Time Warp (2008) s01e05 Episode Script
Taser
Three, two, one.
NARRATOR: What happens when 400 volts are Tasered into a man's torso Let's do a vault, and we can review it with Matt.
NARRATOR: when a pole vaulter launches 20 feet straight up Pretty good on that one.
NARRATOR: and when jackhammer meets concrete and human muscle? What happens? "Time Warp.
" Uh-oh.
[Laughter.]
NARRATOR: Take two guys whose slow-mo cameras can stop the world in its tracks I'm gonna run down there and catch all the action.
-Good luck.
-All right.
Matt, you ready? All right, Greg, I reset this camera.
We're gonna take a look at your takeoff this time.
NARRATOR: add a high-tech laboratory, where anything can and will happen Yes! NARRATOR: toss in some of the world's wildest talents.
What happens? For nearly a decade, police have been packing a nonlethal weapon known as the Taser.
This pistol-sized electronic device delivers a pulse strong enough to take down any size suspect within seconds.
These controversial weapons use electric impulses to actually render a person immobile due to acute muscle contraction.
But how this electricity gets there is the tricky part.
The cartridge of this device has a cylinder in it with compressed nitrogen.
The compressed nitrogen actually fires the two probes that are attached by wires back to the Taser unit that the energy charge is conducted through the wires onto the target.
NARRATOR: The Taser has proven to be so effective that today there are more than a half a million in use.
But how can a human body take a 400-volt hit of electricity and survive? To find out, we called in the experts and prepared to time-warp a live demonstration.
Our target in this case will be Lloyd.
KEARNEY: Poor Lloyd.
-Whenever you're ready.
-KEHOE: Stand by.
NARRATOR: In case you're wondering, Lloyd is our unsung crash test dummy.
Poor dude can never catch a break.
And we know what Lloyd is thinking -- "Don't Tase me, bro.
" Sorry, Lloyd.
Nothing personal.
-KEHOE: Taser.
- [Bang.]
NARRATOR: Matt might be shocked, but it's Lloyd that just took Our sophisticated "Time Warp" conversion table puts that equal to four times the effect of a fork in the toaster.
Lloyd, are you all right, man? NARRATOR: How are these charges delivered? At warp speed, our cameras reveal the physical mechanisms of the Taser in ways even its makers have never seen.
Watch that again.
LIEBERMAN: It's an electronically triggered pneumatic device.
MAN: It is.
It's actually fired by compressed air.
Once we send the energy down this little pen, it explodes a primer that shoves a gas capsule into a puncture pin, and now the gas can only vent out these two bores here.
The gas capsule of 2,000 psi of nitrogen is what's propelling everything you see there.
It's pushing the doors off, pulling the wires out there.
LIEBERMAN: Have you been able to see that before? MAN: Not like that.
NARRATOR: Watch it one more time.
You don't want to see this coming at you.
And those confettilike papers are not there for purposes of celebration.
They're tracers.
In point of useless fact, each one contains the Taser's serial number so the weapons can be traced to its owner.
But what happens when Taser meets target? Jeff's got an idea for how to illuminate us.
You can't really see what's gonna go on inside the body.
So we've got a neon flask here, and I thought we'd take the electrodes directly to the ends of it and see if we can ionize across it.
We can do that.
How much voltage is gonna leave that? I'll spark it.
This is 50,000 volts -[Chattering loudly.]
-in the open air.
But it tones down to 400 volts once it hits something conductive.
Okay, so it's actively measuring the system around it.
Yes, it finds resistance and tones back.
All right.
Well, let's plug it all in.
And let's see what it looks like inside the body.
[Chattering.]
-Wow.
-Not good.
NARRATOR: This is showing you what the electricity looks like as the neon gas in the flask conducts the charge.
MAN: I've never seen that in I would not want that coursing through me.
NARRATOR: This is a graphic illustration of what can penetrate two inches of clothing, interrupt nerve impulses, seize muscles, and drop a suspect like a rock.
Let's watch that again at 10,000 frames per second.
Now, the pistol Taser can fire up to 35 feet.
But what if a suspect is armed and dangerous? In ordered to Tase somebody from a distance, a new weapon has been developed for the military and police.
Well, what we've done is taken this X-26 technology and we've shrunk it down into this 12-gauge shotgun shells.
The reason we did this is to give us longer range.
It's a standoff device for a higher-risk situation, but it does it without using the wires.
Okay, so we're gonna use Lloyd again.
Lloyd's gonna take the hit.
Jay will take it from here.
There we go.
Okay, everyone is ready? I will ask one more time -- Am I safe over here? -Yes, you are.
-Put your goggles on.
Thank you, Jeff.
-Fire when ready.
-Stand by.
NARRATOR: Oh, no.
Not again.
Taser.
[Bang.]
Oh! It's a little more dramatic.
So that's in there a little tighter than the other guy? Yes, and it is live right now, so you don't want to be touching it.
Oh.
Yeah, good idea.
And how fast would you say that was going? KEHOE: About 280 feet per second.
I think it's about LIEBERMAN: That's a huge amount of force.
NARRATOR: Let's look again.
Once deployed at 280 feet per second, a rip cord activates the projectile.
Next, three spring fins incorporating stabilization technology emerge to maximize accuracy.
Then the four barbed electrodes on the nose of the assembly will attach to the body of the target.
The energy from the impact breaks a series of fracture pins that release the main chassis of the projectile, which remains connected to the nose by a cord.
As the chassis falls away, six more electrodes automatically deploy, autonomously unleashing powerful neuromuscular incapacitation over a large mass of the body.
This is a long way to go to say the obvious -- "Ouch.
" Okay, so right when that makes contact, we're gonna suddenly get sparks flying.
TUTTLE: Comes right back, as designed, from the human body.
LIEBERMAN: That's why that bottom section is covered with barbs.
TUTTLE: Exactly.
NARRATOR: Watch it again.
When warped, we can see this is virtually a miniature electrified flying robot that grabs, holds, analyzes and takes out its target.
Pretty scary stuff and very effective.
Our "Time Warp" cameras have so far revealed the Taser's inner workings and exactly how effectively these not-so-future weapons work to take a body down without permanent injury.
Now let us pause and pay homage to a very, very brave man.
Lieutenant Todd Faulkner is a Taser instructor with the Hinsdale Police Department in New Hampshire.
Todd believes in the power and the glory of the Tase.
And he is going to put his torso where his mouth is.
What do we need to do to set this up safely for everybody? First of all, we need to have safety goggles on right now because we've got projectiles coming out.
Other than that, we should be good to go.
We will be holding him up so he doesn't fall to the ground.
We should be capable of doing this right away, as long as we can say "fire in the hole" and we're all prepared for this.
NARRATOR: Prepared? Say what? Todd, how many times have you been tested? This will be around 20.
NARRATOR: Now, please tell us you really don't need to be reminded not to try this at home, right? Good.
So when you're ready, when you've worked yourself up to that.
-We're there.
-You're there? Okay, well, I would require a little time myself.
NARRATOR: Our victim is walked into position.
He weighs about 108 pounds.
What we want to do is put our arm underneath his armpit so we can fully brace him as he falls down.
We're gonna lightly grab his wrists right now.
You're gonna want to control this, and you're gonna want to be stable.
Make sure the balls of your feet are ready to take this weight.
You want to be looking straight ahead.
We have projectiles coming.
You should have good pressure.
You will be surprised.
It's gonna be a very quick reaction, so be prepared.
-Don't let him fall.
-I will not let him fall.
So we'll do one last check, make sure everything is set up.
All right.
You're all set? Yes, I am.
All right, I'm gonna count this down from three, two, one.
- [Bang.]
-Aaaagh! Hold on.
Whoo! And again.
- [Bang.]
-Aaaagh! Hold on.
Whoo! And again.
No, I'm just kidding.
We can let him go.
-You're set? -I'm good.
Wow.
That was insane.
Not only that, but he's completely recovered right now.
-Yeah, you're okay? -I'm good to go.
-You feel okay? -I'm fine.
It's just so amazing to have a body in your hand that has no control left.
There's nothing I could do.
If you guys would have let go of me, would have fallen on my face.
All right, well, we got to make sure you're okay.
NARRATOR: Oh, sure.
He's fine.
[Chuckling.]
Right, right.
Nothing to see here.
Just move along.
All right.
Here we go.
LIEBERMAN: What does that feel like? FAULKNER: The amazing thing is it feels like a muscle contraction, but you can't control it.
The first thing you feel is the energy.
NARRATOR: Watch that again in high speed.
Our cameras reveal the penetrating force of the electrified probes.
Is it through your whole body? The area that the dart's at, you can actually feel that whole area being affected.
But I could also still feel you guys where you were holding me, and I could hear everything around me.
I just couldn't do anything.
LIEBERMAN: Do you feel that now? FAULKNER: I do not.
NARRATOR: So, remember, if you see these things coming at you, well, it's probably too late.
Jeff, for one, has just figured something out.
All right, I think we've learned our lesson, and we will not resist arrest anymore.
[Laughs.]
NARRATOR: You know, we're still curled up in that fetal position remembering that poor Taser dude.
We really need a change of pace.
[Birds chirping.]
Will this do? Pole vaulting is one of the most technically challenging sports to master and one of the most thrilling to watch.
That was awesome.
I've got some great ideas for the angles for the high-speed.
NARRATOR: Track-and-field star Kristen Bakanowski seems to defy gravity as she vaults almost 13 feet into the air.
Converting the energy of sprint into vertical motion is what Kristen does best.
Now we're going to reveal how she does it by doing what we do best -- warping time.
What are the main steps that I would have to concentrate on in terms of getting over a bar? BAKANOWSKI: You need your run, plant, jump, LIEBERMAN: I think the hardest part for me would be converting this into energy upward.
Is that the most critical point or is it the vertical inversion at the top? One of the hardest parts is getting a good takeoff.
NARRATOR: The energy of Kristen's sprint is stored in the pole as it bends and released as it straightens.
The more she maximizes this energy, the higher she goes.
The whole thing plays out in one continuous motion, but there are several discrete events that help turn forward into upward.
And timing is everything.
All right, great jump.
Can you explain a little bit about how much the bending of this is important to your jump? There's a certain way it bends and a certain flex point on the pole.
Otherwise it will fling you back.
So if you have this sideways, for example, you're gonna go off? -Yeah.
-All right.
And how much can you bend this? Oh, okay.
Quite a bit.
Let's take another look at you jumping, and I want to see exactly how the pole bends.
NARRATOR: We set the bar at 12 feet -- nearly a foot below Kristen's personal best.
We want to be sure she makes the jump so we can capture the action.
LIEBERMAN: Now, have you ever watched yourself in slow motion? No, I've never watched myself this slow.
Wow, in the beginning, it doesn't look like it's gonna happen at all.
[Bakanowski laughs.]
LIEBERMAN: You can see there how much the pole really bends.
The entire shadow is in the shot.
KEARNEY: Do you actually kick and extend your knees there on purpose, or is that a natural part of it? BAKANOWSKI: You're supposed to point your toes up and over.
LIEBERMAN: Well, your toes are pointed.
You're still throwing yourself up off the pole.
So it's not, I guess -- I thought it was the first part kind of springs you up, but you're actively pushing yourself away.
BAKANOWSKI: You actually pull up like that as hard as you can.
Wow, my inversion was pretty good on that one.
LIEBERMAN: Wow.
There's, like, an inch or two clearance.
All right, well, you make that look really easy.
Easy? Why don't you give it a try? Yeah.
He wants to give it a try.
He'll do it.
-Really, Matt? -Yes.
-Well, I'll give it a try.
-I'll teach you.
Okay, well, what do I have to pay attention to when I do this? You got to run fast, plant hard, jump high, go upside-down.
LIEBERMAN: One take.
KEARNEY: Okay, make it a good one.
Oh, boy.
[Laughs.]
He's starting his run.
Got to get that pole up.
Here's the approach.
Trying to clear 1 1/2 feet.
[Laughs.]
Very nice! NARRATOR: Aw.
Well, we're just gonna assume this was not Jeff's personal best.
LIEBERMAN: There's my whole body reacting to the shock.
BAKANOWSKI: Your knee's pretty good.
LIEBERMAN: Well, I'm trying for my own personal best.
KEARNEY: You're also supposed to be jumping over something.
I was.
I was jumping over the pads.
I'm using this more as a long jump than a high jump.
NARRATOR: Now back to the professional.
Kristen is ready to take the plunge and challenge her own personal best.
LIEBERMAN: What's your current record? I'm gonna get out of your way.
NARRATOR: Close.
But her personal best will stay that way at least for today.
What went wrong? BAKANOWSKI: Yeah, you're supposed to jump before the pole hits the plant box.
LIEBERMAN: Okay, so let's look at that exact moment.
So you hit first.
And that's down right before -- I should have jumped a little sooner.
It's all about timing.
KEARNEY: Keep in mind every frame is like two milliseconds.
Right.
So you were within two milliseconds of perfection.
NARRATOR: Armed with this information, Kristen heads back into practice, which we all know will make perfect.
Although for some, once might be enough.
[Cellphone ringing.]
Now let's reflect on some of the most annoying things on Earth.
Hot-air blowers in rest rooms.
Car alarms going off at any time.
And the dulcet tones of a jackhammer.
But even the jackhammer can benefit from getting warped.
Mike DeMello is going to provide the hammering skills, and we are going to teach him a thing or two.
Now, Mike, how do you hold a tool that moves so fast? Well, you definitely want to grab it with both hands.
It's a heavy piece of equipment.
It's anywhere from 65 to 75 pounds.
So two hands is something you'll definitely need to use.
NARRATOR: A jackhammer works by hammering a steel chisel into the ground over 25 times a second -- faster than our eyes can see.
But long-term exposure can cause blood-circulation problems, nerve-system damage, and, in rare cases, extreme muscle inflammation.
As time goes on and the more you're hammering, you'll feel that you'll need both hands to grab onto it.
You tend to get a numbness through your forearms and your wrists.
NARRATOR: By slowing down the intervals between strikes, we can see not only how the jackhammer pulverizes concrete, but the punishment it delivers to the human body.
If you're ready, we're gonna take it away.
-I'm ready.
-Matt, are you ready? KEARNEY: Locked and loaded, boss.
LIEBERMAN: We're playing this back at 10,000 frames a second.
Hundreds of times slower than it's in real life.
That's great.
We have a close-up of the metal spike contacting the ground.
That is blowing it apart.
It's amazing.
The dust, the stones.
LIEBERMAN: It's unreal.
You can really see how this thing very, very quickly accelerates into the rock, pulls back and waits for a while.
The jackhammer is probably using that time to build up air pressure to get the next strike ready.
Let's take a look at how this impacts your body.
Can we see that next clip? KEARNEY: Sure thing.
LIEBERMAN: For those of you who can't tell at this point, this is Mike and not myself jackhammering.
I know in a central frame it's hard to tell the difference, especially with our hair cuts.
Do you feel this at the end of the day? DeMELLO: At the end of the day, absolutely, oh, yeah.
What about at work? While I'm doing it? Not really.
You feel the vibration.
But, obviously, watching like this, I had no idea that it was creating that much vibration and movement through my body.
LIEBERMAN: Now you can see every single vibration going back and forth.
Your arm is like a mini ocean.
DeMELLO: When I'm doing it, I mean, you don't feel that.
-You don't feel that at all? -No, not at all.
NARRATOR: Let's watch that again.
Gentlemen, I have one more shot that I'd like you guys to break down for me.
I need some expert commentary on this one.
That's why we're here.
We're scientists.
Okay.
All right.
KEARNEY: I would like someone to explain this to me.
Well, this is -- I was trying to show Mike how to hammer.
NARRATOR: No explanation needed.
No explanation wanted.
When the hammer comes down, anything can happen.
And we think we've seen enough demonstrations of anything.
And if there's something you want to see warped, check us out on the Discovery Channel Website -- dsc.
discovery.
com -- and the warp you see just might be your own.
Aaaagh! Whoo! And again.
No, I'm just kidding.
NARRATOR: What happens when 400 volts are Tasered into a man's torso Let's do a vault, and we can review it with Matt.
NARRATOR: when a pole vaulter launches 20 feet straight up Pretty good on that one.
NARRATOR: and when jackhammer meets concrete and human muscle? What happens? "Time Warp.
" Uh-oh.
[Laughter.]
NARRATOR: Take two guys whose slow-mo cameras can stop the world in its tracks I'm gonna run down there and catch all the action.
-Good luck.
-All right.
Matt, you ready? All right, Greg, I reset this camera.
We're gonna take a look at your takeoff this time.
NARRATOR: add a high-tech laboratory, where anything can and will happen Yes! NARRATOR: toss in some of the world's wildest talents.
What happens? For nearly a decade, police have been packing a nonlethal weapon known as the Taser.
This pistol-sized electronic device delivers a pulse strong enough to take down any size suspect within seconds.
These controversial weapons use electric impulses to actually render a person immobile due to acute muscle contraction.
But how this electricity gets there is the tricky part.
The cartridge of this device has a cylinder in it with compressed nitrogen.
The compressed nitrogen actually fires the two probes that are attached by wires back to the Taser unit that the energy charge is conducted through the wires onto the target.
NARRATOR: The Taser has proven to be so effective that today there are more than a half a million in use.
But how can a human body take a 400-volt hit of electricity and survive? To find out, we called in the experts and prepared to time-warp a live demonstration.
Our target in this case will be Lloyd.
KEARNEY: Poor Lloyd.
-Whenever you're ready.
-KEHOE: Stand by.
NARRATOR: In case you're wondering, Lloyd is our unsung crash test dummy.
Poor dude can never catch a break.
And we know what Lloyd is thinking -- "Don't Tase me, bro.
" Sorry, Lloyd.
Nothing personal.
-KEHOE: Taser.
- [Bang.]
NARRATOR: Matt might be shocked, but it's Lloyd that just took Our sophisticated "Time Warp" conversion table puts that equal to four times the effect of a fork in the toaster.
Lloyd, are you all right, man? NARRATOR: How are these charges delivered? At warp speed, our cameras reveal the physical mechanisms of the Taser in ways even its makers have never seen.
Watch that again.
LIEBERMAN: It's an electronically triggered pneumatic device.
MAN: It is.
It's actually fired by compressed air.
Once we send the energy down this little pen, it explodes a primer that shoves a gas capsule into a puncture pin, and now the gas can only vent out these two bores here.
The gas capsule of 2,000 psi of nitrogen is what's propelling everything you see there.
It's pushing the doors off, pulling the wires out there.
LIEBERMAN: Have you been able to see that before? MAN: Not like that.
NARRATOR: Watch it one more time.
You don't want to see this coming at you.
And those confettilike papers are not there for purposes of celebration.
They're tracers.
In point of useless fact, each one contains the Taser's serial number so the weapons can be traced to its owner.
But what happens when Taser meets target? Jeff's got an idea for how to illuminate us.
You can't really see what's gonna go on inside the body.
So we've got a neon flask here, and I thought we'd take the electrodes directly to the ends of it and see if we can ionize across it.
We can do that.
How much voltage is gonna leave that? I'll spark it.
This is 50,000 volts -[Chattering loudly.]
-in the open air.
But it tones down to 400 volts once it hits something conductive.
Okay, so it's actively measuring the system around it.
Yes, it finds resistance and tones back.
All right.
Well, let's plug it all in.
And let's see what it looks like inside the body.
[Chattering.]
-Wow.
-Not good.
NARRATOR: This is showing you what the electricity looks like as the neon gas in the flask conducts the charge.
MAN: I've never seen that in I would not want that coursing through me.
NARRATOR: This is a graphic illustration of what can penetrate two inches of clothing, interrupt nerve impulses, seize muscles, and drop a suspect like a rock.
Let's watch that again at 10,000 frames per second.
Now, the pistol Taser can fire up to 35 feet.
But what if a suspect is armed and dangerous? In ordered to Tase somebody from a distance, a new weapon has been developed for the military and police.
Well, what we've done is taken this X-26 technology and we've shrunk it down into this 12-gauge shotgun shells.
The reason we did this is to give us longer range.
It's a standoff device for a higher-risk situation, but it does it without using the wires.
Okay, so we're gonna use Lloyd again.
Lloyd's gonna take the hit.
Jay will take it from here.
There we go.
Okay, everyone is ready? I will ask one more time -- Am I safe over here? -Yes, you are.
-Put your goggles on.
Thank you, Jeff.
-Fire when ready.
-Stand by.
NARRATOR: Oh, no.
Not again.
Taser.
[Bang.]
Oh! It's a little more dramatic.
So that's in there a little tighter than the other guy? Yes, and it is live right now, so you don't want to be touching it.
Oh.
Yeah, good idea.
And how fast would you say that was going? KEHOE: About 280 feet per second.
I think it's about LIEBERMAN: That's a huge amount of force.
NARRATOR: Let's look again.
Once deployed at 280 feet per second, a rip cord activates the projectile.
Next, three spring fins incorporating stabilization technology emerge to maximize accuracy.
Then the four barbed electrodes on the nose of the assembly will attach to the body of the target.
The energy from the impact breaks a series of fracture pins that release the main chassis of the projectile, which remains connected to the nose by a cord.
As the chassis falls away, six more electrodes automatically deploy, autonomously unleashing powerful neuromuscular incapacitation over a large mass of the body.
This is a long way to go to say the obvious -- "Ouch.
" Okay, so right when that makes contact, we're gonna suddenly get sparks flying.
TUTTLE: Comes right back, as designed, from the human body.
LIEBERMAN: That's why that bottom section is covered with barbs.
TUTTLE: Exactly.
NARRATOR: Watch it again.
When warped, we can see this is virtually a miniature electrified flying robot that grabs, holds, analyzes and takes out its target.
Pretty scary stuff and very effective.
Our "Time Warp" cameras have so far revealed the Taser's inner workings and exactly how effectively these not-so-future weapons work to take a body down without permanent injury.
Now let us pause and pay homage to a very, very brave man.
Lieutenant Todd Faulkner is a Taser instructor with the Hinsdale Police Department in New Hampshire.
Todd believes in the power and the glory of the Tase.
And he is going to put his torso where his mouth is.
What do we need to do to set this up safely for everybody? First of all, we need to have safety goggles on right now because we've got projectiles coming out.
Other than that, we should be good to go.
We will be holding him up so he doesn't fall to the ground.
We should be capable of doing this right away, as long as we can say "fire in the hole" and we're all prepared for this.
NARRATOR: Prepared? Say what? Todd, how many times have you been tested? This will be around 20.
NARRATOR: Now, please tell us you really don't need to be reminded not to try this at home, right? Good.
So when you're ready, when you've worked yourself up to that.
-We're there.
-You're there? Okay, well, I would require a little time myself.
NARRATOR: Our victim is walked into position.
He weighs about 108 pounds.
What we want to do is put our arm underneath his armpit so we can fully brace him as he falls down.
We're gonna lightly grab his wrists right now.
You're gonna want to control this, and you're gonna want to be stable.
Make sure the balls of your feet are ready to take this weight.
You want to be looking straight ahead.
We have projectiles coming.
You should have good pressure.
You will be surprised.
It's gonna be a very quick reaction, so be prepared.
-Don't let him fall.
-I will not let him fall.
So we'll do one last check, make sure everything is set up.
All right.
You're all set? Yes, I am.
All right, I'm gonna count this down from three, two, one.
- [Bang.]
-Aaaagh! Hold on.
Whoo! And again.
- [Bang.]
-Aaaagh! Hold on.
Whoo! And again.
No, I'm just kidding.
We can let him go.
-You're set? -I'm good.
Wow.
That was insane.
Not only that, but he's completely recovered right now.
-Yeah, you're okay? -I'm good to go.
-You feel okay? -I'm fine.
It's just so amazing to have a body in your hand that has no control left.
There's nothing I could do.
If you guys would have let go of me, would have fallen on my face.
All right, well, we got to make sure you're okay.
NARRATOR: Oh, sure.
He's fine.
[Chuckling.]
Right, right.
Nothing to see here.
Just move along.
All right.
Here we go.
LIEBERMAN: What does that feel like? FAULKNER: The amazing thing is it feels like a muscle contraction, but you can't control it.
The first thing you feel is the energy.
NARRATOR: Watch that again in high speed.
Our cameras reveal the penetrating force of the electrified probes.
Is it through your whole body? The area that the dart's at, you can actually feel that whole area being affected.
But I could also still feel you guys where you were holding me, and I could hear everything around me.
I just couldn't do anything.
LIEBERMAN: Do you feel that now? FAULKNER: I do not.
NARRATOR: So, remember, if you see these things coming at you, well, it's probably too late.
Jeff, for one, has just figured something out.
All right, I think we've learned our lesson, and we will not resist arrest anymore.
[Laughs.]
NARRATOR: You know, we're still curled up in that fetal position remembering that poor Taser dude.
We really need a change of pace.
[Birds chirping.]
Will this do? Pole vaulting is one of the most technically challenging sports to master and one of the most thrilling to watch.
That was awesome.
I've got some great ideas for the angles for the high-speed.
NARRATOR: Track-and-field star Kristen Bakanowski seems to defy gravity as she vaults almost 13 feet into the air.
Converting the energy of sprint into vertical motion is what Kristen does best.
Now we're going to reveal how she does it by doing what we do best -- warping time.
What are the main steps that I would have to concentrate on in terms of getting over a bar? BAKANOWSKI: You need your run, plant, jump, LIEBERMAN: I think the hardest part for me would be converting this into energy upward.
Is that the most critical point or is it the vertical inversion at the top? One of the hardest parts is getting a good takeoff.
NARRATOR: The energy of Kristen's sprint is stored in the pole as it bends and released as it straightens.
The more she maximizes this energy, the higher she goes.
The whole thing plays out in one continuous motion, but there are several discrete events that help turn forward into upward.
And timing is everything.
All right, great jump.
Can you explain a little bit about how much the bending of this is important to your jump? There's a certain way it bends and a certain flex point on the pole.
Otherwise it will fling you back.
So if you have this sideways, for example, you're gonna go off? -Yeah.
-All right.
And how much can you bend this? Oh, okay.
Quite a bit.
Let's take another look at you jumping, and I want to see exactly how the pole bends.
NARRATOR: We set the bar at 12 feet -- nearly a foot below Kristen's personal best.
We want to be sure she makes the jump so we can capture the action.
LIEBERMAN: Now, have you ever watched yourself in slow motion? No, I've never watched myself this slow.
Wow, in the beginning, it doesn't look like it's gonna happen at all.
[Bakanowski laughs.]
LIEBERMAN: You can see there how much the pole really bends.
The entire shadow is in the shot.
KEARNEY: Do you actually kick and extend your knees there on purpose, or is that a natural part of it? BAKANOWSKI: You're supposed to point your toes up and over.
LIEBERMAN: Well, your toes are pointed.
You're still throwing yourself up off the pole.
So it's not, I guess -- I thought it was the first part kind of springs you up, but you're actively pushing yourself away.
BAKANOWSKI: You actually pull up like that as hard as you can.
Wow, my inversion was pretty good on that one.
LIEBERMAN: Wow.
There's, like, an inch or two clearance.
All right, well, you make that look really easy.
Easy? Why don't you give it a try? Yeah.
He wants to give it a try.
He'll do it.
-Really, Matt? -Yes.
-Well, I'll give it a try.
-I'll teach you.
Okay, well, what do I have to pay attention to when I do this? You got to run fast, plant hard, jump high, go upside-down.
LIEBERMAN: One take.
KEARNEY: Okay, make it a good one.
Oh, boy.
[Laughs.]
He's starting his run.
Got to get that pole up.
Here's the approach.
Trying to clear 1 1/2 feet.
[Laughs.]
Very nice! NARRATOR: Aw.
Well, we're just gonna assume this was not Jeff's personal best.
LIEBERMAN: There's my whole body reacting to the shock.
BAKANOWSKI: Your knee's pretty good.
LIEBERMAN: Well, I'm trying for my own personal best.
KEARNEY: You're also supposed to be jumping over something.
I was.
I was jumping over the pads.
I'm using this more as a long jump than a high jump.
NARRATOR: Now back to the professional.
Kristen is ready to take the plunge and challenge her own personal best.
LIEBERMAN: What's your current record? I'm gonna get out of your way.
NARRATOR: Close.
But her personal best will stay that way at least for today.
What went wrong? BAKANOWSKI: Yeah, you're supposed to jump before the pole hits the plant box.
LIEBERMAN: Okay, so let's look at that exact moment.
So you hit first.
And that's down right before -- I should have jumped a little sooner.
It's all about timing.
KEARNEY: Keep in mind every frame is like two milliseconds.
Right.
So you were within two milliseconds of perfection.
NARRATOR: Armed with this information, Kristen heads back into practice, which we all know will make perfect.
Although for some, once might be enough.
[Cellphone ringing.]
Now let's reflect on some of the most annoying things on Earth.
Hot-air blowers in rest rooms.
Car alarms going off at any time.
And the dulcet tones of a jackhammer.
But even the jackhammer can benefit from getting warped.
Mike DeMello is going to provide the hammering skills, and we are going to teach him a thing or two.
Now, Mike, how do you hold a tool that moves so fast? Well, you definitely want to grab it with both hands.
It's a heavy piece of equipment.
It's anywhere from 65 to 75 pounds.
So two hands is something you'll definitely need to use.
NARRATOR: A jackhammer works by hammering a steel chisel into the ground over 25 times a second -- faster than our eyes can see.
But long-term exposure can cause blood-circulation problems, nerve-system damage, and, in rare cases, extreme muscle inflammation.
As time goes on and the more you're hammering, you'll feel that you'll need both hands to grab onto it.
You tend to get a numbness through your forearms and your wrists.
NARRATOR: By slowing down the intervals between strikes, we can see not only how the jackhammer pulverizes concrete, but the punishment it delivers to the human body.
If you're ready, we're gonna take it away.
-I'm ready.
-Matt, are you ready? KEARNEY: Locked and loaded, boss.
LIEBERMAN: We're playing this back at 10,000 frames a second.
Hundreds of times slower than it's in real life.
That's great.
We have a close-up of the metal spike contacting the ground.
That is blowing it apart.
It's amazing.
The dust, the stones.
LIEBERMAN: It's unreal.
You can really see how this thing very, very quickly accelerates into the rock, pulls back and waits for a while.
The jackhammer is probably using that time to build up air pressure to get the next strike ready.
Let's take a look at how this impacts your body.
Can we see that next clip? KEARNEY: Sure thing.
LIEBERMAN: For those of you who can't tell at this point, this is Mike and not myself jackhammering.
I know in a central frame it's hard to tell the difference, especially with our hair cuts.
Do you feel this at the end of the day? DeMELLO: At the end of the day, absolutely, oh, yeah.
What about at work? While I'm doing it? Not really.
You feel the vibration.
But, obviously, watching like this, I had no idea that it was creating that much vibration and movement through my body.
LIEBERMAN: Now you can see every single vibration going back and forth.
Your arm is like a mini ocean.
DeMELLO: When I'm doing it, I mean, you don't feel that.
-You don't feel that at all? -No, not at all.
NARRATOR: Let's watch that again.
Gentlemen, I have one more shot that I'd like you guys to break down for me.
I need some expert commentary on this one.
That's why we're here.
We're scientists.
Okay.
All right.
KEARNEY: I would like someone to explain this to me.
Well, this is -- I was trying to show Mike how to hammer.
NARRATOR: No explanation needed.
No explanation wanted.
When the hammer comes down, anything can happen.
And we think we've seen enough demonstrations of anything.
And if there's something you want to see warped, check us out on the Discovery Channel Website -- dsc.
discovery.
com -- and the warp you see just might be your own.
Aaaagh! Whoo! And again.
No, I'm just kidding.