MacGyver Science: Jack + Kinematics + Safe Cracker + MgKNO3 + GTO

Season 5 Episode 5

Skee Ball Physics

This not really a MacGyver hack, but it’s still physics. Mac and Riley are playing skee ball. His explanation for why he’s going to do better at the game goes like this:

Well, that’s because last time we were here, my kinematic equation scalar and vector variables — but when I compensate for rotational motion…

The basic idea is that a skee ball is a lot like a projectile motion problem. Once it leaves the ramp, the only force acting on it is the downward gravitational force. However, while it’s rolling things are more complicated. A rolling ball is not the same thing as a point particle moving without friction.

Honestly, the biggest issue is consistent launch velocities from your hand. You probably don’t need to factor in rotation. MacGyver is just saying this to deal with his grief. Maybe.

Opening a Safe with Freon

Jack left behind a hidden safe for Mac. Since they don’t know the combination (Jack probably didn’t even know the code), he needs to crack it. Here’s the secret of safes — none of them are perfect. Safes (is that even the correct plural of safe) are rated based on how long it takes to get them open. I mean, you could always just drill through it. Right? Right.

Next big point. MacGyver says “freon”, but it’s not freon. Freon is super bad for the environment. But now, we use the name Freon for any type of refrigerant (like HFC-134a) — the same way we call all tissues, Kleenex. But the main idea is that cold metal isn’t as strong as room temperature metal. The only problem is that you have to get it really cold.

Not all metals get brittle when cold, but it’s at least plausible. Here are some more details.

One more thing — you need to get this stuff super cold. It turns out that a can of compressed air can actually get really cold. Check out this awesome video from Minute Physics.

Ball Bearing Shooter

This is basically the same thing as a baseball pitching machine. Using two spinning wheels (from the industrial drill thing), a small metal ball passing between then gets flung out at high speeds.

MacGyver then uses a tube to redirect these things. It’s basically a gun without gunpowder.

Sniper Trajectory Tracing

If you know a few points where a bullet passed, you can trace it back to its origin. I love the floating equations.

Here is my original sketch for this animation.

So, the first rough approximation is just plain geometry using similar triangles. However, bullets don’t travel in straight lines. There is the downward pulling gravitational force that makes them move in a parabolic path. This assumes that you can ignore air drag (which would make the problem super difficult). The second version includes this drop.

Yeah, this is complicated — even without air drag.

Giant Electromagnet

Are electromagnets real? Oh yeah. You can even make one yourself. The key to a powerful electromagnet is lots of current and lots of wire.

They mount these electromagnets on a scaffold on the floor below. When they turn it on, moving the scaffold moves the steel chairs with Riley and Bozer on the next floor.

Would this work? Well, it’s possible — but you would need some super serious current. Oh, don’t worry about the lightning effect stuff — that’s just for fun.

Flash Bang

Notice the nod to Die Hard with the flash bang taped to his back. Yup, we all saw that.

In this case, MacGyver makes the flash bang using gun powder from a bunch of bullets. That would probably work.

Here is a real flash bang using match sticks (from The Modern Rogue) — you should definitely be watching Modern Rogue, it’s basically MacGyver stuff.