Mythbusters “Terminal Velocity” episode
We have helped the Mythbusters on three different occasions so far. The most well-known one so far was the Birds on a Truck episode, from 2007. But on September 19, 2008 we were asked to come to San Francisco again and help the team with another myth from an upcoming show. Perhaps you remember the car commercial from a few years back, which shows a car being dropped from thousands of feet, while another car drives from the same distance from the impact point. Which car will get there first? The point of the commercial is that the car could drive faster than it would fall. In other words, it can drive faster than its own terminal velocity (the speed at which something which is dropped will not exceed due to gravity vs atmospheric resistance). This special 2 hour Mythbusters aired in April 2009.
This application of real metrology (the science of making measurements) is what Dewetron is all about, so they called upon us to help them find the balance point of the cars, to make them fall in the same way that was portrayed on the commercial. So, was the myth busted or not? We can’t tell -- you’ll have to wait until January to find out!
Grant (Imahara), Dewetron’s Taylor Smith, Dewetron president Grant Smith, Kari, and Tory
Lesson of the day “All Grant’s are geniuses!” -- agreed!
Note - the original commercial was created by the Mac Guff Agency, who host the quicktime ad and pictures on their website. You can see them here.
The DEWE-201 worked flawlessly all day long, recording load, sound, video, and numerous calculated channels
My hero!
Grant Imihara: “All Grants are geniuses, right Grant?”
Grant Smith: “You’re right, Grant.”
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Copyright © 2008 Discovery Communications, LLC
