the Mythbusters have done it again

[Henry88]

Mythbusters 'Big Bang' Shatters Windows
Residents Rocked In Yolo County
POSTED: 11:39 pm PDT March 25, 2009
UPDATED: 12:39 pm PDT March 26, 2009


YOLO COUNTY, Calif. -- A big explosion, in the name of science, scared a lot of people in a small town.

Mythbusters went to Yolo County and ended up with a bigger bang than expected.

"It was a boom that was just -- I had never heard anything like that before, it was really weird," said Sherril Stephens.

The explosion was so big it shook the town of Esparto, knocking Stephens off her couch and breaking her front window.

"Course all the neighbors ran out into the street. We didn't know what was going on," said Paul Williams, who heard the explosion.

Some people said they thought it was a plane crash, others, a house explosion.

The smoke and dust rose from the site about a mile from town.

It turns out the Discovery channel's Mythbusters were taping an episode there.

They were trying to literally "knock the socks off" a mannequin by igniting 500 pounds of ammonium nitrate. But the explosion was a lot bigger than they expected.

"It felt like a house blew up, straight up," said Paul Williams.

Williams was working at local school when he said he heard and felt the big boom.

"We were just scrambling to find out what was going on because we got kids out on the playground," Williams said.

Williams said the school and others in town should have been notified the blast was going to happen.

Chief Barry Burns, of Esparto Fire Department, had several firefighters on hand for the explosion. He said he made the decision not to notify anyone in town for safety sake.

"Mythbusters is supposed to be a really popular show. Everybody would have been out there. We would have had to cancel it because it would have been too dangerous," Burns said.

For most people like Stephens they don't mind the inconvenience.

Stephens' window was replaced that same day compliments of Mythbusters.

"It was fun, really fun," Stephens said.

Now, she said she can't wait to see the show.

Mythbusters told KCRA 3 they replaced a handful of broken windows.

There is no word on when the episode they taped there will air.

http://www.kcra.com/news/19016582/detail.html

[Jack]

I bet 500 lbs of ammonium nitrate probably would blow the socks off a mannequin.  Or at least there would be so little left of the feet that you'd have essentially the same thing. 

[ghouck]

When I was in the Army, we had a little accident where a cratering charge that I understand was about 55 lbs of AN went off about 60 feet in the air, and it was MASSIVELY loud. If that was used above ground, it would make one hell of a boom.