Science of Stupid (2014) s08e07 Episode Script

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DALLAS (off-screen): This
is the Science of Stupid.
Yes, this is the
show that extracts cold,
hard science from
hot headed stupidity.
Witness the act of misguided
human guinea pigs treating the
world like their lab, and
suffering the consequences.
We'll analyze what went wrong
and why with the help of
scientific principles
like angular momentum,
terminal velocity
and trajectory.
So, look and learn
but don't copy.
Watch out, it's
the Science of Stupid.
In this episode we'll be
getting our heads around
access of rotation,
discovering a high friction
approach to skiing and
enjoying the upward force of
buoyancy, with any
luck, but first this.
Drag and lift, not moves from
one of my acclaimed dancercise
videos but the basic
components of aerodynamics,
drag force and lift force.
You've got lift and drag.
I think he wanted more lift.
As you can see, understanding
aerodynamics can be the
difference between
success and failure.
Thankfully aerodynamics follows
some pretty simple rules.
You've just gotta make
sure you've learnt them,
so pay attention.
Drag is produced by trillions
of tiny air particles hitting
an object as it moves
through the air.
The larger the frontal area of
an object the greater the drag.
By making an object
streamlined you can reduce
turbulence, which lowers drag.
A wing generates lift as it
redirects the flow of air
passing around it, so by
turning air flow downwards you
create an upwards force, lift.
Which is lucky because
that is exactly what Newton's Third Law states,
for every action there is an
equal and opposite reaction.
Thank you, Newton, but more
importantly it's the science
we use to fly.
Airplanes are
obviously very aerodynamic,
they're both streamlined
and use their wings to create
lift, unlike those square
baggage containers with large
frontal areas
relative to their weight.
The resulting drag from the
wind overcomes the friction
with the ground, which saves
a trip on the baggage truck.
Come on guys, it's not
rocket science or is it?
There's one.
Whilst a rocket's aerodynamic
shape minimizes drag going
forwards, their fins
increase drag for stability,
unless you get the
fins wrong and then, well,
it's even better.
So, what about lift?
This glider is designed to
continuously use lift and drag
to perform loop to loops and
it would have kept going if it
hadn't hit her in the face.
Now, these speed boats are
designed to have very little
drag and they use streamlining
to slice through the air
particles about the water but
hit a wave like that one and
that same streamline design
will just as efficiently
create lift turning
it into a plane,
before it turns
back into a boat.
Incredibly our
boat pilot was okay.
And now we briefly shun the
failures of the many to shine
a spotlight on the
extraordinary success of one
singular human being, a ballet
dancer's pirouette is widely
considered a thing of beauty
but personally I prefer my
pirouettes in a car.
MAN: Go.
DALLAS (off-screen): This is
Ronnie C'Rock attempting a
Guinness World Record title
for the tightest 360 degree
turn in a car.
To succeed he needs to
spin between two trucks,
a gap just over eight feet wider
than the length of his car.
Mr. C'Rock,
that is a world record.
So, spinning a car through a
tight gap is scientifically
possible, possible
but not advisable.
Because attempt to rotate
your car in any kind of gap
and you'll be lucky
to lose just your wheel.
This is an incredibly
dangerous stunt,
which you should
never attempt.
Now, you may have seen race
drivers use drift turns to
take corners
tighter and faster.
It's a similar principle
to Ronnie's 360 but with a
critical difference,
that being the axis of rotation
and who better to demonstrate
both than the man who's since
beaten Ronnie's record,
stunt driver Alistair Moffatt.
To perform a drift turn in
a car Alistair turns sharply
allowing centrifugal force to
overcome traction at the back
wheels but with the access of
rotation towards the front of
the car its path will be
wide, however during the 360,
traction is lost at
both the back wheels and the front wheels,
causing the access of rotation
to move closer to the center,
allowing the car to spin
through a long narrow gap.
The longest continuous drift
was an incredibly 232 miles,
which couldn't have
been achieved without a little centrifugal force.
This is the force acting
outwards on an object when
it's rotated.
And it's something our first
wannabe record breaker is keen
to demonstrate.
Good one.
Centrifugal force overcomes
friction at the rear,
car rotates around this
axis this way, then that way,
then we lose traction at the
front so the access finally
moves towards the middle but
well it all gets a bit messy.
So, how do we
get a tighter spin?
That's right, fella.
We lose traction at the front
wheel sooner so we quickly get
that access towards the middle
and the car does its thing.
Although you really
couldn't have found a more dangerous location.
Or maybe you could.
Really nailed that
central axis though, well done.
But it was assisted by the
low coefficient of friction of
ice, making it easier to lose
traction but not so easy to
control your car.
So, I'm afraid that
attempt won't count.
A more suitable location
but can we get a tighter 360?
Eee, no,
or yes but is it a record?
Perfect central axis and
that turn is on a dime but
there's a slight problem
using the barrier.
It's kind of cheating, no?
So, the only thing we're
gonna be breaking today is cars.
Oh, it's just a regular
morning but can you guess
which scientific principle
we're about to see?
DALLAS (off-screen):
Did you work out the science we're about to see?
Eyes on the feet.
Yes, it's fight or
flight but, let's be honest,
mainly flight.
When she tripped on the snake
the shock triggered a release
of energy boosting chemicals
into the blood stream.
That prepared the body
to fight back or flea.
Poor thing.
WOMAN: It touched
me, it touched me!
DALLAS (off-screen): No,
I'm not talking about her.
I'm talking about him.
He must have got
the fright of his life.
The main problem with
skiing is it's really expensive.
Now, there are
cheaper options.
Like going out of season
or test running a more local
slope but it can be, well, err,
a bit friction-y.
If I still haven't convinced
you that skiing on snowless
slopes is a dangerous
and appalling idea,
allow science to have a go.
Snow tends to smooth over
rough terrain and offer
consistently low friction
thanks to a slick watery film
formed when the
skis slide over it,
which helps them
accelerate smoothly.
Few surfaces
offer the same result.
For instance, even a grassy
hill may have patches of
higher friction that cause
them to suddenly decelerate.
Furthermore, there are likely
to be bumps that are bigger
than the skis were
designed to handle.
Thought provoking but
let's not just rely on pretty
pictures, let's run
some practical tests.
Everyone on this snowy
slope is enjoying consistent
low friction,
now let's experiment.
Yup, as predicted.
Snow smooths out an uneven
surface and its wetness
lubricates, allowing
his skis to slide.
Snowless ground slows down his
skis allowing him to stretch
and be laughed at.
Okay, what if we
reduce friction?
Say by using wetted mats.
It's not a complete solution.
The lubricated mats did help
him gain speed until he ran
out of mat and hit
a bump in the dirt.
Still, there's bumps and then
there's this kind of thing.
He did find the snow
eventually but first he had to
go through
high friction, uneven ground,
big log,
if not for snow's impact
absorbing embrace that could
have been a lot worse.
MAN: Rock skiing the Big Sky!
DALLAS (off-screen):
You will be if you try that again, my friend.
But if you really can't wait
for the seasons to change.
Why not change your skis?
Wheel skis offer
rolling friction,
a lower form of friction for
gliding along a sidewalk as if
it was smooth snow.
Some people have water in
their blood and that's because
they've sunk and
didn't use a proper boat.
His boat has a few holes.
And very little else.
So, it's just
not worth the risk
trying to patch up or cobble
together your own makeshift
boat, that's because engineers
follow a set of complex rules
commandeered, of
course, by science.
Buoyancy is the upward force
that keeps a boat afloat.
It's created by pushing away
water and receiving in turn a
force equal to the weight
of the water it's displaced.
The center of buoyancy is
in the middle of a boat's
submerged volume and the
boat's center of mass should
be directly in line
with this for stability.
The boat also needs to be
waterproof and strong enough
to withstand the force of the
water pushing in on it and the
weight of the load above.
As long as we follow those
simple rules we should be fine.
Isn't that right, team?
This boat-ress is obviously
very buoyant thanks to the air
bubbles contained
in the mattress,
however it's not waterproof
so it's taking on water fast,
making it too heavy for
the trapped air to cope with.
MAN: I made it.
DALLAS (off-screen):
And you almost sank, so maybe don't make another one.
That's more like it.
You can always trust the
scouts to do a job properly.
MAN: Head, shoulders,
knees and toes
DALLAS (off-screen):
And to sing at the most inappropriate of times.
MAN: shoulders,
knees and toes
DALLAS (off-screen):
Serves you right,
the guy in the left
was out of tune.
The barrels are both
waterproof and buoyant but it
turns out the scouts didn't
do a very good job of lashing
them all together.
Dib, dib, dib.
Okay, this chap
has worked it out.
He's using an old foam board
which was clearly designed
with the help of real
engineers to float.
(screams)
DALLAS (off-screen):
Unfortunately there's nothing
the engineers can
do about user error.
MAN: That's cold.
DALLAS (off-screen): By
leaning to his right his
center of mass moves too
far away from his center of
buoyancy, so the one time we
had a viable boat we didn't
have a viable captain.
The same principle applies
to a pontoon as a boat,
a buoyant force is created
equal to the weight of the
water it displace and it's
just about coping with these
cars but not
that massive truck.
MAN (off-screen) : No. Whoa.
DALLAS (off-screen): Well,
that's just inconsiderate.
DALLAS: Are you bored of your
daily skipping fitness routine?
Keen to add the threat
of serious injury to your
gymnastic display?
Then the skipping backflip
might just be for you.
It's performing a full
backflip whilst skipping but
before you get any ideas,
be aware some people still
struggle with the
concept of regular skipping.
MAN: It's heavy and it's wet.
DALLAS (off-screen):
That's because it's a towel.
Aside from the use of
appropriate equipment,
i.e. a rope, a successful
skipping backflip relies on
mastering a lot of complex
physics as our precocious
young gymnast
knows all too well.
For the backflip he pushes off
to generate angular momentum.
Using the rope just long
enough to give his head and
feet sufficient clearance,
he uses angular velocity to
create sufficient centrifugal
force to keep the rope taut as
it spins.
Tucking in reduces
his moment of inertia,
an object's resistance to
rotational acceleration,
enabling him to spin faster
and complete the flip.
There's a lot to take in
so let's just start with the
skipping bit and selecting
a rope of sufficient length.
It's a little short,
don't you think?
Then again, with enough
centrifugal force to keep the
rope taut he's cleared it.
Oh, for goodness sake.
No matter how big the swing
you do still have to time your
jump right or the only angular
velocity you'll get will be
the roly-poly kind.
Although it does
look quite fun.
Okay, I think we're ready to
move on to the backflip part.
MAN: Oh.
DALLAS (off-screen):
We're ready, he's not.
He had friends swinging the
rope for him so it should have
been easier but halfway
round he untucked his legs,
increasing his moment of
inertia slowing down his
rotation and making it all
the more fun for his friends.
Sometimes it's
best to go it alone.
MAN: Ah.
DALLAS (off-screen): And then
share the fun with millions.
His foot caught the rope,
slowing his rotation which
slowed even more
when he untucked.
He was okay but my advice if
you're thinking of trying the
skipping backflip is don't.
MAN: Ah.
DALLAS (off-screen): In 1769 a
group of mutineers allegedly
confessed to bumping off
their commanding officers by
literally bumping them off
a plank of wood attached to
their ship.
Now, if true this could be the
first recorded instance of
walking the plank and walking
the plank is now an experience
we can all enjoy.
WOMAN (off-screen): Don't fall.
DALLAS (off-screen): Thanks to
a virtual reality headset and
the plank laid
harmlessly on the ground.
MAN: Go back out
on the plank and jump.
Just jump right off.
MAN: Yeah, forward though.
WOMAN (off-screen): Oh.
DALLAS (off-screen): Okay,
maybe not totally harmlessly.
MAN: You alright?
DALLAS: Simply stepping off a
plank in virtual reality can
be surprisingly
tricky but why?
Well, science, that's why.
Balancing on a narrow plank
our man relies on visual input
from his eyes, vestibular
input from his inner ears and
proprioceptive input from
his muscles and joints.
The inputs feed into his brain
which send messages to muscles
which adjust body
position and maintain balance.
A VR headset provides a visual
input that when stepping off
the plank contradicts the
vestibular and proprioceptive
inputs from his body.
This can stop him from
making the automatic postural
adjustments that
help him balance.
We've provided some
of our top researchers with state of the art
VR headsets and told them
to learn all they could about
visual, vestibular and
proprioceptive inputs.
Here's Josh, normally
perfectly capable of walking
in a straight line,
he's struggling.
JOSH: Oh, this ain't fun at all!
DALLAS (off-screen): No,
Josh and that's because the
VR headset is showing your
eyes that you're teetering
over a long, scary drop.
JOSH: I'm not jumping.
DALLAS (off-screen):
Unfortunately even though his inner ear's muscles
are telling him
he's still on the plank.
MAN: I'm falling.
DALLAS (off-screen): His VR
headset has miscalculated and
is showing him that he's
plummeting to his death.
Well, Josh, if you
think that's too real
spare a thought for Jeanine
testing out joysticks that
add haptic feedback,
a virtual sense of touch.
She's doing okay, just needs
some real world encouragement.
MAN: Don't fall,
you're gonna die.
DALLAS (off-screen):
It's a little bleak.
MAN: Oy!
DALLAS (off-screen):
And factually incorrect.
MAN: Are you OK?
DALLAS (off-screen): Yes,
Jeanine is alive and well,
even if her visual input
is telling her otherwise.
Back on the plank that input
caused her brain to think her
base of support, the plank,
was high off the ground and
her sense of
balance couldn't cope.
So, that's
walking the plank in VR,
where real world pain
is virtually guaranteed.
There's an old saying in
the scientific community,
experiment, fail, learn,
repeat and this next lot have
certainly taken that to heart.
Minus the learn-y bit.
♪
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Captioned by
Cotter Captioning Services