Did Mythbusters ever try to confirm the National Treasure Book of Secrets gravity platform?
Posted by PM_COFFEE_TO_ME@reddit | mythbusters | View on Reddit | 9 comments
Smack dab in the middle of Mythbusters series run in 2007 this movie came out. Seems like a cool myth to try. Did they ever try or was it ever proposed?
Xploding_Penguin@reddit
Did you also watch national treasure 2 book of secrets on TV tonight?
PM_COFFEE_TO_ME@reddit (OP)
Yup!
ThEvilHasLanded@reddit
Hah I happened to watch both 1 and 2 on Disney plus this week while working
Graflex01867@reddit
It’s been a while since I saw the movie, but there’s nothing to really test about it.
Could you actually build a giant square platform that balances really carefully in a tall pillar? Probably. Large rocks are a thing, civilizations have gotten really good at carving stone in the past,
All it is is a balance problem - keep Your rights balanced or the thing falls over. That’s not a myth, that’s physics.
They don’t even have to test it as a movie myth, because it was a real platform that really shifted as the actors moved - it’s a practical effect. They really did it (with some safeties built in.)
There’s no myths, just physics and gravity.
mazzicc@reddit
They tested other physics “myths” though, like trying to shoot the soccer ball backwards at the exact speed they were moving forwards and seeing it fall straight down.
Graflex01867@reddit
But that was a myth they were testing because no one had done it before that they could find good video/photographic evidence of. They knew what should happen, but there was no “proof.” It was both “can we do it” and “can we film it?”
It wasn’t just a couple people trying to balance on a rock. Which they more or less actually did for the movie. They did it, and they filmed it.
nygrl811@reddit
That's a physics thought experiment. They were not 100% sure what would actually happen (same with aeroplane on a treadmill). The platform is more of a physics observation - it is known what would happen. Any see-saw can confirm the physics behind it.
shanejayell@reddit
This.
Im reminded of the Indiana Jones special where Kamie built a replica of the giant boulder Indy evaded, then asked "What myth are we testing?"
ExcaliburZSH@reddit
I don’t think so