Awesome Dangerous

Capacitors are capable of storing large amounts of energy and releasing it quickly. The Backyard Scientist teamed up with Peter Sripol and William Osman to show just how dangerous capacitors can be by subjecting a variety of objects to the power stored in a 20,000-volt bank of capacitors. Don’t even think of trying this at home.

In Far Cry 6, you’ll be able to craft weapons from junk. Among the possibilities is a gun that fires CDs as projectiles. The guys over at Hacksmith Industries teamed up with UbiSoft to build a real-world replica of the dangerous device and finally gives us a use for all of those old AOL CD-ROMs.

We’ve really been enjoying the wacky inventions on Handy Geng’s YouTube channel. Among them is this metal chair that ensures whoever sits in it won’t fall asleep. It uses a set of terrifying spring-loaded spikes that pop out of its seat, and a goofy motion-sensor hat that triggers them if its occupant starts to nod off.

Kids who grew up in the 1980s and before could almost certainly count on their toys to offer some risk of injury. But thanks to the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the fear of lawsuits, they’re far tamer these days. The Backyard Scientist teamed up with William Osman and Peter Sripol to Make Toys Dangerous Again.

A while back, Hacksmith Industries built a working lightsaber with a terrifying 4000º plasma blade. Now James is here to test whether there’s a safe way to put his hand into its beam, along with a lesson on the physics of heat transfer.

Mr. Michal shows off a metal truck that incorporates a multi-fire rocket launcher in its bed. Loaded up with gunpowder, it puts on quite a spectacle, but the danger level rises precipitously with the addition of ball-bearing projectiles. Yep, don’t try this at home. Leave it to the YouTube “professionals.”

(PG-13) Self-proclaimed professional idiot Steve-O returns to Hot Ones for another round of butt-burning sauces. For the season 14 (yep, that’s right) finale, the daredevil and comedian is back to outdo himself while he talks about his most ill-advised stunts, his love for skateboarding, and immortalizing his exploits on video.

We watched in amazement as BASE jumpers Espen Fadnes and Andreas Haaland Hemli jumped off of a mountain in Norway in the dark of night, then lit up their flight path with brilliant flares attached to their feet. We thought we were watching a missile launch.

Anni and Lauri of the Hydraulic Press and Beyond the Press Channels show of one of their deadliest creations, an air-powered launcher that can fling a circular saw blade at breakneck speeds. The sound it makes is both satisfying and terrifying.

Chris Benchetler shows us green run amateurs what we’re missing out on with this amazing POV of his line at California’s Mammoth Mountain. Watch as he winds through precariously tight rock formations, then catches air performing flips and spins on his quick trip to the bottom.

Given ElectroBOOM’s tendency to shock himself while working with electricity, we’re not sure that a 500,000-volt generator is a something he should tinker with. But that’s exactly what he shows off in this video, a high-voltage circuit made up by charging a number of capacitors in parallel, then connecting them in series.

Taking a page from the Beyond the Press channel’s sawblade car, RC car fan Fivo Nine modded their Traxxas Xmaxx trophy truck, and outfitted it with 7-1/4″ blades from a circular saw. The RC truck has a tremendous amount of torque for its size, so it quickly digs in and starts cutting into the surface of the frozen lake.

If there’s one thing that we can say about maker Colin Furze is that he’s ambitious. For his latest build, he and his friends made an enormous trebuchet that can barely fit inside the workshop where they assembled it. Fortunately, it has wheels so they can tow it out of there. We’ll have to wait to see it in action though.

Nibbling on crushed ice can produce a satisfying and cooling sensation. But we can’t advise doing the same with dry ice. What If explores what kind of terrible things would probably happen to you if you downed a big hunk of the solidified carbon dioxide that likes to maintain a temperature around −109.3 °F.

Coolest Thing introduces us to self-proclaimed mad scientist Lance Greathouse. Among his many builds is a motorized wheelchair that packs a flamethrower on its front end. But he doesn’t just build silly stuff, Lance and the folks from the Wheelchair Labs helps refurbish wheelchairs for people in need.

You would think lighting anything around your on fire would be a bad idea, but that didn’t stop The Hacksmith from doing just that. In this insanely cool build, they created a version of Ghost Rider’s fiery helmet that burns propane fuel. As a bonus, they threw in a flaming chain.

You wouldn’t think that something as innocuous as corn starch could cause a massive fireball, but you’d be wrong. The Beyond the Press channel conducted a series of experiments to show just how flammable various kinds of dust and powder can be when exposed to a flame. They didn’t try non-dairy creamer though.

People do some strange things when they run out of stuff to do. Take, for example, this annual festival which takes place in San Juan de la Vega, Mexico. The sole objective is for participants to hit things with a sledgehammer packed with explosives so it blows up. Todd Hata takes us inside this wild and loud celebration.

After building a retractable blade lightsaber, The Hacksmith is back to show off what this impressive plasma weapon can do. Watch in awe as it burns right through a Stormtrooper, slashes through walls, and melts metal and glass like butter. It’s not as quick at cutting as the ones in the movies, but just as awesome.

Longboarder Josh Neuman and his pals take us on a wild ride down one of the coolest roads on the planet, as a FPV drone pilot Rene Renson chases his crew along a portion of the Lysevegen, a super-curvy street that runs down a mountain in Lysebotn, Norway.

The Hacksmith has been trying to build a real-world lightsaber for quite some time now. The closest he’s gotten up until now is a deadly electric heating element. Now his shop has created a version that retracts like the ones in Star Wars, burning a 4000ºF beam of plasma. That brass and copper steampunk hilt is too cool for words.

There are numerous articles out there on how to make a messy concoction called elephant toothpaste. Engineer Mark Rober has even filled a swimming pool with the stuff. Now, he’s made something far more reactive and explosive, dubbed “devil’s toothpaste.” He then supersized the experiment for a very special fan.

Inspired by the Junk Jet in Fallout 4, The Hacksmith went ahead and built a real-world replica of the unique and destructive weapon. Simply load up its steel barrel with anything you find lying around, and its airbag-powered launcher turns random junk into deadly projectiles.