Ep 12. Knock Your Socks Off

In season 7 episode 12 of Mythbusters, titled "Knock Your Socks Off," the team tackles four separate myths in which various things could potentially cause someone to lose their socks.

The first myth involves testing whether or not a coin dropped from the top of a skyscraper could fall with enough force to knock someone's socks off. To test this, the team constructs an air cannon and launches a coin with the same force as the object's terminal velocity. They then conduct a series of tests on mannequins to determine if the coin has enough force to knock the socks off of a person.

The second myth looks at whether or not a person's socks could be knocked off by a sudden sneeze. To explore this myth, the team sets up a high-speed camera to capture the moment of the sneeze and then measures the force of air expelled from a person's nostrils. They also test to see if a person's socks could be knocked off by a sudden sneeze while they are on the sidelines of a football game.

In the third myth for this episode, the team looks at whether or not a lightning strike can cause a person's socks to be blown off. To test this, they construct a lightning simulator and bring in mannequins to see if the force of the strike can knock off the socks. They also examine reports of lightning striking individuals and causing their shoes and socks to disappear.

Finally, the Mythbusters explore whether or not the force of a shotgun could knock a person's socks off. To test this, they construct a cannon that can fire a single shotgun shell and launch various objects at high speeds to see if anything can knock off a person's socks.

Throughout the episode, the team engages in colorful and sometimes humorous banter, all while working to either prove or bust each of the myths. With the use of scientific experiments and their characteristic ingenuity, they examine each myth from a number of angles to determine what it would take, if anything, to "knock your socks off."