Smash Lab Season 1, Episode 1: Blast Proof House

Crash Absorbing Concrete

Engineers determine if a new aviation technology called an aerated concrete arrestor bed can be used to prevent out-of-control vehicles from crossing the highway median and plowing into oncoming traffic.

60 min

Hurricane Proof House

The team tests a kind of carbon fiber to see, if it could be used to reinforce tunnels or keep a house from being destroyed in a hurricane.

Train Crash

In response to the fact that over 3000 people die each year due to railroad crossing accidents, the team tests the idea to use large airbags, located at the front of the train, so cars are safely pushed away.

Earthquake Proof House

The team tries to figure out if technology can be used to isolate a house from the shaking of the ground, caused by an earthquake.

60 min

High Rise Escape

The team tries to figure out how to decrease the number of fire-related deaths by having a stunt man test magnetic roller coaster brakes.

Fireproof House

The goal is to insulate a home from forest fires. A good portion of the show has the team working on ways to get the huge blanket over the home and secure the gaps. They estimate the home to be devoured in 1 1/2 minutes without protection and the experiment is considered a failure after a couple of minutes where something catches fire.

Runaway Trailer

The team investigates if you can stop a runaway trailer with truck using rockets. After testing 3 ways of using the rockets, a direct backwards-facing trailer-mounted system is used. A glitch in the firing system results in premature ignition, ending the experiment

Fluidized Sand

The team experiments with fluidized sand to help stop bank robbers in getaway cars.

Long Range Life Boat

The team combines a life boat with torpedo technology to perform a long range rescue.

C02 Cop Car

The team equips a police car with CO2 (carbon dioxide) fire extinguishers in order to disable a car during a high speed chase.

Boat Ejector Seat

Deanne and the boys use ways to escape speedboat crashes with a parachute. First Deanne and the guys tried to use a parachute to escape a car crash. Second the gang tried to deploy an underwater chute to slow down one boat before it crashed into another. The theory was to give people time to escape a head-on collision with another boat before the first one crashed into it.

Bomb Proof Plane

The team uses a material named Blastwrap in an attempt to protect a 747 from an explosion.

60 min