The cast of the television series '' MythBusters'' perform experiments to verify or debunk

urban legend An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...

old wives' tale An old wives' tale is a supposed truth which is actually spurious or a superstition. It can be said sometimes to be a type of urban legend, said to be passed down by older women to a younger generation. Such tales are considered superstition, fol ...

s, and the like. This is a list of the various myths tested on the show as well as the results of the experiments (the myth is Busted, Plausible, or Confirmed). The show's first season used "True" instead of "Confirmed"; for the sake of consistency, "Confirmed" will be used on this page.

Episode overview

Episode 1 – "Exploding Toilet"

* Original air date: September 23, 2003

Magic Bullet

This myth tested the feasibility of magic bullets that can be used to assassinate without leaving evidence, used as a plot device or otherwise mentioned in many movies, such as ''

Most Wanted Most Wanted may refer to: Law enforcement A most wanted list used by a law enforcement agency to alert the public, such as: *FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives *FBI Most Wanted Terrorists *ICE Most Wanted *List of Mexico's 37 most-wanted drug lords *Lis ...

'' or '' Three Days of the Condor''. A request for information to the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

was declined. Due to the myth's inclusion in many

Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories The assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963 spawned numerous conspiracy theories. These theories allege the involvement of the CIA, the Mafia, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro, the KGB, ...

, they chose to use a

Carcano Carcano is the frequently used name for a series of Italian bolt-action, magazine-fed, repeating military rifles and carbines. Introduced in 1891, this rifle was chambered for the rimless 6.5×52mm Carcano round (''Cartuccia Modello 1895''). ...

rifle similar to the assassination weapon for testing.

Exploding Toilet

This experiment formally introduced Buster the

crash test dummy A crash test dummy, or simply dummy, is a full-scale anthropomorphic test device (ATD) that simulates the dimensions, weight proportions and articulation of the human body during a traffic collision. Dummies are used by researchers, automobile ...

Who Gets Wetter?

Episode 2 – "Cell Phone Destroys Gas Station"

* Original air date: October 3, 2003

Cell Phone Destruction

Inspired by e-mails leading to some gas stations discouraging cell phone use during refueling, and also because at the time of the episode, there were 150 gas station fires annually in America. This is also known as the myth that birthed two memorable MythBusters one-liners—Jamie's "Jamie wants big boom" and Adam's "Am I missing an eyebrow?"

Silicone Breasts

Exploding CDs?

Episode 3 – "Barrel of Bricks"

* Original air date: October 10, 2003

Barrel of Bricks

Peeing on the Third Rail

While testing the myth at a train yard, the yard's operators gave Adam permission to test a "mini-myth" with one of their engines:

Eelskin Wallet

Episode 4 – "Penny Drop"

* Original air date: October 17, 2003

Penny Drop

Radio Tooth Fillings

Microwave Madness

Despite mid-episode teasers, the MythBusters refused to

microwave Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter corresponding to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz respectively. Different sources define different frequency ra ...

a live

poodle The Poodle, called the Pudel in German and the Caniche in French, is a breed of water dog. The breed is divided into four varieties based on size, the Standard Poodle, Medium Poodle, Miniature Poodle and Toy Poodle, although the Medium Poodle var ...

, and were thus unable to test the myth that a microwave can dry a wet dog.

Episode 5 – "Buried Alive"

* Original air date: October 24, 2003

Buried Alive

101 Uses For Cola

Cola Cola is a carbonated soft drink flavored with vanilla, cinnamon, citrus oils and other flavorings. Cola became popular worldwide after the American pharmacist John Stith Pemberton invented Coca-Cola, a trademarked brand, in 1886, which was imi ...

is able to...

Hammer Bridge Drop

Episode 6 – "Lightning Strikes/Tongue Piercings"

* Original air date: November 11, 2003

Lightning Strikes Tongue Piercing

Inspired by 17-year-old Matthew Thomsen being hit by lightning near Denver in August 2003, which knocked his tongue piercing out of his mouth.''Teen remembers little after being struck by lightning''
KUSA-TV 9 News

Tree Cannon

Beat the Breath Test

A BACtrack B70

breathalyzer A breathalyzer or breathalyser (a portmanteau of ''breath'' and ''analyzer/analyser'') is a device for estimating blood alcohol content (BAC), or to detect viruses or diseases from a breath sample. The name is a genericized trademark of the Br ...

owned and operated by the San Francisco Police Department Crime Lab was used to test Adam's and Jamie's blood alcohol levels to ensure they were intoxicated. They then experimented to see if it is possible to pass a

field sobriety test Field sobriety tests (FSTs), also referred to as standardized field sobriety tests (SFSTs), are a battery of tests used by police officers to determine if a person suspected of impaired driving is intoxicated with alcohol or other drugs. ''FSTs ...

despite being over the limit, by...

Episode 7 – "Stinky Car"

* Original air date: December 5, 2003

Stinky Car

Inspired by a story of an attractive sports car being available at a very low price, but with a catch: someone had died in the car, and even despite cleaning attempts, the smell had persisted, meaning that the owner was finding it very tough to sell the car. To test this, Jamie and Adam procured a 1987

Chevrolet Corvette The Chevrolet Corvette is a two-door, two-passenger luxury sports car manufactured and marketed by Chevrolet since 1953. With eight design generations, noted sequentially from C1 to C8, the Corvette is noted for its performance and distinctiv ...

and placed two fresh

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus ...

corpses in it, which was sealed with tape and placed in a

shipping container A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated boxes. In the context of ...