Grant on Mythbusters uses a BASIC Stamp Super Carrier board

Jeff Haas · 2013-05-16 17:26

In this week's episode of Mythbusters, one of the myths tested involves earthquakes...so Kari, Grant and Tori build a really large shake table, so they can shake buildings apart on it.

There's a brief glimpse of a set of eight relays and a microcontroller that run the thing. Guess what? It's a BASIC Stamp Super Carrier board. Take a look:

SRLM · 2013-05-16 17:34

Cool. I don't know about the last five seasons, but I really like (roughly) seasons 3-5: I think they gave lots of useful engineering detail, with a more "how to" approach.

And for those who didn't know, Mythbusters seasons 1-9 is on Amazon Prime.

Jeff Haas · 2013-05-16 17:47

In the last few years, they've increased the amount of science explanation in the shows. Someone realized that people record the show and pause it on parts that they're interested in, so they've been showing various formulas for how to compute things (look for the "science notebook" sections of the show). The show is edited faster and denser than it used to be and covers more ground than the earlier seasons. So it works for the casual viewer - it's fast-paced. And for the motivated viewer, there's lots more info. I think kids who like science and engineering are eating it up, and then going online to follow up on the concepts in each episode. And scientists I know like the show because it demonstrates the approach you take when you're trying to figure something out, instead of learning by memorization so you can pass a test.

SRLM · 2013-05-16 18:18

That's good to hear. My main complaint for 6-9 were that they started to get more drama oriented, and less science/tech in between. It's probably my favorite show.

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2013-05-16 18:34

Having just watched that episode, I was just getting ready to post this myself.

This could be the most dangerous "real" thing created around a Parallax product yet.

Jeff