I work at a tire shop (Goodyear), and they make valve stems that are three inches long for cars with hub caps on them. Now if a car had one of those on there, it could be possible to breathe air out of it.

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Originally posted by avinony:
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The issue of water is solved easily. Tilt the face to the floor of the river so that the air rises to the back of your mouth, spit out the water, then breathe in. Not hard at all. I know this works (not in relation to the tire situation) in practice. I do it when I'm swimming underwater and have accidentally gotten water in my mouth along with air.

Exactly what I logged on to post. You might need to wait a few seconds with each breath while your mouth fills adequately with air. Can be done without any ancillary equipment.

I'd assume with a funnel and the air coming out of you could trap the air properly one could breath in the air under optimal circumstances.

when i go swimming and i am about to go under water i get some air in my mouth and use that to help me stay under longer, so if you were able to get the air straight form the tire without lettings water come in the way that could work. you could you some type of straw.

A few years ago, the BBC did a series called HOLLYWOOD SCIENCE. The idea was to look at various scenes from Hollywood movies and test whether they were scientifically possible. One of the things tested was this very 'Breathing from a tyre underwater' myth. The presenters actually did this on film, exactly as it was done in the Bond film. Time to revisit this?

a few people have mentioned the "free flowing regulator" idea from diving. I'm a diver too, but the flow of bubbles from the regulator is much more intense than the one from the slice that Adam made in the tire.

So, I was thinking, if maybe there was a different hole, or deeper in water (for more pressure or something) than maybe the rush of air would be grater. Thus easier to breath from

One thing apparently not taken into consideration in this myth is the effect that driving has on the air in the tire. As you drive on a tire it builds up significant heat and slowly 'cooks' the air that is inside it. This would probably reduce the oxygen content of that air and add a significant amount of toxins to it, effectively rendering the air unbreathable.

I wanted to find out if Mythbusters was using Epic Camera Housings when they shot this episode.

I am from Epic Camera Housings and it sure did look like it!

-Lary
www.epiccam.com

I know you can breathe the air from hot tub jets, and stay underwater for as long as you want. This should be the same as breathing the air from the tire. How about sealing his lips to the tire, or using a hose what screws onto the valve stem. This hose could have a on off valve, this would make it easier to breath.

Teh real problem Jamie was having was that he was unable to filter the air coming from the tire from the surrounding water.

The biggest challenge posed by this situation is pressure. Because of the pressure in the tire was higher then the weight of the water pressing against the opening Jamie made, the water was forced out and thus uncontrollable.

Some people are talking about creating a seal with your lips over an extended stem, or poking a hole in the tire and then trying to suck from the stem. None of these would work, and the average joe doesn't have a Free Flowing Regulator sitting in their back seat. If you're going to add in a Free Flow Regulator, why not just include an aqualung?

There is an easy way to solve this problem. If you could control the flow of air easily while at the same time filter away all the water, this myth would be an easy one.

It's really simple, actually. All you need is one of those 54oz cups form the gas station. Release some air from the tire, invert the cup and capture the rising air bubbles. As the air is captured inside the inverted cup, water is forced out. Next all you have to do is use a straw to access the captured air. There you have it, breathing from a tire, underwater.

I don't think it's cheating at all, as many people have a cup or two rolling around in the back seat. Easy Breezy.

Another possiblity I haven't seen yet is to cut the tire as in the episode, but stick something like a straw into the hole and try breating through the straw. Of course the use of a bag to trap air may be more realistic.

I heard a variation of the embolism myth that I've always wondered about. An enterprising young man inverted a large bucket and weighted it so that it sank to the bottom of a 12" deep swimming pool. He then swam to the bottom, stuck his head in the bucket and took a deep breath. He then swam around and eventually returned to the surface. Not realizing that he had breathed air that had been compressed by being submerged, he suffered an embolism and perished. Anyone ever hear this version? It never seemed plausible to me, but in principle it could happen.

I am very unconvinced that this myth has been successfully busted. I have a number of issues with it.

Firstly, Gulping air from the water like Adam did is always going to be difficult. – It’s far easier to suck the air from the valve stem (providing one is able to get the air out of the valve at an appropriate rate). A few ideas to try would be:

1) You need something in your mouth to depress the valve stem. Many after-market valve caps have pointy tops specifically designed for allowing drivers to bleed air from their tires). In this scenario you simply seal your lips around the valve stem while pushing the valve against the top of the valve cap. Use your lips to hold the valve cap in front of your teeth with the top facing outward. I’ve tried this and it works just fine - it's a ready-made air regulator!!. At a pinch you could also use other pointy objects such as car keys etc. held between your teeth.
2) When I was growing up here in Australia you could buy valve caps with a built in valve remover. These caps tapered at the top to a diameter that would fit inside the valve stem. Two small prongs protruding from the top of the cap allowed you to unscrew the valve from inside the valve stem. If you where lucky and your car had one of these fitted you could use it to loosen the valve within the valve-stem to allow a trickle of air to escape. Alternatively, you could unscrew the valve altogether then refit the valve cap. Its tapered end would act like a restrictor and limit the out rush of air. You could then suck air from the top of the valve cap.
3) Simply cut the valve stem and suck on that (mentioned elsewhere in the discussion thread)

Secondly , There are many people out there that seem to be able to hold their breath longer than Adam. One of my teachers at high school used to be a free diver and could easily hold his breath for 5 minutes, typically much longer. I first saw the tire breathing myth in a James Bond movie. No offence Adam, but I think the lung capacity a real secret agent is more likely to be closer to a free diver’s than yours. The additional breath time would allow ample time for removing a valve (see idea 2 above)

Thirdly, while busting the myth Adam and Jamie stated that one would most likely be all shook up from the car crashing into the water and therefore would be unlikely to be in a fit state to hold ones breath. In the Bond movie I saw the bad guys slowly pushed the car into the water with Bond “supposedly” unconscious in the back seat. In that scenario he would have had ample time to prepare.

With all these concerns, I’d really like to see this myth revisited.

Cheers, and keep up the bustin’

Damon



Thirdly, while busting the myth Adam and Jamie stated that one would be all shook up from the car crashing into the water and therefore would be unlikely to be in a fit state to hold ones breath. In the Bond movie I saw the baddies slowly pushed the car into the water with Bond “supposedly” unconscious in the back seat. In that scenario he would have had ample time to prepare.

I’d really like to see this myth revisited.

Cheers

Damon

I do not agree with the outcome of this myth for a number of reasons.

1) the movie that they are likely to be referring to is 007 title "a view to a kill" in this movie the car is a Rolls Royce Sliver Cloud mark 2 which was made from 1959-1962. I would be quite sure that that car would not have had the schrader type valves tested in the myth that require you to press the end in for air to come out. Many older tires of valves can be unscrewed completely without the need to press the centre in thus allowing air out more freely.

2) This myth was also tested in a BBC 2 program called "Hollywood Science" with Robert Lewellyn and Johnthan Hare, a few years ago. This program was in a similar format to mythbusters. They tested this by submerging a tire in a swimming pool, held down by weights. I seem to recall that he could not breathe until the tire was unscrewed and he put his mouth directly around it.

Re this being done on BBC TV's Hollywood Science.

Google "Hollywood Science" "rolls royce" and get the Tricky Situations page up.

From the 1985 movie View To A Kill, James Bond film.

Mentions that James Bond WAS in the Royal Navy, but did it in clear water like the Mythbusters (actual 007 movie was in a muddy lake).

4 tyres too remember - Rolls Royce tyres are big I think.

Put mouth over the bubbles, air displaces the water in your mouth. When mouth is full of air, breathe.

Plausible, not Busted. Not easy though.

I thought that this was a really interesting take on it; however, it is very very easily done. I was especially surprised that Jamie didn't think of this, being a certified diver and all... There is a "diving skill" which is required to get your cert, breathing from a free flowing regulator. Its the same concept and on p. 168 in the 2006 PADI Open Water Diver Manual. This should have been Confirmed, easily, not busted

The idea will work but not the way he did it. Your mouth must be above the air supply so the air displaces the water as it enters your mouth, then breath in allowing for the volume of air entering your mouth. Old SCUBA divers had to do this off their bare tanks to get certified

Have you ever smelled the "air" coming out of a tire? It is putrid, to say the least.
I have the feeling that most everyone would gag trying to breathe that in.

not really, if u needed to live, or your fond of life, most people would use that air, it's a lot better than to be shot, in the movie they were trying to kill bond, and he stayed under water until they went away, as u can see under water, but, some water is a green color and quite murky, and can't see your hand in front of your face, so u might feel around under water, and if some one has eye teeth, then they could use it to push down that post in the middle of the tire stem, when finding a leak on a bike tire, i inflate it with my mouth, then stick it under water or use soapy water to find the leak, but my point is, in a life or death matter, i would use the tire for air. but now there what they are calling nitro air or something like that, yes it does save gas, and the wear and tear on tires, but who knows if it toxic, also divers use a nitro air for diving below 200 feet of water,, but is it the same?, does anybody know?, i know that nirto air seems to last a lot longer than reg. air, when just diving at say 40 feet, does anybody know why?

Jeez I've done this with nothing more than a pop bottle and a key to punch a hole in the bottom. cut the valve or just push the valve in with the key. capture the water in the pop bottle when air has displaced the water in the bottle breathe through the hole in bottom of bottle. air incoming from valve keeps bottle full of air and you can regulate the amount of air you need with just closing your lips.
Get pinned under a car one time when doing an emergency rescue.
And have your tank ruptered you will find a way to get air.
Another way is if you have a ball point pen ram bottom into tire. works just like a nail. assuming you have a metal ball point pen.
Then take top end apart and ram it into that hole. then ram pen in again water goes in one way air out the other.