Mythbusters 2
Posted: Tue May 04, 2004 8:41 pm
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, and Mythbusters is a show on discovery.
I have two big thank yous, one to Kanya Barton for beta reading, and Calla for helping me work up the guts to post this in the first place.
Mythbusters 2: The Show
As he scanned the room, he noticed the little details that were designed for intimidation. The acoustics were subtly designed for a small echo, the guest seats were lower, forcing you to look up at the office?s owner. And, oh yeah, there were the armed guards outside as well.
The office belonged to the commander of the preventers; yes, it was Une?s office. Yes, the Une who was responsible for him having to blow himself up, the one who set him up to blow up the shuttle of pacifitces, the one somehow managed to be involved in almost all of the worst experiences in his life. She really wasn?t on his Christmas card list.
?Mr. Yuy, I go to great pains to show leniency to the former Gundam pilots...? Trowa would be very upset if you didn?t, he thought, ?but there simply are some things I can?t overlook...? And the fact that I?m highly tempted to shoot you right now is? ?You recently have made several unusual purchases,? If she brings up THAT* I am shooting her, promise or no. Next time Pagan can make the late night purchase when she runs out, ?15 pounds of gunpowder, an odd grade at that. And several dozen rounds of ammunition that would be used in a medium power rifle.? Which I?m starting to wish I had with me. How much longer do I have to listen to this?
?Now it would do a lot to ease my mind if you would explain these purchases.? Your mind needs a lot more then that.
?For charity.?
?Charity?? Is there an Echo in hear? Oh that?s right, there is.
?Charity.? Have I mentioned I hate repeating myself?
?I fail to see how that much explosive power is going to be used to benefit charity, are you planning to hold a building hostage?? Tempting, very tempting, I could place the charges...
?The odd grade of gunpowder is due to the fact that it replicates medieval gunpowder, it and, along with it, the ammunition will be used for disproving urban myths as a means for entertainment on the charity television marathon this weekend.?
?How does medieval style gunpowder help you disprove myths??
?That would ruin the surprise,? he smirked, knowing full well he was irritating her.
?Then I have no other choice,? his smirked dropped, ?but to assign appropriate preventer supervision, after all,? now she smirked, ?I can?t have people thinking I?m not doing my job. Agent Chang will oversee this, dismissed.? And did I mention I don?t like her very much?
***
?I heard she assigned Chang to your little project,? Trowa said casually.
?Hn,? he grunted back.
?If you want, I could try convincing her...?
?Unnecessary.?
?Really, I wouldn?t mind...?
?Barton, if you feel like seducing her, just do it, you never needed an excuse before.?
?Well I don?t NEED one, but it makes things much more interesting. So have you got everything for tomorrow??
?All except the tree trunk, it?s being delivered tomorrow.?
?A tree trunk? How does that fit into anything??
*****
?4 2 liter bottles of soda?? Trowa said.
?With logos removed, check,? Duo replied.
?20lbs of gunpowder??
?Check.?
?Tree trunk??
?Check.?
?Acid??
?Check.?
?2 steaks??
?Check.?
?Strange goo covered coins??
?Check, what is that stuff??
?No clue, looks like we have everything on Heero?s list.?
?Hey, what does he actually call these coins on his list??
?Goo covered, and aged coins.?
*****
?Ok Heero, moment of truth, what?s going on?? Relena asked.
?Relena, here?s your script,? Heero said to her, disregarding her question.
?I get a script??
?How else will you know what the myths are were disproving??
?Good point, are we ready.?
?Hn. Roll the camera, let?s get this started.?
****
Relena: ?There is probably no single item in the world with more urban legends than soda. Our professionals will now examine several of them. The first myth that we will prove or disprove is that soda is acidic.?
?Ok Mr. Mythbuster, what?s wrong with this one?? Duo asked.
?The most obvious thing is that if it were true, a lot more people would need false teeth. Especially you,? Heero replied.
Duo brought his hand up to his chest, ?you wound me, really. So how do we go about disproving this one??
?We are going to do two tests to replicate the conditions of the myth, the first is using animal teeth, and the second will be using a steak.?
?Uh Heero, we don?t have any animal teeth.?
He glared.
?Dare I ask what you?re going to use instead??
?Funny you should ask, hold still.?
Duo starts backing away ?Oh no! You?re not getting anywhere near me!?
His retreat was going fairly well, until the supervising preventer agent grabbed him from behind and held him in place. ?Come on Wufei! What did I ever do to you?? Duo whined.
?You want a list? There was replacing my shampoo with that peach scented female product, spiking my water to get me drunk, and the whoopie cushion in my car,? Wufei said, his face turning red from anger.
?Aw come on ?Fei that?s all ancient history.?
?It was last night!?
Heero approached slowly, Duo continued his pleading, Heero?s hand raised up to chin level with Duo, his squirming increased as he tried to escape...
And Heero reached in Duo?s shirt pocket and took out the animal teeth that Duo had stolen as a prank.
Duo fainted.
Relena, being the narrator, with Heero?s goal being to speak as little as possible, now resumed her narration. ?The animal tooth will be left in a beaker for a 24-hour period to see whether or not the soda will erode the tooth. But instead of just stopping there, our Mythbusters are going the extra mile. Instead of just recreating the myth, they will recreate the result.
?One of the beakers will contain soda and one tooth, a second will contain acid and an identical tooth to produce the result of the myth. In addition to that, we will test it using these raw steaks, again one with the soda and one with the acid.
?The next urban legend is that soda can clean coins, for demonstration the Mythbusters will be using an old and a gunk-covered coin.In this case there won?t be a comparison because of the nature of this one. Again this will sit for 24 hours.?
?So what are you planning to do otherwise while that is going on?? Wufei asked.
?What else? Move on to the next myth.?
*****
Relena quickly flipped back to the page she was supposed to be on, annoyed her script didn?t contain any of the results. ?For the next myth Trowa Barton, ammunitions expert, has been brought in and will be working with our preventer Wufei Chang to replicate our next myth. In this myth, a medieval town built a cannon out of a tree overnight, then overloaded it with gunpowder and the exploding cannon destroyed the town.?
?What?s this about me and Barton replicating the myth?? Wufei asked, his tone reeking with annoyance.
?I have full confidence in your abilities,? Heero replied smugly.
?And why didn?t you mention this before??
?You could have said no.?
?And why won?t I now??
?Because I wouldn?t edit your rejection out of the tape, it would be a huge publicity blow to the preventers, and you could pretty much count on your next duty assignment involving penguins.?
?I hate you.?
?Consider it payback for the whole ?I?ll start a war to judge humanity? thing.?
*****
?So how do we make a cannon out of a tree trunk?? Wufei asked.
?First of all, this is a drill they would have used which Barton is going to use to drill the hole, then you will soon see what the first problem with this myth is,? Heero replied.
?Meanwhile??
?I?m going outside to work on the next myth with Duo.?
*****
?Now we return to our urban legends about soda, for the next two tests we will be using this dirt covered truck, the taped line running across it will separate the side on which the soda will be tested from the side where we will be using the other product.?
Duo has recovered and is holding a pair of 2 liter soda bottles.
?The first test will be the soda on chrome, on half of the front bumper a professional chrome cleaning product will be used, on the other half soda.?
Duo?s mood seemed to have improved as he asked ?Do I get to pour the soda??
?Go ahead.?
Duo did just that on one half of the bumper while Heero used the professional cleaning product on the other half. After finishing with each side they stood back and looked over the whole front bumper.
?Huh, whould?a thunk it, the soda actually did a little better then the professional product.?
?In this case, the urban legend is actually true.?
*****
?Next up: is soda any good on corrosion? Duo will use soda on half of the truck under the hood, and then Heero will spray the area with water to see if the soda does any good.?
Duo applies the soda, with only minimal and hardly worth mentioning success, he looks to the camera and says ?The soda really didn?t do any good in there, but we?ll hold off on the official judgement until Heero has hosed it down.?
Heero proceeds with the hose, the surface dirt washes away quickly, but since little pressure is being applied most of the corrosion remains.
?Final analysis on this one, Heero??
?The soda did nothing for the corrosion, all it did was get rid of some surface dirt, it?s no better then just using water.?
?Then, I?d have to say, Myth-busted!?
*****
?Now we check back in with Trowa and Wufei, who, an hour later, have only managed to get a couple inches into the trunk of the tree. At this point it?s extremely easy to see that they couldn?t have made the cannon overnight, so that part of the myth has been busted, for the sake of getting on with this they?ll move on to using power tools to finish making the cannon.?
Trowa pulls out a long drill and quickly finishes the barrel of the cannon.
?Sooo, what next, oh great engineer? How does a tree with a hole in it become a cannon??
?The tree is going to need bracing. After that, it will be ready to go?
Wufei and Trowa began working with the forge and iron bands Heero had arranged for. Using the heat to make the iron flexible, they hammered the 5 bands in place around the barrel of the cannon. Duo followed behind with a water jug, cooling off the iron after it was in place, and cracking various jokes whenever the flames came up when Wufei hammered the iron. After that, a few finishing touches were put in place.
?So, we have a cannon now??
?Yes, and we will put it to the test tomorrow.?
*****
The next day, back with the soda. ?After sitting in soda for 24 hours have the tooth and the steak eroded away? Now it?s time to see as Duo and Heero check it out.?
The teeth are pulled out of the soda and acid respectively.
?The tooth from the soda is stained but still intact, no erosion. The tooth from the acid is over half disintegrated.?
?Soda acidic to teeth? Myth-busted.?
?Next, the mythbusters check on the steaks.?
?The steak from the soda is a little softer as you would expect after being soaked in any liquid but no erosion. The steak from the acid has come out in pieces, some of it has dissolved but it?s a slow process.?
?Soda acid-like in general? Myth-busted.?
?And lastly, the aged and the gunk-covered coins.?
?The aged coin has restored well, there is one area where it did not, but there was an air bubble there, which actually goes to further support that soda can clean up the coins. The gunk has come off the other penny fairly well.?
?Soda to clean your coins? Sure.?
*****
?So just how good of a cannon can you make out of a tree trunk? And can it be overloaded with gunpowder to where it explodes and wipes out a town? We?re about to find out as our mythbusters built the tree cannon to the test.?
?To try out the cannon, we are first going to use a tennis ball and a normal charge of gunpowder.?
?For safety purposes, all detonations are being done electronically from behind a barrier.?
The tennis ball is loaded and the cannon fired, the flaming ball comes and launches into the horizon.
?Well, the cannon has proved effective, so, now we will test the myth. First, by loading in 5 pounds of gunpowder, and then by using a stone ball, which is what would have been used for ammunition.?
The cannon is loaded and successfully fired, it does not explode.
?Trowa, what say you??
?5 pounds is a lot of gunpowder, the cannon is well built and it?s safe to say that your not going to blow it up unless you?re intentionally trying.?
?Which is exactly what were going to do! So Heero, what?s next??
?The final part of the myth is that the exploding cannon destroyed the town that built it, so we are going to blow up the cannon to see if it could have enough force to do that. This time we will load ten pounds of gunpowder into it, and seal the barrel of the cannon, with no escape for the explosion the cannon will blow up.?
?The cannon is loaded, sealed, and several pieces of heavy equipment are put in place to contain the explosion.?
The gunpowder is detonated and in a huge explosion the cannon flies apart, the biggest piece of the cannon overshoots all the equipment and lands a few hundred feet away.
?Wow, that was a big boom.?
?It would take an extreme overload of gunpowder, and sealing off the cannon so that there was no escape for the force of the explosion, but the cannon could clearly be blown up with enough force to wipe out a small town back then.?
?So what?s our final analysis??
?This is myth, the time frame is wrong, overloading on powder alone wouldn?t make the cannon blow up, to reproduce this would just be to unrealistic.?
?Tree cannon? Sure. Exploding tree cannon? Myth-busted!?
*****
?We?ll that was a success,? Relena said.
?Hn.?
?Duo, Trowa, and Wufei all seemed to enjoy it.?
?Hn.?
?In fact I think I saw them tear up at the sight of a really big explosion.?
?That was just your imagination. So what do I get in return for bailing you out with this??
?Funny you should ask that question...?
I wrote this so I can end it there, I can maybe write a third but after that I would be out of Urban Legends that I know are false/how they would work I'll be out of town for a while so if I do a part three it won't be for a few weeks.
Thanks for reading
Gene
*In refrence to Drabble Challenge 11.
I have two big thank yous, one to Kanya Barton for beta reading, and Calla for helping me work up the guts to post this in the first place.
Mythbusters 2: The Show
As he scanned the room, he noticed the little details that were designed for intimidation. The acoustics were subtly designed for a small echo, the guest seats were lower, forcing you to look up at the office?s owner. And, oh yeah, there were the armed guards outside as well.
The office belonged to the commander of the preventers; yes, it was Une?s office. Yes, the Une who was responsible for him having to blow himself up, the one who set him up to blow up the shuttle of pacifitces, the one somehow managed to be involved in almost all of the worst experiences in his life. She really wasn?t on his Christmas card list.
?Mr. Yuy, I go to great pains to show leniency to the former Gundam pilots...? Trowa would be very upset if you didn?t, he thought, ?but there simply are some things I can?t overlook...? And the fact that I?m highly tempted to shoot you right now is? ?You recently have made several unusual purchases,? If she brings up THAT* I am shooting her, promise or no. Next time Pagan can make the late night purchase when she runs out, ?15 pounds of gunpowder, an odd grade at that. And several dozen rounds of ammunition that would be used in a medium power rifle.? Which I?m starting to wish I had with me. How much longer do I have to listen to this?
?Now it would do a lot to ease my mind if you would explain these purchases.? Your mind needs a lot more then that.
?For charity.?
?Charity?? Is there an Echo in hear? Oh that?s right, there is.
?Charity.? Have I mentioned I hate repeating myself?
?I fail to see how that much explosive power is going to be used to benefit charity, are you planning to hold a building hostage?? Tempting, very tempting, I could place the charges...
?The odd grade of gunpowder is due to the fact that it replicates medieval gunpowder, it and, along with it, the ammunition will be used for disproving urban myths as a means for entertainment on the charity television marathon this weekend.?
?How does medieval style gunpowder help you disprove myths??
?That would ruin the surprise,? he smirked, knowing full well he was irritating her.
?Then I have no other choice,? his smirked dropped, ?but to assign appropriate preventer supervision, after all,? now she smirked, ?I can?t have people thinking I?m not doing my job. Agent Chang will oversee this, dismissed.? And did I mention I don?t like her very much?
***
?I heard she assigned Chang to your little project,? Trowa said casually.
?Hn,? he grunted back.
?If you want, I could try convincing her...?
?Unnecessary.?
?Really, I wouldn?t mind...?
?Barton, if you feel like seducing her, just do it, you never needed an excuse before.?
?Well I don?t NEED one, but it makes things much more interesting. So have you got everything for tomorrow??
?All except the tree trunk, it?s being delivered tomorrow.?
?A tree trunk? How does that fit into anything??
*****
?4 2 liter bottles of soda?? Trowa said.
?With logos removed, check,? Duo replied.
?20lbs of gunpowder??
?Check.?
?Tree trunk??
?Check.?
?Acid??
?Check.?
?2 steaks??
?Check.?
?Strange goo covered coins??
?Check, what is that stuff??
?No clue, looks like we have everything on Heero?s list.?
?Hey, what does he actually call these coins on his list??
?Goo covered, and aged coins.?
*****
?Ok Heero, moment of truth, what?s going on?? Relena asked.
?Relena, here?s your script,? Heero said to her, disregarding her question.
?I get a script??
?How else will you know what the myths are were disproving??
?Good point, are we ready.?
?Hn. Roll the camera, let?s get this started.?
****
Relena: ?There is probably no single item in the world with more urban legends than soda. Our professionals will now examine several of them. The first myth that we will prove or disprove is that soda is acidic.?
?Ok Mr. Mythbuster, what?s wrong with this one?? Duo asked.
?The most obvious thing is that if it were true, a lot more people would need false teeth. Especially you,? Heero replied.
Duo brought his hand up to his chest, ?you wound me, really. So how do we go about disproving this one??
?We are going to do two tests to replicate the conditions of the myth, the first is using animal teeth, and the second will be using a steak.?
?Uh Heero, we don?t have any animal teeth.?
He glared.
?Dare I ask what you?re going to use instead??
?Funny you should ask, hold still.?
Duo starts backing away ?Oh no! You?re not getting anywhere near me!?
His retreat was going fairly well, until the supervising preventer agent grabbed him from behind and held him in place. ?Come on Wufei! What did I ever do to you?? Duo whined.
?You want a list? There was replacing my shampoo with that peach scented female product, spiking my water to get me drunk, and the whoopie cushion in my car,? Wufei said, his face turning red from anger.
?Aw come on ?Fei that?s all ancient history.?
?It was last night!?
Heero approached slowly, Duo continued his pleading, Heero?s hand raised up to chin level with Duo, his squirming increased as he tried to escape...
And Heero reached in Duo?s shirt pocket and took out the animal teeth that Duo had stolen as a prank.
Duo fainted.
Relena, being the narrator, with Heero?s goal being to speak as little as possible, now resumed her narration. ?The animal tooth will be left in a beaker for a 24-hour period to see whether or not the soda will erode the tooth. But instead of just stopping there, our Mythbusters are going the extra mile. Instead of just recreating the myth, they will recreate the result.
?One of the beakers will contain soda and one tooth, a second will contain acid and an identical tooth to produce the result of the myth. In addition to that, we will test it using these raw steaks, again one with the soda and one with the acid.
?The next urban legend is that soda can clean coins, for demonstration the Mythbusters will be using an old and a gunk-covered coin.In this case there won?t be a comparison because of the nature of this one. Again this will sit for 24 hours.?
?So what are you planning to do otherwise while that is going on?? Wufei asked.
?What else? Move on to the next myth.?
*****
Relena quickly flipped back to the page she was supposed to be on, annoyed her script didn?t contain any of the results. ?For the next myth Trowa Barton, ammunitions expert, has been brought in and will be working with our preventer Wufei Chang to replicate our next myth. In this myth, a medieval town built a cannon out of a tree overnight, then overloaded it with gunpowder and the exploding cannon destroyed the town.?
?What?s this about me and Barton replicating the myth?? Wufei asked, his tone reeking with annoyance.
?I have full confidence in your abilities,? Heero replied smugly.
?And why didn?t you mention this before??
?You could have said no.?
?And why won?t I now??
?Because I wouldn?t edit your rejection out of the tape, it would be a huge publicity blow to the preventers, and you could pretty much count on your next duty assignment involving penguins.?
?I hate you.?
?Consider it payback for the whole ?I?ll start a war to judge humanity? thing.?
*****
?So how do we make a cannon out of a tree trunk?? Wufei asked.
?First of all, this is a drill they would have used which Barton is going to use to drill the hole, then you will soon see what the first problem with this myth is,? Heero replied.
?Meanwhile??
?I?m going outside to work on the next myth with Duo.?
*****
?Now we return to our urban legends about soda, for the next two tests we will be using this dirt covered truck, the taped line running across it will separate the side on which the soda will be tested from the side where we will be using the other product.?
Duo has recovered and is holding a pair of 2 liter soda bottles.
?The first test will be the soda on chrome, on half of the front bumper a professional chrome cleaning product will be used, on the other half soda.?
Duo?s mood seemed to have improved as he asked ?Do I get to pour the soda??
?Go ahead.?
Duo did just that on one half of the bumper while Heero used the professional cleaning product on the other half. After finishing with each side they stood back and looked over the whole front bumper.
?Huh, whould?a thunk it, the soda actually did a little better then the professional product.?
?In this case, the urban legend is actually true.?
*****
?Next up: is soda any good on corrosion? Duo will use soda on half of the truck under the hood, and then Heero will spray the area with water to see if the soda does any good.?
Duo applies the soda, with only minimal and hardly worth mentioning success, he looks to the camera and says ?The soda really didn?t do any good in there, but we?ll hold off on the official judgement until Heero has hosed it down.?
Heero proceeds with the hose, the surface dirt washes away quickly, but since little pressure is being applied most of the corrosion remains.
?Final analysis on this one, Heero??
?The soda did nothing for the corrosion, all it did was get rid of some surface dirt, it?s no better then just using water.?
?Then, I?d have to say, Myth-busted!?
*****
?Now we check back in with Trowa and Wufei, who, an hour later, have only managed to get a couple inches into the trunk of the tree. At this point it?s extremely easy to see that they couldn?t have made the cannon overnight, so that part of the myth has been busted, for the sake of getting on with this they?ll move on to using power tools to finish making the cannon.?
Trowa pulls out a long drill and quickly finishes the barrel of the cannon.
?Sooo, what next, oh great engineer? How does a tree with a hole in it become a cannon??
?The tree is going to need bracing. After that, it will be ready to go?
Wufei and Trowa began working with the forge and iron bands Heero had arranged for. Using the heat to make the iron flexible, they hammered the 5 bands in place around the barrel of the cannon. Duo followed behind with a water jug, cooling off the iron after it was in place, and cracking various jokes whenever the flames came up when Wufei hammered the iron. After that, a few finishing touches were put in place.
?So, we have a cannon now??
?Yes, and we will put it to the test tomorrow.?
*****
The next day, back with the soda. ?After sitting in soda for 24 hours have the tooth and the steak eroded away? Now it?s time to see as Duo and Heero check it out.?
The teeth are pulled out of the soda and acid respectively.
?The tooth from the soda is stained but still intact, no erosion. The tooth from the acid is over half disintegrated.?
?Soda acidic to teeth? Myth-busted.?
?Next, the mythbusters check on the steaks.?
?The steak from the soda is a little softer as you would expect after being soaked in any liquid but no erosion. The steak from the acid has come out in pieces, some of it has dissolved but it?s a slow process.?
?Soda acid-like in general? Myth-busted.?
?And lastly, the aged and the gunk-covered coins.?
?The aged coin has restored well, there is one area where it did not, but there was an air bubble there, which actually goes to further support that soda can clean up the coins. The gunk has come off the other penny fairly well.?
?Soda to clean your coins? Sure.?
*****
?So just how good of a cannon can you make out of a tree trunk? And can it be overloaded with gunpowder to where it explodes and wipes out a town? We?re about to find out as our mythbusters built the tree cannon to the test.?
?To try out the cannon, we are first going to use a tennis ball and a normal charge of gunpowder.?
?For safety purposes, all detonations are being done electronically from behind a barrier.?
The tennis ball is loaded and the cannon fired, the flaming ball comes and launches into the horizon.
?Well, the cannon has proved effective, so, now we will test the myth. First, by loading in 5 pounds of gunpowder, and then by using a stone ball, which is what would have been used for ammunition.?
The cannon is loaded and successfully fired, it does not explode.
?Trowa, what say you??
?5 pounds is a lot of gunpowder, the cannon is well built and it?s safe to say that your not going to blow it up unless you?re intentionally trying.?
?Which is exactly what were going to do! So Heero, what?s next??
?The final part of the myth is that the exploding cannon destroyed the town that built it, so we are going to blow up the cannon to see if it could have enough force to do that. This time we will load ten pounds of gunpowder into it, and seal the barrel of the cannon, with no escape for the explosion the cannon will blow up.?
?The cannon is loaded, sealed, and several pieces of heavy equipment are put in place to contain the explosion.?
The gunpowder is detonated and in a huge explosion the cannon flies apart, the biggest piece of the cannon overshoots all the equipment and lands a few hundred feet away.
?Wow, that was a big boom.?
?It would take an extreme overload of gunpowder, and sealing off the cannon so that there was no escape for the force of the explosion, but the cannon could clearly be blown up with enough force to wipe out a small town back then.?
?So what?s our final analysis??
?This is myth, the time frame is wrong, overloading on powder alone wouldn?t make the cannon blow up, to reproduce this would just be to unrealistic.?
?Tree cannon? Sure. Exploding tree cannon? Myth-busted!?
*****
?We?ll that was a success,? Relena said.
?Hn.?
?Duo, Trowa, and Wufei all seemed to enjoy it.?
?Hn.?
?In fact I think I saw them tear up at the sight of a really big explosion.?
?That was just your imagination. So what do I get in return for bailing you out with this??
?Funny you should ask that question...?
I wrote this so I can end it there, I can maybe write a third but after that I would be out of Urban Legends that I know are false/how they would work I'll be out of town for a while so if I do a part three it won't be for a few weeks.
Thanks for reading
Gene
*In refrence to Drabble Challenge 11.
And he's just so funny when he's being serious. But the cool part of this fic is the intellectual base! Great -- keep it coming!