Ask Adam Savage: How Lead Balloon Changed MythBusters

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Tested member Jeffrey McCullough asks Adam, "My favorite myth is lead balloon. I've heard you talk about it before, but the other day you mentioned the problems you had with the suppliers equipment failing the day you were to get the materials. Any other stories about this bust?" So, SO MANY! Join this channel to support Tested and get access to perks, like asking Adam a question:
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Science & Technology

Published on

Mar 4, 2021

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Adam Savage’s Tested Month ago

Watch MythBusters on DiscoveryPlus: www.discoveryplus.com/ Join this channel to support Tested and get access to perks, like asking Adam a question: ruvid.net/show-UCiDJtJKMICpb9B1qf7qjEOAjoin More MythBusters-related videos here: ruvid.net/group/PLJtitKU0CAehaZdgrPRzjyGFSEQ8URiQl

Robr8a23 Dogg 8 days ago

@DAN Oh

Jay Means 14 days ago

RIP Grant a awesome mind that was taken too soon

Pyraminxium 16 days ago

Q11

Joe 18 days ago

What was your most disappointing outcome of a myth? Either a failure in execution or a lame outcome

Jeff Moore 21 day ago

Adam that part where your doing the first mental calculation. I had the answer earlier but I was thinking in metric like the rest of the world. The fact that I was .025 mm out is that I'm no good at maths. Always loved both yours and Jamie's work. Aussie Jeff

atrumluminarium Day ago

Man the nostalgia just hit me hard

Bo Dan 2 days ago

"It's the singer not the song"... is a saying I've heard.

Robert Scott 3 days ago

Can some one translate these measurements to real measurements? What's 1 thousandth of an inch in millimeters?

R Cort 4 days ago

Lead balloon episode is one of the best. My all time favorite was the hot water heater. The surprising energy stored up and the fact that, instead of exploding in place, that thing took off as straight as a Polaris missile, busting through 2 stories of framework, like it was paper mache, was simply jaw-dropping.

Frank Palladino 5 days ago

.007 of an inch thick. There's a bond joke in here somewhere.

Aaron Macy 5 days ago

To anyone wondering why he seems to struggle to speak, we are mere mortals, as where he is a god who can translate smart science people math brain into our language. Doing that on the fly is hard AF. My grandfather was a physicist who had no idea how to translate anything in his brain into terms that mouth breathers like you or I could understand, which is why he abandoned teaching and went on to help make GPS a thing. He was eloquent AF when it came to emotional aspects of life but if I asked him why the light came on when I flipped the switch, ..his pupils would widen and he’d go silent as he disappeared behind his clipboard with its inch of note filled graft paper clipped to it.

Lagiacrus 6 days ago

Moral of the story: If you need something engineering related, go to the Germans.

Skaatje 6 days ago

"And that lead too" I see what you did there :)

daniel cairns 6 days ago

Adam, you are the coolest guy on the Internet. Your enthusiasm is infectious.

Adam Jones 7 days ago

I would kill to spend a day with Adam just picking his brain and listening to his genious ideas. Mythbusters set me off on a path of fabrication, engineering and just plain fun jobs. I miss spending days on end in a welding hood making cool stuff. An injury took me out of the field and after 7 spine surgeries left me disabled, depressed and financially struggling, but hey I am still kicking. Be safe out there everyone, I lost almost everything due to one tiny error by a coworker.

shadebug 7 days ago

Wait, Richard Hammond is your first pull for great reality host? As in the one that wanted to be cool from middle era Top Gear?

KINGEXPLOSIONMURDER ¿ 8 days ago

is it weird that he gives me Gale Boetticher (Braking Bad) vibes. No offense to Adam Savage btw, I just keep getting this vibe.

SweetSideOfFries 8 days ago

I admire your comfort in silence while you are thinking of how to explain, rather than filling the space with um's. Something I always wish to work on.

Moto Stories with Unkie Phil 8 days ago

Lead balloon was my favorite as well! Man I miss this series!

Eric Prosser 8 days ago

When did this man start looking like a clone of Colonel Sanders?

CsStoker 8 days ago

When you want to design something crazy always bet on the Germans to build it, they always deliver

Keef 8 days ago

Richard Hammond,a legend in his own hamster cage..

Andreas Willumsen 8 days ago

I just realized that Mythbusters shaped one of my core philosophies, everything is interesting if the person communicating is interested in the subject.

TheMoosenugget 8 days ago

moral of the story German efficiency is no joke

Do Med 8 days ago

The wide-eyed prose numerically entertain because drizzle phenotypically pour via a fearful fearless wish. labored, spotty charles

Pronto 8 days ago

Email from Jimmy Page: "Expect a call from my lawyer."

Drew Wilkins 9 days ago

Your Wilton vise is so much nicer than mine.

Steven Nault 9 days ago

In the infamous words of the Savage..."I reject your reality and replace it with my own...

Brandon Dasher 9 days ago

telling stories about pointless things but being super involved is the whole basis of youtube. I was wildly into and super excited about Jimmy Broadbent getting a fast lap in a sim racing car in a video game. It was like a 30 min video.

Fish Er Man 9 days ago

Great video, but the damn adds are coming fast and furious these days.

Seth Darby 9 days ago

i miss mythbusters it was one of my all time favorite shows

Simon Brunning 9 days ago

I loved the build, and the episode, but... In British English at least, "go down like a lead balloon" does not mean something is impossible, it means something is unpopular. Is that different in US English?

Cole Lawton 10 days ago

That is the most German shit I have ever heard of in my life. "We need you guys to make thinner lead than the thinnest lead ever made. We're short on time." "Nein. We will make it thinner than thinner than the thinnest lead ever made. Also we're done."

Cody Deutsch 4 days ago

@Curious Haakan Did you watch the video...? A german company is the one that finally made the lead they needed and they made it 30% thinner than requested. Adam said it... In this video.

madjob8 10 days ago

have you taken your medications today?

James Yanchek 10 days ago

So. You're saying your lead balloon did NOT go over like a...lead balloon?

Shannon Hamilton 10 days ago

The Mythbusters successfully proved that making a balloon out of lead is not impossible, merely extremely difficult. By the way, what happened to that balloon? Was the lead it was made from recycled?

Winter Coder 10 days ago

Looks like you had a few Joe Biden moments there, Adam.

Sultan Reyhan 10 days ago

How about make a mini tank from a paper like in the dr.stone anime

Sultan Reyhan 10 days ago

Hi i from Indonesian i.like your show in my television

jimmyboy163 10 days ago

I see it's still floating in the background to the left of your head (as seen by the viewer)....great stuff!!

Antnee 10 days ago

I always assumed the "lead balloon" was just that it wouldn't float well, not that it was impossible 🤷‍♂️

Nature and Physics 10 days ago

Neunundneunzig Ledballons Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont Hielt man für Ufos aus dem All Darum schickte ein Hyneman

Nick Scassera 10 days ago

These talks sort of encompass the magic of what I felt when watching the show when I was younger. It's a feeling I miss and appreciate!

jammiecg0001 10 days ago

I like the hands on experimentation of the shows, trying to do the impossible, doing stuff most of us would like to do but don't have the time, knowledge, or money to do, even if it didn't seem that exciting.

Hermeshoes 11 days ago

Another good example of this type of myth was polishing poop

MadMike 83 11 days ago

Do you and Jamie still associate?

Neda Nother 11 days ago

a question you've probably never been asked. Have you provided for what happens to your shop when you are no more. Ive worried about my garage and all the stuff, projects and tools. Yours is a virtual museum. Is it left for your family to deal with or do you have a plan. Sorry for the dark question. It just came to me as I was doing nothing but listening to the video while watching nothing but the back ground stuff. .......like an athiest praying in a foxhole "just in case".....I CALL DIBS. Cheers brother

Kendall McRay 11 days ago

Wow people find value in this ad lib about a random episode with no clips just hand gestures and rambling tangents. Spend the money you make from this video on a shiny butt-plug made of whatever precious or semiprecious metal the revenue will allow - this is the only appropriate and honest use of this money. Anything else is an acknowledgment that you are nothing more than past-your-prime time thieves. Good day.

Michael Moore 11 days ago

Adam telling this story is equivalent to an adventurer retelling their tale.

LeaveMeAloneGoogle 11 days ago

I hate to say this - and I went back and watched it several times to make sure (and I'm *not* a medical or mental health care provider) - but: (how do I put this politely).... this immediately struck me as ... not-sober speech. It's rambling, it gets "lost", it's a little emotionally flighty, and a little over the top...etc. There's also a lot of face touching, arm/hand movement (like crossing arms, tucking into armpits, waving hands, all within short time), dramatic gestures, and other cues. You said "lead is one of the most *volatile*" - comparing to wet toilet paper - materials... c'mon. "volatile"? Then when you get to where you lose it on what a thou is and glaze out "....so sorry... " "that's the translation I was doing in my head". "and and and contingencies". OK, if only because I've always been a massive fan, don't know if I've been even slightly dancing around it here out of respect but if so, forget it 'cause of care: dude, you're drinkin' here. And you need to know that it's showing. Massively. I mean that to be helpful - I hope that you hear that.

JMiskovsky 11 days ago

Epstein foils did not role itself.

Comrade Napoleon 11 days ago

so Adam, that 55 min cut wouldn't happen to still be saved somewhere would it?

Eli Pastura 12 days ago

the pause lmaooo also you are my favorite reality host, adam

gene lappe 12 days ago

I miss Mythbusters so much, totally loved it. It was a good run. And as a former Air Force Ammo troop, the explosions were awesome!!!!

Yamonda Kawazuki 12 days ago

Fav song? 99 Lead Balloons🎈

John Hails 12 days ago

Adam smokes a joint and rambles to the internet

Tommy Tonka 12 days ago

I love this guy, he’s such a genius and genuine mind. I wish we all could get that excited at our everyday jobs or careers.

Winston Durham 12 days ago

I want the 55 min cut

Winston Durham 12 days ago

Epsthseine’s Foils

DoctorGarkle 12 days ago

Can one loft an arbitrarily large volume of helium encased in an arbitrarily thin skin of lead? Duh! Of course! This is not even a remotely interesting question.

itsmesomeguy 12 days ago

Is that a model Swiss Army knife in the background?

Preston 12 days ago

Richard Hammond!!

bloodred255 12 days ago

go over like a lead balloon doesn't mean a lead balloon isn't possible, just its a REALLY bad idea from an engineering standpoint because the lead would have to be super thin and has the tensile strength of wet tissue paper, its not that it CAN'T happen, its ....that it CAN happen, but its a terrible idea you can make a balloon out of anything. its just lead is the worst common thing. to bust it, you should have found something WORSE than lead to make a balloon out of.

chris whiting 12 days ago

Society: well that idea will go over like a led balloon. Adam: thank you very much :)

Brian Fitzsimons 13 days ago

Adam: ...and that was the A story. Canadians: eh?

alisher rakhimov 13 days ago

i love adam....he seems a bit stoned in this episode ;)

Matthew e 13 days ago

i just imagined if he was bald and i can see it i cant unsee it help

Mojo Jo jo 13 days ago

Your looking more like the colonel everyday...

Michelle Nguyen 13 days ago

The boundless dancer anaerobically receive because aunt immuhistochemically clean forenenst a wholesale ship. brainy, magical lathe

Zach Schneider 13 days ago

We couldn't make it a long tube it needed to be round so we made it a cube....wait what

Gable Bass 13 days ago

Hey this was recorded on my 18th birthday! 🥳

vass ilika 13 days ago

Nice Victorinox Swiss Army Knife Display moving there in the back.... can I have it? :-)

masjuggalo 13 days ago

My favorite was when you and Jamie Busted the tire catching fire myth that you actually were wrong about

Kyle Maxwell 13 days ago

Adam is aging poorly. It's so sad to see. Hearing him stumble through simple declarative sentences like he's Joe Biden on Prozac destroys my childhood.

DRockeh 13 days ago

There are so many episodes I loved. But my favourite moment has to be possibly the most obviously going to be confirmed that turned out to be busted. Bull in a China shop. If I recall you needed to send in 3 bulls before something broke.

Smoothwake 13 days ago

What a great story!

Robin Deatherage 13 days ago

They already made lead balloons and they worked. Take your fabric and paint it with the old silver lead paint same as the Air-Force did for which the term was started and there. That paint is all lead based too. However today its considered a poison and is banned for use in the U.S. TODAY. They used the lead paint because it was malleable(bendable and stretchable)to seal the canvas fabric and to add weight to the balloons to stabilize them.

Christopher Cope 13 days ago

I think it’s funny that you went from a decimal base of inches to a fraction base of millimeters for your back of forehead conversion.

Ommurg 13 days ago

"We can tell really cool stories about stuff that's pointless and absurd as long as we are really in to it." This is so important. There is not a single thing in this universe that has to be boring or tedious. When humans find their spot and get to advocate for something with zeal, no matter how niche or small, it is just so beautiful. It adds to our slate of knowledge in such an underrated way.

Taeschno Flo 13 days ago

Well, now figure out how many of these you need to lift a person and build another Hindenburg to make led Zeppelin proud

Drew Lawrence 13 days ago

Can't choose favorite kid. Calls kids things 1 and thing 2

Kyle Dunn 13 days ago

The turd polishing was a great episode

David S 14 days ago

Anyone else distracted and intrigued by the strange swiss army knife moving in the background?

Al Bundy 14 days ago

That's cool. A balloon made out of Biden's immigration blankets.

Allen Parsens 14 days ago

You guys are the luckiest guys I have ever come across. You have had a whole career, so many years or being on TV and getting high wages. I don't know how you managed that.

Joseph Daggett 14 days ago

LoL was taught that concrete air planes can fly but lead was too heavy to use as balloon Material..in order to float it needs more gas than it's capable of holding...such a backwards thinking world and most of what you think you know isn't true. U idiots believe the lies and are too lazy to put forth the effort to find the truth... so suck up the corporate lies and Give them all your money

Johnny Five 14 days ago

Please stop decimalising imperial. Just use metric!

RIIICKY BOBBY 14 days ago

when I was growing up my dad always told me, "do what you love you'll never work a day in your life."

Thomas King 14 days ago

Balloon maker here. A tetrahedron would have been better than a cube. Four sides instead of six, and four useless corners instead of eight. And construction is simple; just a tube with the ends sealed 90 degrees to each other. And the shape is better for a balloon, too. Presto, a three sided pyramid.

The TokuTickler 14 days ago

My favorite Myths are usually the B Myths, because the A Myths are usually just "What if we took an explosion and blew it up"

Isaac Oglevy 14 days ago

Richard Hammond, Phil Keegan, ....Donald Trump. The greats.

Publiconions 14 days ago

Mythbusters was NOT about the explosions... just window dressing- that's why SmashLab sucked so much. It's about how much fun Adam, Jamie and Grant (rip) Kari and Tory are to watch... I miss Mythbusters

Ebola 14 days ago

Why not just fill a room with dense gas to make the balloon more buoyant?

D.O.M. 14 days ago

My kids grew up watching you, one of their primary school teachers told me they used B for busted, C for confirmed and P for.... I remember all your shows as if I saw them yesterday. Thank you from all of my family.

Do Med 14 days ago

The cumbersome liquid densply lick because ostrich technologically listen aboard a untidy hedge. womanly, equal crush

ProjectsBlack 14 days ago

Simple. Calculate the weight and size of the balloon. Create an actual balloon to the same specification and hang the weight of the lead from the bottom. If it takes off, it should work. Oh yes and internal pressure should be factored in, but thats not really an issue with something like this.