Breaking Bad Science Hacks

Episode Title: Building An Automated Turret To Take Out Nazis"Felina"

In the series finale, Walt returns to Albuquerque to deal with Jack and his crew once and for all. Walt buys a fully automatic M60. He builds a homemade auto-turret using ratchets and duct tape. The design looks messy by Walt's standards, but it works. Walt connects the device to a garage door opener to power it remotely. He uses it to clear out Jack and his crew. This happened according to an episode of MythBusters, this jury-rigged machineactually could be constructedwith the parts Walt had on hand.

Episode Title: Making An Incendiary Device From Phosphorous"Pilot"

The first episode starts with a bang and ends with one. Two dealers take Walter and Jessie hostage. Walter offers them his meth recipe for their lives. Walt wears a gas mask and mixes chemicals, setting off a toxic gas device. The fumes take out the two men; Walt escapes.

Walter uses red phosphorous to start a fast chemical reaction. Heat and moisture turn phosphorous into toxic and flammable phosphine. Walt ignites the phosphine, spreading it through the air. The phosphine reacts with the atmosphere, making a haze of phosphoric acid. This acid cloud kills people. This scene looks accurate.

Episode Title: Using An Etch-A-Sketch To Make Thermite "A No-Rough-Stuff-Type Deal"

In Season 1, episode 7, Walt and Jesse must break into a building for methylamine. Walt uses a small amount of thermite to burn a lock. An Etch-A-Sketch does the job.Etch-A-Sketch.

Looking at an Etch-A-Sketch with a clean slate shows a fine coat of aluminum powder. Drawing on an Etch-A-Sketch is a reductive process. Turning the knobs etches aluminum powder off the screen. Walt pulls this powder from the Etch-A-Sketch and mixes it with a metal oxide to make thermite. Thermite burns fast at up to 2,500 degrees Celsius. This makes Walt's plan seem believable.

Episode Title: Using A Giant Magnet To Wipe A Hard Drive In An Armored Room"Live Free or Die"

The Season 5 premiere shows Walt and his crew dealing with Gus's death and its results. Police seize many of Gus's things, including a laptop with evidence. Walt, Jesse, and Mike agree to erase the evidence. They use science to solve the problem.

The group bought a huge magnet from a scrapyard. They put it in a van. They hooked the magnet to 42 car batteries for strong voltage. They drove the van to the police station. That battery power wipes a hard drive from a distance. They parked the van right outside the evidence room. Then, they switched on the magnet.The basic idea works.A magnet can wipe a hard drive.

Episode Title: Siphoning Methylamine From A Train And Replacing It With Water"Dead Freight"

In Season 5, episode 5, Walt and his crew took a risky job. They planned to steal a train full of methylamine. The group stopped the train by parking a truck on the tracks. They had little time for the robbery. The crew had to hook up a hose to drain the methylamine. They also had to swap the methylamine for water to hide their actions. This is not simple; methylamine is less dense than water.To get 1,000 gallons of methylamine, they must use 892 gallons of water to equal the lost mass.

Episode Title: Using A Soapy Sponge To Detonate Someone's Car"Cancer Man"

In Season 1, episode 4, Walt still dealt with his cancer diagnosis. He grew more aggressive, especially after killing Krazy-8 in the previous episode. At a gas station, Walt got angry at a loud businessman talking on his cell phone. As revenge, Walt decided to wreck his car.

Walt used a gas station squeegee to short the man's car battery. This caused an engine fire. This happens because of a reaction called electrolysisThe soapy water lets electricity pass through the battery terminals. This causes hydrogen and oxygen to vent, making sparks. In reality, the fire would not last long because lead-acid battery contents do not burn. A broken fuel line could cause the fire, though.

Episode Title: Using Mercury Fulminate To Blow Tuco's Office Up"Crazy Handful of Nothin'"

In the second-to-last episode of Season 1, Walt faced the psychotic distributor Tuco Salamanca. Tuco brought a bag of meth Walt planned to sell him. Things turned bad. Luckily for Walt, he did not carry any meth. The bag held mercury fulminate, an unstable chemical known for explosions. Walt threw a small amount of the mercury fulminate, which blew out an entire building floor.

Mercury fulminate is real and dangerous. The way Walt used it is very unlikelyMercury fulminate reacts easily. Rough handling can cause it to explode. Walt's initial blast would likely ignite his entire mercury fulminate stash. Creating crystalized mercury fulminate as large as shown on screen is nearly impossible. Largest crystals measure about one millimeter, too small to confuse for meth. Walt could use mercury fulminate to destroy Tuco's office, but the episode's action did not occur this way.

Episode Title: "Seven Thirty-Seven

Ricin appears often in the series. Walt and Jesse struggle with their distributor, Tuco. Walt decides Tuco needs to go. Walt uses castor beans to make the poison ricin.

Ricin extracts from castor beans, but the process is aThe process is difficult.and recipes are not freely available online for good reason. People find recipes, but most areThe method is dangerously inaccurate.Walt has a better chance than most people to make the substance. This can cause harm.

Episode Title: "4 Days Out"

Season 2, episode 9 shows Walt and JesseThey are stranded in the desert.Their RV battery dies. Walt finds a smart fix: They build another battery.This battery is a mercury battery, producing about 1.35 V. A car battery yields about 12.6 V. Walt builds six mercury batteries, totaling 8.1 V. These batteries lack power compared to a standard lead-acid battery, but they might start the RV. This is a big stretch.

Episode Title: "Buyout"

In Season 5, episode 6, Walt is tied by Mike with plastic cuffs. Walt needs to escape before his train robbery share sells. Locked in an office, Walt uses his genius to find a scientific way to break the bonds.

Walt moves near a lamp, gnawing the electrical cord. He shows the wires and joins the tips to make anAn electrical arc occurs.arc. He uses the arc to burn through his restraints, hurting himself. Burning plastic with electricity is possible, but joining two live wires like that will likely cause a power surge, blowing a fuse or tripping the breaker.

Episode Title:"Cat's in the Bag"

Walt kills many people in the series. Early on, Walt decides how to get rid of all the bodies. In Season 1, episode 2, Walt suggests to Jesse that theyUse hydrofluoric acid.Walt uses chemical disincorporation to dissolve Emilio's body. He asks Jesse to get a container made of low-density polyethylene plastic, a plastic the acid will not dissolve. Jesse ignores Walt. He tries the job in a bathtub. The acid eats through it. The house takes major damage. Walt and Jesse must clean up a big mess.

Jesse made a mistake in this episode. Some people think the writers made the mistake too.MythBusters.MythBusters tested if hydrofluoric acidIt is corrosive enough.to dissolve a body and burn through a bathtub. They found it is not.

Episode Title: "End Times"

We do not see how Brock gets poisoned. We see the moment Walt has the idea. This happens in Season 4, episode 12. Walt thinks about losing his fight with Gus. In his backyard, he sees a Lily of the Valley plant. He gets an idea. The seeds of this plant areIt is highly toxic., strong enough to seriously hurt pets and small children. Walt uses the toxic berries to dose little Brock. Walt tricks Jesse into thinking Gus caused the poisoning. We do not know how Walt gave the berries to Brock, but he put them inSome kind of food item..