Mythbusters : quel est votre problème ?

- Please do not try what you're about to see at home.

Well, there's your problem

- In this special series of "MythBusters",

Almost too exciting.

- The dream team tackles their dream themes.

It's scientific.

- Testing myths about everything from electricity

Ow!

To pressure

and gravity.

This won't hurt a bit.

- Shaking down the science of shock waves.

Velocity and impact.

With crazy chemistry.

Oh my goodness.

Far out physics.

Fun for the whole family.

And insane explosions.

Is everybody okay?

- Life's burning questions answered

on "MythBusters: There's Your Problem!"

In this episode, the MythBusters fire up the front burner

to investigate the science of heat.

Then they turn the dial way down

for a frosty foray into all things frozen.

They're colorful, they're delicious, and they're fun.

- We doing a experiment here or are we screwing around?

But when they heat up,

these bliss balls have been known to blow up,

causing serious burns.

The exploding jaw breaker.

We know this happened, we just don't know why.

- Yeah, we have the police reports and everything.

What could turn a jawbreaker

into a potential bomb?

This complex candy starts life as a small solid center.

Then sugar syrup is applied layer by layer

in a process that takes five days.

And that could be key to their explosive potential.

That's pretty.

The first thing that I noticed when I cut this open

is that there's a potential for a temperature differential.

A temperature differential

means a layer inside The jawbreaker

could heat more rapidly than the outer shell.

The layer would then expand

creating internal pressure and instability.

If somebody nibbled on a jawbreaker in this state,

it could burst open, releasing its scalding hot interior.

- With the slightest, you know, messing with it,

it would go off like a bomb.

So the team wants to come up

with a heating and cooling regime

to determine which scenario, if any,

would make the jawbreaker explode under pressure.

Smells really good.

Look at that. - Oh God, look at that.

There's a hole right in the side of it.

Don't try this at home.

Zone hot.

Nothing explosive there.

No one wants a scalded mouth,

so Adam's come up with a snappy plan.

- We have to build a fake mouth to chew on a gobstopper.

We want it to be able to chew,

which means the lower jaw will be the hinged part.

The upper jaw will be fixed like in the head.

Let's hope Adam's granny

doesn't miss her dentures

because Tory's gonna apply some serious bite force.

What I've done is I've hooked up

this force gauge to this device.

And this will give us a accurate reading

of how much the jaw exerts.

- The digital gauge will allow Tory

to match the bite force of the human jaw, around 170 pounds.

Ow, that hurts.

- Time to put the artificial jaws to the test.

Tory applies pressure.

Maybe too much.

Oh, that busted a tooth.

Busted a tooth?

I felt it, then I heard it go over here somewhere.

You shouldn't eat hard candy.

- This is a job for teeth of steel.

About to cut some canines.

Tory shapes some steel rods

into bite-sized chunks and shapes them on a grinder.

They might not get you a Hollywood contract,

but these iron choppers will be able

to replicate the bite force of a human mouth.

I finished the teeth.

I hope they work.

- Meanwhile, the microwave is getting a workout.

Look at this.

The one light green layer in the middle there

started to bubble and nothing else did.

I'm gonna put this piece back in there

without the core in the middle of it

and see whether it just kind of pools

and nothing else happens.

Okay.

- Christine uses an infrared thermometer

to measure the temperature of the candy's molten inner core.

225 degrees.

Yeah, it went up to 225.

- Well, you know, this is actually pretty interesting

'cause it's clear that it is reacting in that layer

a lot more than the surrounding areas.

And that's where we get some kind of an explosion.

Ow, really retains the heat.

You could get seriously burned with this.

In fact, I think I did.

Want to get me a jaw breaker to test?

- The jaw breaker is packing heat.

Now to apply pressure.

All right, that's a full bite.

Nothing's going on.

They try again,

but the jawbreaker just won't crack.

Perhaps the candy has been heated too fast.

Defrost cycle.

See if we can figure it out on this machine.

Okay, so-

- You could do, I think it might be power level one.

- All they have to do is figure out

how to program the microwave.

It's too smart.

- Point one pound, that's probably a good bet.

- We don't have the manual for this anywhere.

Probably somewhere,

but I think that's sort of what it does.

- 30 years of special effects experience

finally pays off.

There we go, start.

That was crazy.

It's like watching paint dry.

But even after so much

persistence and patience,

there's no bust in this rock hard candy.

They test combination after combination

of heating, cooling, and pressure until finally.

Going hot on the candy.

Okay.

Everybody clear?

- Ready? - Yeah.

Three, two, one.

Ice water over here.

I got it on my arm.

- A good reason to never let your guard down.

Christine's been hit in the face.

I got burned by the candy.

I wasn't wearing a face mask like I should have been.

And I couldn't protect myself with my hands

Upwards of 225 degrees

and with high heat retention,

the sticky liquid candy is extremely painful.

I'm okay.

I've got firsthand experience though.

It doesn't feel good.

I got the side of my neck and my temple so it hurts.

- The MythBusters have conclusively proven

that heating a jawbreaker and applying pressure

can be a big myth take.

I mean if you were a five-year-old kid

and this went off in your face,

there's no doubt it would leave serious burns on you.

It was very...

I mean, I could feel it like 10 seconds, 15 seconds later

it wasn't cooling down.

It's like napalm.

It's myth confirmed.

Next up, Kari and Grant are hot footing it

to Sonora, California to begin answering a burning question.

We're here to observe

an actual firewalking class being put on

by the Firewalking Institute of Research and Education.

They want to test the myth

is walking on hot coals a case of mind over matter?

Or is there some other reason feet don't get fried.

Set up to light up takes just over an hour.

And tensions are rising along with the temperature

Getting a top of about 1300 Fahrenheit.

Kari's convinced that what matters

is not what's on your mind

but how hellishly hot the coals are.

- After measuring this fire at 1400 degrees

and hearing that after they rake it out,

it only is gonna go down to about 1,000,

there's absolutely nothing so far

that's convinced me that I'm gonna walk on this.

- But that's not stopping anyone else.

The students glide across in a zen-like zone

without a single injury.

But before the team follows in their footsteps,

they want some hard data.

I've seen it done,

but like to have a little bit more scientific backing

before I'm willing to risk my feet.

- And that means cooking up an experiment