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Post by Cybermortis on Jun 7, 2018 16:19:48 GMT
Premise; An episode dedicated to testing hair related myths.
Idea one; Does shaving body hair really have a significant impact on swimming speed?
Idea two; In warm conditions does body hair actually help you stay cooler? The theory being that sweat will be pulled up the hairs, away from the skin, and provide a far larger area for evaporation than bare skin.
Anyone have something to add to this? A hair-rope and removing chewing gum from hair have both been tested.
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Post by the light works on Jun 8, 2018 3:52:47 GMT
how about the effect of hairstyle on scalp temperature? is it better to insulate with lots of hair on a hot day, or does short hair and ventilation keep you cool better?
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Post by wvengineer on Jun 8, 2018 5:47:49 GMT
Idea one; Does shaving body hair really have a significant impact on swimming speed? Suggestion for a testing methodology: To start, you would need an endless pool/swim spa setup. One that flows the water to create a current. Now you need a ski rope on a force gauge. The idea is that a person in the the pool with the pumps running. If they just float in the pool, they will have a given resistance. By having them hold on to the ski rope, it will hold them against the current and you can measure how much drag they create. So start with a harry guy, have them float int he pool with the pumps running, and get a drag figures. Now take them out, shave them and put them back in the water and see how much the drag has changed. Dry a few different people and see how it changes. Some variables you can try: Open hair vs swim cap vs. shaved bald. For women, 1 piece vs two piece swim suit. For guys, trunks vs speedo.
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Post by the light works on Jun 8, 2018 11:05:47 GMT
Idea one; Does shaving body hair really have a significant impact on swimming speed? Suggestion for a testing methodology: To start, you would need an endless pool/swim spa setup. One that flows the water to create a current. Now you need a ski rope on a force gauge. The idea is that a person in the the pool with the pumps running. If they just float in the pool, they will have a given resistance. By having them hold on to the ski rope, it will hold them against the current and you can measure how much drag they create. So start with a harry guy, have them float int he pool with the pumps running, and get a drag figures. Now take them out, shave them and put them back in the water and see how much the drag has changed. Dry a few different people and see how it changes. Some variables you can try: Open hair vs swim cap vs. shaved bald. For women, 1 piece vs two piece swim suit. For guys, trunks vs speedo. if you really want to complicate things, does shaving your arms decrease drag more than it decreases thrust?
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Post by the light works on Jun 8, 2018 11:06:54 GMT
there is a legend that torsion catapults used hair instead of rope for the torsion bands.
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Post by Cybermortis on Jun 8, 2018 11:46:02 GMT
there is a legend that torsion catapults used hair instead of rope for the torsion bands. That sounds ideal. Do you have any links for that? With the body hair myths...Well Mythbusters like to be fully involved in testing where possible. *Grins* Wax, for science! Your welcome guys. This might be a two for one test, as they could do body hair tests, get waxed, then do the 'shaved' tests.
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Post by the light works on Jun 8, 2018 12:17:35 GMT
there is a legend that torsion catapults used hair instead of rope for the torsion bands. That sounds ideal. Do you have any links for that? With the body hair myths...Well Mythbusters like to be fully involved in testing where possible. *Grins* Wax, for science! Your welcome guys. This might be a two for one test, as they could do body hair tests, get waxed, then do the 'shaved' tests. I could google it, but my link quality would be no better than anyone else googling it.
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Post by silverdragon on Jun 9, 2018 8:47:15 GMT
Old world myth, Hair in construction... Its well known the old wattle and daub method of filling in spaces in walls used Horse hair in the mix. But can we update this?.
Is hair of any type beneficial to concrete?.
Where this is coming from, Fibreglass. Instead of the weak glass fibres they use in that matting, could a matting of woven hair work out better?
Strength test small 6inch square half inch thick builds?. Half inch because thats just about right for a small boat.
Can they get enough hair together to go full size and build a boat?. One man craft would do, so maybe a eight inch thick skin of hair/glue?.. how strong is that in comparison to traditional fibreglass.
You may have to volunteer to take away the waste from all barber shops and hair saloons in the local 10 mile radius...
Human hair against Animal. Sheeps wool is at this current time worth less that the price of sheering the sheep, could that be used and how strong is it anyway?.
I am having a mental image of them learning how to sheer an unhelpful sheeps.
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Post by ironhold on Jun 9, 2018 14:11:03 GMT
This one comes from Viking mythology. www.britannica.com/topic/Ragnar-LothbrokRagnar Lothbrok, aka "Ragnar Hairy-Breeches". Where'd the name come from? Some accounts have it that in order to rescue a princess from a giant evil serpent, he helped to protect himself by stuffing horse hair down his pants to help create a crude form of padded armor. But could doing that actually offer very much in the way of protection?
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Post by the light works on Jun 9, 2018 15:13:41 GMT
This one comes from Viking mythology. www.britannica.com/topic/Ragnar-LothbrokRagnar Lothbrok, aka "Ragnar Hairy-Breeches". Where'd the name come from? Some accounts have it that in order to rescue a princess from a giant evil serpent, he helped to protect himself by stuffing horse hair down his pants to help create a crude form of padded armor. But could doing that actually offer very much in the way of protection? horsehair is tough and resilient, it is still used in some upholstery. if they want to do something a little more quantifiable, horsehair was also commonly used as the resilient material in padding in helmets. to compare, my helmet used 1/2 inch of closed cell foam and 1 inch of open cell foam for the padding. this gives a good reference for impact absorption and resilience. they can also compare to football helmet padding and crash helmet padding.
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Post by Cybermortis on Jun 9, 2018 18:21:19 GMT
A cheap way would be to use bicycle helmets. As they could buy a couple and remove the padding and replace it for some of the helmets while keeping others unmodified as controls.
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Post by ironhold on Jun 9, 2018 21:30:13 GMT
If we're talking a snake, though, we'd also be looking at the ability to protect from penetration in addition to protection from impact.
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Post by the light works on Jun 9, 2018 22:44:08 GMT
A cheap way would be to use bicycle helmets. As they could buy a couple and remove the padding and replace it for some of the helmets while keeping others unmodified as controls. many bicycle helmets, the helmet IS the padding. a football (handegg) helmet would be a better choice for that.
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Post by the light works on Jun 9, 2018 22:45:45 GMT
If we're talking a snake, though, we'd also be looking at the ability to protect from penetration in addition to protection from impact. good point. you also have the horsehair vs snake chaps comparison.
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Post by silverdragon on Jun 10, 2018 8:37:28 GMT
A cheap way would be to use bicycle helmets. As they could buy a couple and remove the padding and replace it for some of the helmets while keeping others unmodified as controls. Can I volunteer NOT to be wearing the helmet when you test?.
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Post by Cybermortis on Jun 10, 2018 13:50:58 GMT
A cheap way would be to use bicycle helmets. As they could buy a couple and remove the padding and replace it for some of the helmets while keeping others unmodified as controls. Can I volunteer NOT to be wearing the helmet when you test?. No one would be wearing the helmets, apart from Buster, for tests. If they wanted to go really cheap they could always use bags. I'm just trying to think of a cheap 'something' they could use that would look good on TV, and would allow a control testing of something modern as a direct comparison. Given the specific nature of the myth, and that you can couple this with the known use of padded woolen layers both as armor and under plate and chainmail armour, using something with a 'shell' rather than just a bag makes sense as you can hit them with swords, maces and arrows to compare. They have other options, from American Football helmets to making their own metal helmets as well as just stuffing sacks. It all depends on what they judge to be the best value in regards time, money and suitability for the tests they have in mind.
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Post by silverdragon on Jun 11, 2018 7:46:00 GMT
Measuring force applied, you would need a sensor "Bank" on top of the "head" that can sense overall impact and localised impact?. A blunt instrument, such as the famed baseball bat, applied to the top of the head, is it localised when it strikes, or does the helmet now insulated against force spread the load over the whole head, and how much force is now absorbed and/or spread out?.
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Post by Cybermortis on Jun 11, 2018 10:10:40 GMT
They could always create a fake head and skull as was done in Bottle Bash, or a fake head with a G-Force sensor in it. Or just stick the shock patches they've used before inside the helmets.
That part is actually simple, although I would guess that a 'skull' on top of a pole with a G-Force meter of some kind would be the easiest solution. Since that would mean that resetting for tests just involves removing one helmet and putting another on. (Unless the impact cracks the skull, in which case you can pull the damaged 'head' off and replace it with a spare.)
In the context of the historical 'leggings' the fastest and simplest way would be to get a pigs leg, dress it up, and swing a sword at it; Viking swords and axes make the most sense here. If they have a bit more time, or don't want to use animal parts for some reason, they can make an ballistic gel leg. Maybe using Brian or Jon to make the mold; which is always something fun to do.
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Post by the light works on Jun 11, 2018 14:05:07 GMT
They could always create a fake head and skull as was done in Bottle Bash, or a fake head with a G-Force sensor in it. Or just stick the shock patches they've used before inside the helmets. That part is actually simple, although I would guess that a 'skull' on top of a pole with a G-Force meter of some kind would be the easiest solution. Since that would mean that resetting for tests just involves removing one helmet and putting another on. (Unless the impact cracks the skull, in which case you can pull the damaged 'head' off and replace it with a spare.) In the context of the historical 'leggings' the fastest and simplest way would be to get a pigs leg, dress it up, and swing a sword at it; Viking swords and axes make the most sense here. If they have a bit more time, or don't want to use animal parts for some reason, they can make an ballistic gel leg. Maybe using Brian or Jon to make the mold; which is always something fun to do. for the helmet, you want to measure impact to the surface of the head, and also shock to the head and neck. (besides a minimum standard for padding, our helmets also had a minimum weight requirement to avoid concussion and neck injury) for the pants, besides the sword, I'd say also do something with a spike (fang analog) to test penetration. like, say, a baseball bat with a spike in it. I would also test both loose stuffed horsehair and quilted horsehair.
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Post by silverdragon on Jun 18, 2018 15:20:49 GMT
Spike penetration, "borrow" a good size dog, and get a force-meter inside a toy, see what kind of bite force a WolfHusky can manage, then build a replica jaw lie Grant did, and see what it can chew?.
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