MacGyver Science: Quarantine + N95 + Landline + Telescope + Social Distance

Photo: MacGyver CBS. MacGyver’s DIY ventilator.

Season 5 Episode 6.

I normally just jump right into the science stuff for these episodes, but I need to add some additional comments. This episode takes place during the pandemic shut down — and it’s one of the best of all the MacGyver shows. It’s just so good. Here are some of the things that makes it awesome.

• I think this really captures the feelings that we all experience during a lock down and in this pandemic. The toilet paper, cleaning the kitchen, disinfecting the groceries. Oh, and MacGyver’s ukulele song about Fauci.
• Face masks. I love the use of face masks — I’m not even sure why. But look at Bozer, he wears a mask, a face shield AND gloves.
• The Riley-Mac-Desi stuff is great.
• Bozer worried about his mother. Many of us can relate to this.
• Desi: “I drive and you build things out of other things” — classic.
• MacGyver: “Fluid mechancis gets me HYPED”.
• The whole Rear Window thing with Bozer spying on the neighbors.

Oh, and there’s some great science. Let’s get to it.

Hydraulic Trash Grabber

It’s not a huge Mac-thing. He just needs to open this trash claw on a garbage truck that’s holding Russ. So, he jumps over to the truck and pokes a hole in the hydraulic line. With the fluid leaking out, the claw slowly opens so that Russ can escape.

OK, so what’s the deal with hydraulics? It’s basically two movable pistons connected by a hose filled with a fluid. When one piston is pushed in, the other one moves out. But there is something super cool. If you have a small piston on one side and a big one on the other side, you can push with a tiny force, but get a bigger force out.

Here is a rough diagram to show how this works.

The key is that the pressure in the fluid is the same in both pistons. Pressure is the force divided by area (of the pistons). So, a small force divided by a small area will equal a large…