Tag Archives: backyard scientist

Guy Builds Human-size Mousetrap, Mice Rejoice

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If you ever had a mousetrap come down on your finger or a toe, you know the excruciating pain that it causes. Now imagine a giant mousetrap that is big enough to slam down on your body and kill you dead. Welcome to the mouse’s world.


The Backyard Scientist has created such a mousetrap. He used it to crush coconuts and watermelons, among other things. Even a hardhat with a mannequin head. As you can guess, the hardhat did not help. That smashing arm reaches speeds of 42 miles per hour. It would totally cut you in half or at least pin you to the board, where you would quickly expire.

The spring-powered mechanism is so powerful that an electric winch is needed to tighten the coil. No way I would want to prime this trap manually. Humans (and giant mice) better stay away.

[via Sploid]

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150 MPH Rocket Knife Slices, Dices, Juliennes

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The Backyard Scientist is back and his latest project involves a killer knife that will slice through anything because it is traveling on a track at 150 MPH. Pretty scary, but also pretty awesome.

The idea was to recreate his favorite Mythbusters’ experiment where they sliced a car (and a boat) in half with a rocket sled. Well, he may not have the Mythbusters’ budget, but he built one on a smaller scale. Watch as this thing chops a toy Jeep in half, along with a chicken, some steak, and fruits. This things slices meat like an expert butcher.

Rocket knifes are awesome and I want one.

The Science of Breaking a Bottle With Your Bare Hands

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Breaking a bottle with your bare hands isn’t a remotely good idea. Even if you have experience breaking bottles with a punch, you could seriously hurt yourself, and even permanently damage your hand. However, it turns out there’s a way you can pretty safely break a bottle with your bare hands, by hitting it a certain way. The reason it happens is because of science, not because you have magical powers.

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Mark Rober teamed up once again with Kevin, The Backyard Scientist demonstrate the phenomenon in this video, and try to figure out why it works by looking at theories people have.

As it turns out, it just takes the right amount of liquid in the bottle and just the right palm strike to the bottle’s lip. It’s a pretty cool trick.