are working against us we cannot

  curve a bullet doesn't matter if the barrel is rifled or not doesn't matter if the bullets are  altered or not so this one's busted busted busted all right wow so our 500 foot pass did not break any  glasses nothing what's gonna happen now is I'm gonna get in a Chase plane and follow Ben as  he begins to do lower and lower passes over our test site also increasing his angle of attack  to focus the sonic boom right on ground zero on our house I swear we are incredibly close  so without a single

sign of the mythical glass shattering result the team is ramping it up with  some fancy flight Pao ready for 500 foot nose down pass copy that here we go for another  run this time we're coming in nose down at about five degrees we think this might Focus the  boom a little bit more and give us what we want foreign there they are man that's a rush before Jamie can get  in and check the results Ben blasts by twice more in quick succession and this time damage is definitely  done no window I can s

ee it from here a broken window but not exactly as per the myth  oh no it blew the window out of its hole but it didn't break it the three rapid fire low altitude  supersonic flybys have clearly had an effect some plot thickens that broke the door but the jury is  still out on whether it will specifically break glass break any of the glass it knocked it down  though and that has got Jamie thinking but Sonic Boom is just a pressure one now we've created a  lot of pressure waves on MythBusters we'

ve put out fires with them we've broken wine glasses but on  the other hand we've tried to make people poop and we've tried to blow up cars with them those didn't  work too well sometimes they just don't behave the way you expect from Reflections from harmonics  from all sorts of subtle details that you only figure out after a lot of experimentation and  that further experimentation is a set of five 200 foot passes which is as low as we can legally go  lower than anything seen outside the traini

ng Zone these things are coming in so low we're not  going to see them until they're on top of us that's intense ready hit it [Music] that kind of wakes you up  in the morning [Applause] all right there were five Sonic booms hitting that  house and the car and the glassware at 200 feet I gotta go check it out what the heck nothing  like the glassware the car escaped unscathed well it didn't break it but it knocked off the rear  view mirror well almost but over at the house that's what I'm talkin

g about that is one broken  window it not only broke it but it just like shattered every little bit to smithereens so it can happen and it wasn't just the  windows that suffered I'm really surprised by the structural damage here I mean I thought  that what we were dealing with with a sonic boom was a sharp shock that would break glass and  things but not actually move stuff well there's your problem that's what is happening here this  is an air pressure thing that is actually taking the whole si

de of the building in oh no so it is  possible to break glass with a sonic boom foreign that led to the only breakage [Music]  let's face it that only happened after the low altitude passes and that just don't happen  anywhere but in these restricted training zones so Tyson I've been meaning to ask you we're out  here in the desert you look like you just came from the laundry with that thing what do you do  if you you know spill your lunch on it I don't know okay well I'm looking at a broken pie

ce  of glass here man does that mean the fans are Vindicated that's the only thing that the sonic  boom broke what about all the other glass that didn't break there were car windows there was  a table full of this kind of stuff none of it broke well I mean the mid clearly states that any  Sonic Boom will break any glass and apparently that didn't happen and we had to fly the jet in  it ridiculously low levels to make this break well then I think the answer is pretty clear  it's busted totally bu

sted [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music]