Lava vs Lasers - Which Is More Destructive?

Which has more destructive power. Lava or lasers? Well, today we're going to answer that age old question with a bit of a scientific Face-Off by testing each against seven objects including a row of glass bottles, a bunch of popcorn kernels a metal maze a can of beans a bunch of matches a canister of highly flammable butane and finally an actual boat.

Ohhhh WHAT! And since lava won the last showdown between acid versus lava, your questionable safety method practicing, Hawaiian shirted reigning champion is back. Kevin, the backyard scientist and his laser wielding opponent in this match up will be a former middle school science teacher and a man who has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Possibly more than Jimmy Kimmel himself. Science Bob Pflugfelder But once again, I'm not just going to be watching from the sidelines because each of the seven objects will have to face my X factor method of destruction. That will be different for each object.

So, for example, that highly flammable cannister of butane gas might be dropping into the path of two katanas spinning at 1500 rpm in a small room filled with open flames. And as expected, the nerd trash talk commenced immediately. I love Kevin's cute little backyard builds You're going down, Bob.

Don't go sleeping on the X factor. You got another excavator hiding outside? I'm basically Oprah here because the winner of today's competition gets a boat.

Last time you said I'd win a car and we ended up burning all the cars Did you win a car? Technically, but Well with that wee can com– William! Will’s back!

It smells like farts in here, Mark. Somebody farted. I'll get you out, Will AHHH William yeah Don't you have better things to do?

Yeah, I do. I've been planning Open Sauce, the world's greatest science and engineering event featuring over 150 of your favorite YouTube creators you can meet in person. June 15th and 16th are the dates and you're supposed to fill out your form.

That's why I'm here. Did you just advertise on my channel? Yes.

So here is. . .

So here is. . .

money worth it so in exchange for once again crashing the party I sent William off to find the official CrunchLabs bin of spare referee uniforms. I forgot about that thing. It was time to commence our seven item showdown of destruction.

Starting first with the row of glass bottles. What I have in my hand is a 3000 watt, water cooled, high powered laser. This thing gets hotter than lava, Kevin.

Only in a tiny spot. That's all we need I'm not even going to wear my glasses You have to wear your glasses Okay, I'm sorry. Here we go.

Oh my goodness Whoa Whoa, it's like a mini volcano. KEVIN: It’s. .

. smoking WILL: Holy moley Bob slowly worked his laser through every bottle, setting them up Oh So he could breezily knock them down. awww That's a good way to cut a glass in half.

Which was fair enough. But could lava do better? Let's do it.

Nice. And by the way, if you've ever wondered how to make lava, all you got to do is stick some rocks in a graphite crucible and then heat them up to 3000°F so that the rocks just literally melt and turn into a liquid form. Look at that.

Wow That's actually hot! Hot lava! Whoa Whoa Whoa Oh, you still got one.

Fill up their– Whoa Oh BOB: That was. . .

horrifying and amazing. KEVIN: That was awesome! MARK: For Lava.

. . KEVIN: That was also a lot faster than Bob’s Can't argue with that.

And with the flames safely doused it was now my turn I would say Kevin wins. Hey I– I haven’t gone yet! KEVIN: I think I won that one right, Will?

MARK: Wait! KEVIN: I think I won that one right, Will? And they would soon live to regret ever discounting the X factor.

Because what they didn't know is when it comes to oversize, quadruple banded trigger locked slingshots. I'm a bit of a sharpshooter. Mark: Three, Two.

one Darn it. DARN IT! This is harder than it looks, alright?

Frst try. . .

KEVIN & WILL: Whoa Mark: Yes! And uhh, yeah, my slingshot eventually handled all of them. Mark, you made this easy It's Kevin.

Let's go Next round. So lava put the first points on the board as we moved into the second event of the day to see which of us could most effectively pop some popcorn. How did no one think of using a laser to pop popcorn?

Cause it’s a no brainer. Just like you! Don’t insult a guy with a military grade laser.

Three two one. Wow! Oh, I see a kernel.

Look! Are they popping? Yes!

What? Oh I may have set it on fire. This looks repulsive.

You haven't tasted it yet. It's like a little bit burnt. See?

Oh are you– OH! HEY! WHOA!

It just needs more time. But Bob's time was up. Do you have a plan, Kevin?

No. First. .

. MARK: Ohhh KEVIN: Just like this WILL: Oh man dude BOB: Looks delicious MARK: That’s clever WILL: That’s Guy Fieri right there And then, here we go. Popcorn.

Popcorn on top Whoa Oh, you really went for it. Oh, yeah. Oh wow.

Look at the smoke. Is it off gassing and then burning? Whoa MARK: That is cool!

WILL: That’s one of the craziest things I've ever seen in my life. I think it’s flammable WHOA we got some popcorn. Kevin’s popcorn was the clear winner in quantity.

I think– Whoa ho ho ho ho Taste test. But how was the quality? Oh it's chewy.

Huh Oh, no. That's not good Wow. Oh.

Lacking. Blah! Severely lacking.

Oh, just tastes like smoke. That's horrible. Ugh!

Which brought us to the X factor And this odd looking contraption. Okay now I just turn. This should make popcorn really, really fast.

Basically, the way it works is you put the kernels in the top of this mini chamber and then you lock it closed and heat it up over a small fire which causes the air pressure to rise really high because the air can't expand out like it wants to. As it heats up this new pressure then pushes back on each kernel, squeezing them in all around like a weighted blanket to keep their kernel shape, even though they're now totally hot enough to pop into popcorn. So after putting a liberal amount of butter and salt into this bag here, and then prying off the lid to the chamber.

Three Two One. You instantly pop a thousand pieces of popcorn as they're free to expand now, without all the extra air pushing them in. Wowww!

Whoa! And after a quick shake. I'll be the judge.

That’s pretty good That’s really good, actually If mine was covered in salt and butter, it tastes good, too. Yeah let's test it. Okay.

Wait. No. Winner is Mark.

Yes! The underdog X factor was tied with lava as we moved into round three, the Metal Maze And Science Bob's plan was to use a series of mirrors to send his beam through the maze straight to a balloon filled with flammable gas. Ooo balloon!

Fastest way to solve the maze is to use the speed of light. Three Two One Powering. And while it instantly got through the maze, all of the mirrors did too much to weaken the intensity of the beam.

Bob, it didn't light your flash paper. Can we just do it manually? Only barely being salvaged Whoa!

by the explosive ending and Kevin's take on the maze was to turn it on its head. You have to follow your own path in life. Don't listen to the walls society puts up for you.

You take the maze and you just melt it down and then– Oh gosh, get him his lava. WILL: Gosh! It's something.

. . MARK: Wow it’s beautiful!

It already went through? And the lava wasted no time in just melting its way through every wall. Whoa oh whoa hahaha Wooow!

I might burn through this side, too. I can solve the maze ten different ways. But one was more than enough.

I think that was really cool, Kevin That's beautiful, Kevin. Thank you. I also think you didn’t solve the maze at all.

Yeah My submission for X Factor on Maze should be arriving. . .

now Right on time. This. Well, there's no way she's fitting in that maze is my adorable niece, Kaylee And Kaylee What do we have in this box?

We have my pet, Squeaky. You think squeaky can do the maze? Yes So we put a little motivation at the end of the maze and let Squeaky get to work.

And Squeaky wasted no time in leaving the competition in the dust. Come on, now Come on, Squeaky. .

. MARK: Come on, Squeaky! WILL: Turn around, turn around Squeaky.

KEVIN: Squeaky turn around! Why can’t you turn Squeaky? I can't believe this worked.

Oh. . .

MARK: NO! KEVIN: YES! Oh, that's so embarrassing for you Mark squeaky SQUEAKY!

This is so bad. Kaylee, can you tell him to go to the finish line? I can, but I don't want to Wait.

What? Come on. There’s something wrong with this mouse.

Mhm Okay, okay. Okay, okay. Yes.

MARK: That counts WILL: Full body out Full body out Close and. . .

Science Bob attempted to console me with a scientific explanation for Squeaky’s cold feet. Mammals don't like being out in the open because that's where predators are. So right now it's probably feeling a little more protection.

So, knowing this, we gave squeaky a nice protected VIP line straight to the cheese. And soon enough. Oh that's it.

That's a win Go into science Bob’s clothes That would be nice. Yes, yes. YES!

YES! Do it, DO IT! YES!

I sent my adorable niece Kaylee off to wait. it's your call how you want to play this While we all waited for William's final call. I will say she cries easy.

And while the judge deliberates his final decision, Judge. you might have noticed my backyard has once again sprung up in Crunch Labs. And that's because to help fight summer brain drain and make this your least boring summer ever by popular demand we're bringing back Camp CrunchLabs.

And this year, not only have we triple reinforced the roof, but we've also added the Fort Nuts Treehouse. Now, just like last year, it's a 12 week virtual summer camp featuring all new, way bigger mega experiments that I do that look sort of like this. And then super challenges you do at home that looks sort of like this.

And the best at home super challenge submission of the whole summer gets a platinum ticket to come out right here with me to be in the twelfth and final summer episode. On top of that usually the CrunchLabs build box is where we build a really fun toy together where I teach you all the juicy physics of how they work comes every month. But to coincide with the weekly Camp CrunchLabs, videos and challenges we can ship them to you every week.

So if you want a 12 week summer camp where you can learn to think like an engineer with 0% chance of bug bites and poison ivy just head to CampCrunchLabs. com, where you can reserve one of the limited spots and I'll see you at camp. Now where were we I think it's time to make a call, William Easy choice to make One second Make eye contact with Kaylee first.

Okay, fine. Everybody wins. You're a winner.

You're a winner. The points are negated. No one gets any points.

Which was perhaps deservedly a way to call us all losers on that round as we moved on to the tastiest round yet Beans. Welcome to the Crunch Labs kitchen, chef. Chef, yes Chef!

Here we go. Warm them up gently, and then they will be delicious. It looks like he's welding beans Once they're warmed up gently.

But Science Bob, you’re leaking beans everywhere. This is a crime against beans. Just like grandma makes it smells like grandma Mm Tastes like mildly room temperature beans.

Five stars. So all Kevin's lava had to do was room temperature beans This is going to be way better than your laser beans. Kevin, you look like a chef from the future.

Thank you. Whoa. Oh Oh.

Oh there. Dude it’s like Oh Get away from it Kevin Okay, okay. Cool Kevin!

I have never seen that happen before. It’s like a alien egg omelet. You are a futuristic chef.

Look at that. Look at that. But to be kind.

And the floor is lava. We gave him the mulligan. Oh, the power of a volcano versus these beans.

Oh ho ho ho ho ho ho ho! My gosh, dude Wait. That can of beans is going to explode.

That's what I'm kind of worried about. Wait. Is it gonna explo– Kevin, Kevin I would put that down and get away from the beans.

WILL: Get away get away get away get away get away BOB: Step away KEVIN: Is that getting bigger? BOB: . .

. from the Beans KEVIN: Is that getting BIGGER? WILL: Kevin, get AWAY from the beans Kevin!

Join us! IT’S GETTING BIGGER? It's going to explode, bro.

Well I know, I want to get covered in beans. Don’t get cooked So we waited to see if these truly were some ticking time beans. Dude, this is horrifying.

The second I let my guard down, it's going to explode. You look like a muppet. Whoa?

Is that it? oh ok. It punctured I knew you wouldn't do it And with these beans being more bust than boom we had to grab a can opener seeing as how Kevin's lava– Whoa!

Never mind. Were we rolling? MY CEILING!

They'll come back down any minute now. That is quite possibly the biggest and loudest explosion We’ve ever had at CrunchLabs And we've had a lot dude the floor is slippery Dude There’s no beans! Wait.

. . There’s no more beans What?

Fortunately we found just enough for a taste test It’s good before moving on to the X factor. There's more than one way to boil a can of beans. With a twist they never saw coming.

Because that clear container is actually a vacuum chamber. And by sucking out the air on the chamber, I would lower the pressure on the beans, causing them to boil. You might have noticed this effect when you're higher elevation in the mountains, where the air pressure is lower and it takes longer for something like your ramen noodles to become soft, even though the water is boiling with less air pressure, the boiling point of water is as much as ten degrees lower, so the water just can't get as hot before it turns to steam.

Oh, yes They're like, rising out with the foam. This is disgusting, Mark. It looks like a root beer float.

Wait till you taste it. And once it had been given enough time to really boil, I switched off the vacuum, letting the air rush back in as I prepared to plate. Wow.

Oh my gosh! Judge? They're colder than room temperature.

Do you get negative points because you made the beans colder? There's only one of these that was memorable and it was Kevin's bean bomb Yes! So Kevin pulled ahead by one point, but it was still anybody's game going into the matches round.

All right. Arguably the most expensive way to light a match. Oh my gosh.

Wow! The laser worked great, although thanks to Bob's Protective Eyewear. You've basically missed the entire back half.

It’s so hard to see. Don't tell. I'm sorry.

Don’t tell him, don’t tell him Or I mean, you're doing great, Bob And even with his helmet handicap Bob got the rest quickly. Wow And now for Kevin's contraption, a spaghetti pot with slots he had cut in the bottom and then drilled it onto a router motor, hoping the centripetal force would fire the rapidly spinning lava into the matches. Three.

Two. One. Yeah, nice OH!

My gosh Nice. Oh my gosh. It was quick and beautiful and left a ton of flames.

I can’t believe it Unfortunately for Kevin the flames just weren't on the matches. Noooo Oh you’re burning it with the crucible that’s not even lava anymore Kevin: No! Will: It got kind of sad.

Here we go. I filled a squirt gun with acid in the hopes it would create an exothermic reaction on the match heads causing them to ignite. I can have the minions bring you some lava.

I don't need your dang lava. Oh! Yeah!

FIRE! Chemistry! What’s up!

I think you need a time lapse instead of high speed, Mark That’s nerd trash talk right there And so we did put it to a time lapse, and we found out that if we gave it enough time. it still burnt out Science Bob had the most effective method of lighting it on fire Wooo laser! No way.

So Science Bob was finally on the board as we moved into the flammable butane cans We've been trying to answer some important science questions here, and the world wants to know what happens if we hit a laser on a can of highly flammable butane. What happens? Oh, I don't know, so we're gonna find out.

Oh Three Two One Oh there it is Oh okay Going down. Going down. Whoa.

Hey, I didn’t think that was going to work Not what I was expecting Now that's how you laser. It was a strong start for laser. And now it was over to lava to see if it could be topped.

Kevin, I see we need bunker protection for this. Oh, why? Because it's going to be so good?

Cause it's gonna be dangerous. Wow! Whoa that means it's good.

Despite my best judgment I allowed Kevin to continue as he attempted to ignite a butane canister by dumping a bunch of lava on it. Oh here we go And the result was actually gorgeous. Oh As the venting butane forced the viscous flow of lava streaming back up into the air Whoa!

and when it was finally through, Look at the bubble on the floor. it left so much to see. Whoa!

Look at the lava spike on that. obsidian dagger. And a lot to hear.

That's WHOA OHHH Wah! It's like lava ASMR And even some stuff to wear. I think we officially have the world's most dangerous contact lens.

But I could beat all that. Gentlemen, you'll find your butane can attached to the ceiling here with an electromagnet. If I push this button, it drops.

Drps on to what? Well, it drops on to this helicopter that spins these little arms. They're not wooden arms.

They are. . .

They are. . .

Swords. Those are katanas, I believe. Then what?

Sterno flames all around in the container to ignite the butane So you took two swords and bolted them to a motor 1500 rpm motor. They're going to stay on it in theory. I lit the candles as I prepared to say hello to victory.

. . And potentially goodbye to CrunchLabs.

Mwah! Here we go. Spin her up!

Oh! Oh! Oh, sorry.

Is that as fast as it can go? No oh no. .

. You shouldn’t say stuff like that Kevin Ooooo what Okay! I’m good there KEVIN: Oh my.

. . MARK: Here we go!

KEVIN: Mark this is terrifying MARK: Three! Two One Oh whoa whoa hahaha Yes! YES!

Oh my gosh That was so cool. WE’RE ALIVE! yes!

Look. Perfect slice. I feel like the X factor finally brought something interesting to the table.

Which put the scores here headed into the final two point showdown. All right, gentlemen, what do you think? That one kind of looks like me.

Yeah, that's by design. Uh oh I'm guessing this is not a race Yeah, your goal is to sink a boat. The lake had three boats in it, each filled with a self-portrait mannequin and a few gas cans to make things more interesting.

Quite simply first to sink a boat wins starting with Kevin who’s resorting to some medieval tactics. Hey, Kevin, you know what I think of you're a little catapult? What do you think, Bob?

I think it's really cool. I hope it works. Aww Bob.

Sorry. I'm not good at trash talk. Bring in the lava.

You guys don't have any minions. All right, Kevin, this better be cool. Oh, we're locked and loaded.

Here you go. You guys ready? MARK: Yeah WILL: I’m ready Three.

Two. One. .

. FIRE! You didn't even get close to the boat!

I don’t want to hurt myself Oh look, it's sizzling. Oh, yeah. Look!

All right. More lava. Three Two One Fire!

Oh my gosh! I should be splashing him with lava Not water! FIRE!

Ohhhh That would have hit it but it missed This is it, Kevin launch lava at you like normal people do. Yeah. Ohh come on!

I think if we take the lava out of the crucible, it'll go farther. Just straight projectiles at this point Yeah, just a red hot crucible. No lava.

Okay. It was his last shot Three. Two One.

so he gave it everything Oh. Whoa AHH! By sheer luck, hitting one of the gas can triggers Ohhh ho ho ho It just dropped a bomb and kept going And we waited for the ship to sink.

But alas, it did not. Wow Kevin My lava minions are fired! All right, gentlemen, my strategy here is kind of simple.

Simple man, simple strategy. Continuing with the medieval theme, flaming arrow. He doesn't even have a quiver.

He's just, like, strapping them to his back? By the way I got my archery merit badge in Boy Scouts. Is that why it's not catching on fire?

It looks like it supposed to catch on fire. Oh, yeah. Okay.

Straight and true. Oh, my gosh that was supposed to look cooler The X Factor is back baby Here we go You got it. Oh Definitely the wind.

There is no wind. It’s This is so sad. Ah!

The lake is littered with arrows. Oh! people look up to you, Mark.

That’s a- that’s in! Oh, yeah! Okay.

Oh! Oh. .

. Hey arrow boy Wait, I thought you weren’t going to trash talk? I was just going to say good luck, and I’m rooting for you Well, now I feel bad.

Quit being nice. Bob! Sorry This is the last arrow All right, I got to make this one count.

Okay, here we go. Flaming arrow. Dang it!

And then there was one. This game is rigged. And with my boat even less sunk than Kevin's.

The stage was perfectly set for Science Bob to steal away the victory All right, boys, now we have added an extender on here. This is a big moment because you're down by one. but this is a Two-Pointer.

I literally have to light myself on fire out there. Oh, yeah. Sorry, Bob.

Me in a Ryan Seacrest hairdo. I think it's a good look. It's way better than my regular hair.

All right, Bob BOB: Three. . .

KEVIN: Bob’s about to pull a Titanic Two. . .

One. Okay. Firing.

Oh I see MARK: Oh oh oh Bob! Whoa! BOB: We’ve got Fire, we’ve got Fire MARK: Oh oh oh Bob!

Whoa! Hit it Bob! KEVIN: Let’s go Bob!

MARK: Rip rip rip, let it rip! Let's go Bob! !

Let her rip! Go go! Cut the boat in half, Bob!

Do we have to let it cool? Oh– what the– Bob! What did you hit, Bob!

? That’s gonna leave a mark, guys still going, still going Oh, yeah. Look at you.

You burned yourself, Bob! Bob you’re on fire! WHOA!

That’s what I’m talking about Bob, you have no mercy It’s already dead, Bob! I really want to win this. It's sinking.

I think it's sinking. Bob you animal Relentless! I mean, I think you win so far.

. . Okay And as the USS Laser sunk into the watery depths.

Like any good Captain Science Bob Seacrest went down with the ship. Look, it could be anyone's game at this point. Will, what’s the call?

It’s golden hour You look incredibly handsome but you're still the loser. Bob. Bob did damage.

I appreciate that, thank you Yeah Wow. What, you get a hug? Yeah.

And, of course, I promise you a brand new boat. . .

So there it is Oh, that's my boat. . .

But. . .

I don't want that boat. Have you ever wanted to go ice skating without having to deal with all that pesky cold ice? Or maybe fully investigate the viscous effects of slime.

or maybe use the power or science to make things go boom in a bunch of different ways Well if so, get ready for your least boring summer ever what? Because Camp CrunchLabs has you covered with a 12 week virtual summer camp. Now a big part of the fun are the weekly episodes where we learn the really cool science behind mega experiments like this but I think my favorite part is seeing all the at home super challenge submissions where you use your own creativity and budding engineering skills to blow my mind In fact, the best super challenge submission of the whole summer gets a platinum ticket to come right out here to be with me for the final episode where as you can see we don’t hold back any punches On top of that, usually the CrunchLabs build boxes where we build a really fun toy together where I teach you all the juicy physics of how they work comes every month but to coincide with the weekly Camp CrunchLabs videos and challenges we can ship them to you every week for 12 weeks straight So don’t spend all summer super bored as you forget everything you learned last year and instead, attend Camp CrunchLabs where you’ll have a blast growing your brain in delightful ways as you challenge yourself and learn to think like an engineer.

Now camp crunchlabs is for all crunchlabs subscribers and if you haven’t somehow subscribed yet then head to campcrunchlabs.