Physicists solve the mystery of interleaved phone books. Adam was doing a complicated trick to tear the phone book in half. Two dutch students tested the phonebook myth that states if two phonebooks pages are interwoven they will be near impossible to pull apart. According to legend, if you interweave the pages of two phone books it is nearly impossible to pull them apart. Mythbusters goes dutch video phone book myth put to. Mythbusters 9102008 phone book fiction tivocommunity. Why cant two interleaved phone books be pulled apart.
Mythbusters goes dutch video phone book myth put to the. Feb 16, 2008 on mythbusters there were two cars pulling on the phone books, but the spine held up easily thats just amazing. On mythbusters there were two cars pulling on the phone books, but the spine held up easily thats just amazing. Youll find that your fingers automatically press together. Then interleave the pages and try to pull the books.
After seeing how hard it was for jamie and adam to separate the phone. The series premiered on the discovery channel on january 23, 2003. Mythbusters ejection seat segment from mega movie myths special duration. Are two interlaced phone books impossible to pull apart by any means. In effect, they set two phone books together, then pushed them into each other so that their pages alternated, and every page of one phone book was lying between two pages of the other.
The pages of the sticky note pads are held together by friction. Finally, the mythbusters resorted to using an m551 sheridan light tank and an m1 armored personnel carrier. Dec 09, 2015 mythbusters recap of pulling apart two interleaved phonebooks. Mythbusters is a science entertainment television program created and produced by australias beyond television productions for the discovery channel. Jan 16, 2015 pulling apart two phone books theres a rumour around these parts that two interleaved yes thats a word phone books are impossible to pull apart, so i decided to investigate.
Rather than bend it, spreading the pages apart, then tearing along the bend, all you need to do is start a tear. Mythbusters phone book friction full episode video dailymotion. Phone book friction september 10, 2008 119 myths tested. In short, it is extremely difficult to pull apart two phone books whose pages have been interleaved. Explore friction by launching stuff, from scientific. The explosive truth behind 30 of the most perplexing urban legends of all time isbn 141690929x also gives a list of a dozen myths that are unlikely to be explored although four were eventually tested. So im watching the mythbusters about the two phone books, and how if you alternate pages, its impossible to separate them. Our dutch mythbusters tim and steve try every trick in the book so to speak to pull apart the phone books, with some surprising results. In the intro of the phone book friction myth, the bluescreen first showed adam and jamie alone tugging on the phone books, then two groups of people, then two cars, then two tanks.
Perhaps the answer to the puzzle is to shake the phone books before trying to pull them apart to releae the frictionmuch like you actually. Take two phone books, each about 1 kg about pages and carefully shuffle the pages together, each page of one phone book alternating with a page of the other phone book. In the process i revived the conundrum of phone book friction. Will tory and kari successfully pull apart two phone books in 30 minutes without breaking their teeth. They used vehicles to exert 8,000 pounds of force on the phone books before they separated. Physicists solve the mystery of interleaved phone books mit. A pair of cars also failed at pulling the phone books apart. The trick apparently also works pretty well with reasonably thick magazines. Mythbusters 9102008 phone book fiction tivocommunity forum.
The extreme friction of the system is due to the operator, the researchers explained. It didnt take me long to get to the bottom of this, and no i did not sit and methodically interleave two phone books. Phone book friction, from mythbusters the enigma of the two interleaved phonebooks pdf, from cornell university library slippery science. Discovery channels mythbusters gave it a shot and could not pull apart the phone books until they employed the help of a. Oct 24, 2012 the mythbusters attempted to pull their books apart with two people as well, but quickly abandoned this approach. Mythbusters phone book friction video this is a short video clip from the episode of mythbusters on the discovery channel. In this episode they tried to bust the myth that it is impossible to pull two interleaved phone books apart. Just dont let them see you getting your finger wet and dont let them examine the wet parts of the phone book. After using two tanks to pull apart a couple of interlaced phone books i just wanted to make a phone call. Even a small number of interleaved pages can result in a surprisingly large amount of friction, making the sticky notes impossible to pull apart.
The thicker the phone book you use, the harder this part is. Mythbusters is an australianamerican science entertainment television program created by peter rees and produced by australias beyond television productions. The kids are gonna be like, oh my god, she cant even do math any more. Discovery channel firm contains instructions for science fair projects based on experiments conducted on the mythbusters television series in attempts to discover the truth behind popular myths and legends. Mythbusters recap of pulling apart two interleaved phonebooks. Watch all 33 mythbusters episodes from season 8,view pictures, get episode information and more. If we hadnt wasted time on the shark bit we could have seen more about the phone books, like how many pages does it take to get too hard to pull apart.
Plus phone book pages are so think any small amount of rain reduces. Without having actually tried it, unless i could somehow manage to pull off a real faro shuffle with phone books, im guessing that, even with help, it might take me a lot longer than 20 minutes to faro the pages of two phone books together at least unless i lived in a much smaller town with a much smaller phone book. The mythbusters tried to pull the two phone books apart with human power, which was unsuccessful. In the show, the mythbusters tried pulling the phone books apart with two cars pulling in opposite directions. Now attempt to pull the books apart by their spines. Its a fascinating read, and its all to do with friction. I was able to tear through a twoinch phone book easily. Mad scientist, david willey, with the help of his friends ed and kurt, tear apart a pair of interleaved phone books. The hosts of the tv show mythbusters did an experiment once where they interleaved the pages of two phone books. Why it takes tanks to separate two phone books the. Beginning with human force, the students eventually attached the books to two cars driving in opposite directions.
Finally, the mythbusters resorted to using an m551 sheridan light tank and an m1 armored personnel carrier, which were able to pull the phone books apart. The build team is having difficulty coming up with an estimate on how long it will take to inflate all the needed balloons. The easy way to do this is to break the binding across your thighknee, which will generally tear the pages at that point. Oct 22, 2015 phone book friction, from mythbusters the enigma of the two interleaved phonebooks pdf, from cornell university library slippery science. It states that when two phone books are laid with their pages interlocking, they will fuse together, making it impossible to pull them apart. The explosive truth behind 30 of the most perplexing urban legends of all time zimmerman, keith, zimmerman, kent, hyneman, jamie, savage, adam, rees, peter on. Once youve torn through the edge, ripping the rest of the phone book in half is relatively easy. This is a list of the various myths tested on the show as well as the results of the experiments the myth is busted, plausible, or confirmed. Editorial tools and workflow web content management. Each episode, the mythbusters, adam savage and jamie hyneman, two special effects experts with more than 30 years of experience, methodically set out to bust three urban legends. This phenomenon is commonly demonstrated with phone books. So begins the article over at the conversation, explaining why its impossible to pull apart interleaved phone books. In theory, two cars could hang from interleaved phone books without their being pulled apart. I found myself fastforwarding through the shark bitsand thats saying a lot considering mythbusters is by far my favorite show.
Many thanks to rob go for providing the link to this 4minute clip, which shows that it is, in fact, impossible to pull apart two interleaved phone books, even with the use of automobiles. Partly busted the mythbusters tried to pull the books apart with human power, first attempting to do so on their own and then bringing in ten other people which included tory and kari in a separate. Jan 14, 2008 it states that when two phone books are laid with their pages interlocking, they will fuse together, making it impossible to pull them apart. Once you master the proper way of ripping a phone book in half, you can use this crutch less and less. Aug 26, 2015 take two phone books and lie them face up, with the spines facing away from each other. Why it takes tanks to separate two phone books the pipettepen.
Advanced level are two interlaced phone books impossible to pull apart by any means. A long time ago, a phone book was a book that had an index of phone numbers for everyone in your city. I did it with two cleo mags about pages, and i simply cant get them to budge now. The explosive truth behind 30 of the most perplexing urban legends of all time. It turns out that when you try to pull the two books apart, the. Mythbusters discovered that it takes at least 8,000 pounds of force to separate the books. Aug 28, 2015 so begins the article over at the conversation, explaining why its impossible to pull apart interleaved phone books. Mythbusters phonebook friction tv episode 2008 imdb. The discovery channels mythbusters recently conducted an experiment to find out how much force is required to separate two interleaved phone books. The tv show mythbusters had an episode in which they interleaved two phone books and dramatized how hard it was to pull them apart. Researchers explain why its nearly impossible to separate.
The series was transmitted by numerous international broadcasters, including sbs australia firstrun episodes, with repeat episodes shown on 7mate australia, and other. List of mythbusters episodes project gutenberg self. S i find that magazines provides stronger resistance than thinner phone book pages. The shows hosts, special effects experts adam savage and jamie hyneman, use elements of the scientific method to test the validity of rumors, myths, movie scenes, adages, internet videos, and news stories. Eventually, they call the rocket scientist, and she came up with just under four hours. Apr 11, 2020 letting out a manly yell at this point can help. Feb 19, 2017 mythbusters phone book friction video this is a short video clip from the episode of mythbusters on the discovery channel. Aug 17, 2015 physicists solve the mystery of interleaved phone books. Pulling apart two phone books directory enquiries blog.
People have tried pulling two interleaved phone books apart by playing tug. Try pulling apart two interleaved phone books and youll inevitably be defeated by huge frictional forces. This mythbusters collection contains 12 episodes of mythbusters, including a collection of veiwer myths, viral videos and the highly controversial airplane on a conveyer belt episode. The easy way to do this is to break the binding across your thighknee, which will. Sep 14, 2008 there are so many reasons to love the dutch, and mythbusters has just provided another.
Mythbusters 9102008 phone book fiction discussion in now. Does interweaving the pages of two phone books create an unbreakable bond. The cast of the television series mythbusters perform experiments to verify or debunk urban legends, old wives tales, and the like. And they dont just explain if somethings true or false. Why its impossible to pull apart interleaved phone books.
They instead used two teams of five on opposite ends, and when this didnt work, they tried all ten on one side, with the other end anchored. Once few pages are loose you pull them, which loosens other pages, and so forth. The mythbusters attempted to pull their books apart with two people as well, but quickly abandoned this approach. How to tear a phone book in half the art of manliness. Although i was slightly disappointed that it didnt contain teh paper crossbow ep detailed on the cover, it was still a brillant dvd and has provided much. These are the methods they attempted to pull the phone books apart. Mythbusters phone book friction full episode video.
Feb 14, 2020 dip it into a cup of water and let it drip onto the first pages that you will be ripping. Tearing two interlaced phone books apart using two 18. Just hold them loosely but snugly together, dont try to press them against each other, and pull your hands apart from each other. And then kari, grant and tory test a fishy tale of. There are so many reasons to love the dutch, and mythbusters has just provided another. Savage has commented that it is difficult to test myths that require them to disprove general claims because of the. On this episode of mythbusters adam and jamie take a fan mail film and use it to dial in on a phone book fable. Take two phone books and lie them face up, with the spines facing away from each other. Dip it into a cup of water and let it drip onto the first pages that you will be ripping. A dutch competition challenged viewers to recreate the mythbusters model. Then interleave the pages and try to pull the books apart. Can a shark be blown up like they did in deep blue sea. It is impossible to separate two phone books interleaved pagetopage due to the massive amount of friction between the 800 pages of each book. If that had happened it could have loosened up some of the pages, similar to the tearing of the phone book.
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