Forget “more cowbell,” everything hence forth shall require copious amounts of additional duck. Yes, Adam. One thousand times: yes.
If you’re wondering why the hell monsieur Savage is building duck bombs, look no further than this Vine. Charlie Murphy had no idea what kind of evil he was unleashing on the people of Earth when he decided to fill an entire shopping cart with “Squawkie Talkies.” The clip has since been played over 120 million times, and taken the web by absolute meme-storm.
Lucky for all of us, somewhere in the fray the viral video caught Savage’s eye, who immediately went to his cave of wonders to create the ultimate secret weapon:
And now I present to you … the DUCK BOMB. #duckarmy https://t.co/4oOMXgvfVN
— Adam Savage (@donttrythis) September 14, 2015
(A brief pause for any poor soul who hasn’t virtually toured the shop.)
Being the tinker-thinker he is, Savage couldn’t stop there. After all, what kind of evil genius folds after round one? It was time for an improvement; it was time for a Tested One Day Build. Not only did he recruit more ducks and a few pink flamingos (which, we might add, look suspiciously like Rizzo the Rat) for the “Ultimate Duck Army Bomb,” but also put his plans on YouTube so anyone could build their own. No neighborhood is safe from the UDAB’s wicked “WAHHHHHHHHH,” which savage aptly compares to the third level of Dante’s hell.
The sound comes from negative pressure, which you likely already know as “suction.” Like all things, air molecules want to move from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure. When you squeeze the duck, most of the air within it is pushed out through a hole near the mouth. Releasing the duck creates a pressure imbalance between the outside (a high-pressure zone) and the inside (now a very low-pressure zone). The molecules rush back in, but they have to pass a cleverly-placed reed in the duck’s neck. When the air whizzes across the reed, you get sound, just like in the mouthpiece of an oboe or clarinet.
“This is the most absurd thing we’ve ever built,” Savage says with a laugh. But that doesn’t make it any less glorious. “I have some toucans on the way, too.” We’ll be impatiently waiting their arrival.
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IMAGES: Adam Savage, Tested/YouTube
