Mythbusters Accidentally Bust Windows In Nearby Town

Thelasko writes "In an effort to knock Buster's socks off, the Mythbusters accidentally created an explosion so large it shattered windows in a small town over a mile from the blast site. The Mythbusters had the broken windows replaced the very same day. The Esparto, California fire chief says that several firefighters were on hand for the blast, but he didn't notify residents because, 'Mythbusters is supposed to be a really popular show. Everybody would have been out there. We would have had to cancel it because it would have been too dangerous.'"

Comments

Re:That's odd...

[RattFink]

Experience? They are special effects guys, they have done all of maybe 2 or 3 really large explosions and all of them were oversaw by professionals because most of the stuff they deal with is not generally available. They aren't exactly blasting/munitions experts.

Re:wow

[nurb432]

Depends on what you consider 'near'.

If normal precautions and notices take place, then all laws have been followed.

Accidents do happen, you need to calm down.

Re:Need-to-know attitude? Uh, no thanks.

[Zironic]

You have the order wrong.

The shows popularity would have made people come too close so it wouldn't be possible to perform the explosion. They judged it safer for everyone if people didn't know about it.

Re:downhill since Smash Lab

[berend botje]

Kari's rack is just fine as is, thank you very much.

Though I much prefer that cool blond girl they had on the show.

MythBusters isn't the safest show

[Propaganda13]

Remember, they built the bulletproof shelter for explosions then in a much later episode discovered that the material wasn't bulletproof.

Re:MythBusters isn't the safest show

[dhovis]

No, they said the polycarbonate they used for a blast shelter was "basically bulletproof", which they later showed is an exaggeration.

OTOH, for what they were using it for, their polycarbonate blast shield was perfectly safe. It wouldn't stop a bullet, but it would stop any number of much slower moving objects.

Re:Selective Terrorism?

[chaidawg]

They actually hire licensed munitions and demolitions experts for the blowing stuff up - Usually former FBI

Re:Not anticipated?? Hardly.

[Thelasko]

What, did EVERYONE (including Fire Marshall Bill) forget to bring their handy dandy bomb-squad approved $10 calculator with them that day?

I'm guessing they underestimated the burn rate of the explosives. This is probably due to the high variability in quality of ammonium nitrate. They may have done the calculations for agricultural grade ammonium nitrate, and used another.

Re:NASA problem

[dhovis]

Then your teacher taught you wrong. K is significantly more reactive than Na. It also reacts hotter and usually ignites the hydrogen gas produced by the reaction.

Re:wow

[Attila Dimedici]

The windows didn't "explode", they "shattered". I actually RTFA. And when you read the article, it appears that even the headline overstates it. In the article it twice refers to the broken windows. Once it says "...breaking her front window". The other time it says "Mythbusters told KCRA 3 they replaced a handful of broken windows."
According to the article lots of people were curious and wanted to know what was going on, but the only person who the article referred to who thought something was done wrong was someone who "was working at a local school". We don't know who this person was because the article gives their name, but doesn't say what they were doing at the school. Since their job title is not mentioned, it seems likely that they don't speak for the school. This means that those who do speak for the school apparently don't think there was anything wrong with what was done.