Myth Busting in Science Class

courtesy of Pixabay CC0 Public Domain

Today in science, as the capstone of our study on motion and forces, my students viewed a very special episode of Mythbusters.

The episode they saw that titled, “Presidential Challenge.” The Mythbusters went to the White House and met President Obama. The President challenged them to investigate and prove or disprove the legend of Archimedes Solar Ray once and for all.

In the secondary story, the junior Mythbusters try to prove or disprove the stunt performed in one of the Hellboy movies. In the movie, Hellboy punches an SUV moving at 30 mph, sending the SUV summersaulting over him and landing on its wheels.

My hope was that the students would be able to see how the Mythbusters used some of the same concepts and math we had covered in class in setting up the stunts for their Mythbusting. I was gratified to see the secondary myth calculations included some of the force and work calculation we had talked about just this week. The story also illustrated the use of levers, fulcrums, and the determination of momentum.

Many of the other concepts we talked about this semester, and especially this quarter were discussed. Most of the students remained interested and engaged. Many of them asked some relevant questions or made insightful comments.

The primary myth being busted, as it involved Greece and Rome, would have been more appropriate for Sixth Grade Social Studies, but the students enjoyed it, and it did give me a chance to point out how the Mythbusters were employing some of what we’d learned about earlier in the semester regarding radiant heat and solar energy. The students were also impressed with the appearances at the beginning and the end of the show of President Barrack Obama. A couple were skeptical about whether the President really did the show of if it was an actor. As far as I know, the President did appear on the show.

As it turned out, Jamie and Adam busted the Archimedes Solar Ray myth, but Jamie did make a point about how there may be a kernel of truth to the myth based on how blinding and distracting the reflected rays of the sun coming off the mirrors were. He theorized that the Roman fleet may have become disoriented and confused due to the blinding light of hundreds of mirrors, suffered many collisions and sinkings, and in the end turned and fled from home rather than press the attack.

We may never know if that was what Archimedes had in mind the whole time, but an episode of Mythbusters turned out to be an excellent way to end the week, and our lessons on Forces and Motion.

As always, I remain,

The Exhausted Educator