In a hands-on experimental component of The Science of MythBusters, students work in teams to build and launch custom-modified alcohol-powered film canisters, called piezo poppers. Applying their skills in experimental design and statistical analysis, the students modify their launcher, canister, and fuel to maximize the launch distance of their canisters, culminating in a class-wide contest at the end of the quarter. Students also had the option of making a short MythBusters-style video explaining and testing the modifications they made, including a description of the modification, a hypothesis, an experimental design, the data collected, a statistical analysis, and a conclusion. In this video, team Versnocone tests whether adding a dome to the front of the film canister improves launch distance.

Course: THINK 01: The Science of MythBusters

Instructors: Steven Block, Jan Skotheim, Vijay Pande