Mythbusters on auto Air-conditioning

[T'ai Chi]

They have only so much time to make one of their eps and to air it, so there are some things they just cannot do. There will also be budget restraints (not per-test but per-season) and the tests have to look good on TV as well as be understandable to station execs/producers.

I thought similarly when I wrote http://www.statisticool.com/mythbusters.htm

TV is just not a good medium for reporting scientific investigations.

It certainly can be. For example, the Horizon homeopathic dilution experiment was presented on tv pretty well I thought.

 

[CFLarsen]

It certainly can be. For example, the Horizon homeopathic dilution experiment was presented on tv pretty well I thought.

So, science can be done on TV? Just yes or no, please.

 

[shecky]

That's odd ... can a state require a car over time to somehow improve its emissions? I mean, shouldn't the levels of emissions for that model year be held constant, as who can expect it to somehow meet later standards?

I don't know. However, it's entirely possible that legislation regarding emissions not be very reasonable. We've had goofier laws passed.

 

[shecky]

I would love the mythbusters to see if you can actually shoot at a lock and chain with a gun and break them. Particularly a chain. I always shudder when they do that in a movie. I expect the bullets would bounce off and hit you if you were standing close.

The Box O' Truth did some informal tests with locks.

 

[Just thinking]

Hmm. I don't have any data on me, so feel free to disregard this, but I read an article a year or two ago that indicated that while trucks and SUVs are allowed to pollute more than cars, they generally are only lagging cars by a few years in emisions. That is a 2000 model SUV would be similar to, say, a 1995 car. SUVs of today are much cleaner, emissions-wise, than even the most economical cars of the 70s

I have no doubt that SUV's and Trucks can have better (cleaner) emissions over time -- my point is that if Joe and Bob (who both drive 15,000 miles per year) go out and buy a Honda and Lincoln Navigator respectively, Bob will be allowed to put between 3 and 4 times as much CO and NOX in the atmosphere simply because his big @ss truck gets only 25% or so as much mileage. (And although one can make an argument for someone that needs such a vehicle, lets assume Bob could easily get buy with a Honda or similar car as well -- as was always the case years back, before SUV's existed.)

 

[Gulliamo]

So, science can be done on TV? Just yes or no, please.

Yes, it can. Can large, elaborate, verified experiments be effectively conducted effectively in 45 minutes, under a budget and within weekly time constraints? That might be more difficult.

 

[CFLarsen]

Let's see what T'ai Chi has to say.

 

[Rocky]

I don't watch much TV, and don't remember now where I saw this, but they or someone like them did just this, shooting at padlocks. The locks won.

It only took me one shot to blast apart a nice padlock (we had lost the key). I shot it at an angle with a large rifle. It left the bolt through the hasp and the rest was gone.

 

[T'ai Chi]

It only took me one shot to blast apart a nice padlock (we had lost the key). I shot it at an angle with a large rifle. It left the bolt through the hasp and the rest was gone.

I think movies tend to show stuff like small guns doing the job. Kind to think of it, I think I've seen a Navy Seal training program or something on the history channel where they shot the lock of a door open. I think they used something like a shotgun(?). Not too sure why type.

My choice is to get some cutters.

 

[Hellbound]

T'ai:

Did they shoot the lock, or the door?

There are shotgun rounds (10ga and 12ga) designed for shooting doors. They use something like a lead-pellet filled beanbag, IIRC. The idea, though, is not to break the lock, but simply rip the bolt out of the frame (or the hasp off the door, etc). The idea being that its much easier to break the wood than the metal. A comapny called Rhino Arms used to sell them (dunno if they're still around...they skirted close to the edge on legal issues, such as selling non-machine-gun (legal definition) mod kits to set up dual .223 semi-auto rifles to fire 1200 rds/minute).

 

[T'ai Chi]

T'ai:

Did they shoot the lock, or the door?

There are shotgun rounds (10ga and 12ga) designed for shooting doors. They use something like a lead-pellet filled beanbag, IIRC. The idea, though, is not to break the lock, but simply rip the bolt out of the frame (or the hasp off the door, etc). The idea being that its much easier to break the wood than the metal. A comapny called Rhino Arms used to sell them (dunno if they're still around...they skirted close to the edge on legal issues, such as selling non-machine-gun (legal definition) mod kits to set up dual .223 semi-auto rifles to fire 1200 rds/minute).

It is entirely possible that they did shoot the door and I am remembering they shot the lock; not too sure.

 

[Shrike]

As far as I know, the Sprint, Metro, and Civic HF were late 80's and early
90's models with catalysts.

The Civic HF was also a flex fuel vehicle.

I think it was the earlier CVCC that did not use a catalytic converter.

I can only be sure of European models (appeal to ignorance) and what I learned in automotive engineering school (appeal to authority)
Should have remembered that you USAians went over to catalysts earlier.