Ultimate Festival Hacks - How Hacks Work - S01 EP30 - Science Documentary

We've scoured the internet to bring you the ultimate in life hacks, bonkers inventions and crazy contraptions designed to make your life easier, more exciting and definitely more fun.

And we've summoned a team of experts with science brains and funny bones to explain everything.

From the ridiculous to the sublime.

And make sure you strap in for the grand finale at our very own Hack HQ, where we create and construct an epic stunt, our very own super-sized solutions to life's problems, big and small, with the help of Mike Sansom, pyrotechnician, chemist and engineer, and his human guinea pigs, Marcus Bronzi and Steven Grant.

For now, sit back, relax, and put your feet up.

Let us do the hard work so you don't have to.

This is how hacks work.

This episode is all about festivals, so we'll be packing our tent, boots and paracetamol as we dig out some of the most clever and creative videos the internet has to offer.

The best thing about festivals is that moment when you realise that the most strenuous thing that you're going to have to do the entire day is go to the toilet.

Whether you're into music, a film buff or a food addict, we've got every kind of festival covered.

So all you need to worry about is keeping yourself covered.

The worst thing about festivals is the moment when you actually enter that toilet.

Using the handy methods in the videos, we'll show you everything you need to know to stand out from the crowd.

From ways to stay out of the mud to getting a better view.

Even how to shower in the beer tent.

And at Hack HQ, we'll be opening the festival celebrations with an epic fire display.

You've definitely shown me the ultimate festival hack, mate.

For those of you who hate being stuck at the back of the crowds, this first tip will make sure you have the best seats at any festival.

Looking like the least threatening Marvel superhero ever, Tom Morgan floats 8,000 feet above South Africa.

What's up?

Absolutely champion.

Any wildebeest looking up at this point must be thinking, what the hell are these humans doing now?

I'd love to give it a go myself, except I'm scared of heights.

But other than that, I'd love to give it a go.

I mean, it looks really cool and it looks really magical, but I think it would just be monstrously frightening.

Helium is a less dense gas than the air around us.

Things that are less dense float upwards and so that's why helium balloons go up.

Helium balloons can go from about 18 to maybe 37 kilometers up.

Now the main limitation here is actually just coldness.

When they get too cold, that latex becomes a bit brittle and it will rupture and burst.

If you're gonna do this, definitely don't do it when it's rainy or cold.

Or warm, or hot, or not raining.

Actually, just please, please don't try this.

This hack might take a bit of prep, but arriving like this to your favorite festival will definitely leave the rest of the lineup in the shade.

And for that reason, it's a hit.

For any festival, it's important to pack light so you have space for all those novelty inflatables.

And thanks to the humble vacuum cleaner and a bin liner, this space-saving hack will help you on your way to efficient festival packing bliss.

Although if I was this guy, I'd be thinking less about saving space and more about maybe not taking that PVC jacket.

You're lowering the pressure inside of the bag, and what that means is it means the air outside of the bag can push down

with its full true force.

You can save quite a lot of space with this.

You can shrink a duvet about three times its actual size.

Smells travel through air, so if the air isn't escaping, I mean, the smell won't escape, which after a festival can never be a bad thing.

I just wear the same clothes the whole time.

Don't take any spare clothes.

I wear long underwear.

I sew myself in.

I've said it before and I'll say it again.

George, you're a genius.

If your greatest fear at a festival is a wardrobe malfunction, then this hack could be a lifesaver.

Just make sure you don't confuse this rubbish bag with an actual rubbish bag.

A hit!

And here's a handy hack that will keep your beer tokens, sorry, money, safe from any sneaky festival thieves.

A balm container makes the perfect disguise for a roll of money.

Just don't get too intoxicated and start trying to rub banknotes over your lips.

The average festival goer takes enough money to buy a crate of alcohol and one burger for the whole event, so it's not the best choice of location for a thief anyway.

It's estimated that in a year of UK festivals, £270,000 worth of money and possessions were stolen.

This balm container was made for cunningly disguising a roll of banknotes.

Actually, it was made for the lip balm, but you get the point.

A great way to hide money at a festival is to fill the tent poles with £1 coins, and it also makes them much heavier and less likely to blow away.

Nobody in the history of the world has ever been so desperate for lip balm that they'd steal a stranger's, so this is technically a hack hit.

Answering the call of nature must be the worst part of being at any festival.

Except this one.

This could be the perfect solution to making all future festival toilet stops a hit.

As long as you don't actually go to the toilet.

But if you do find yourself caught short and looking for a bit more privacy, this next clip will show you how to keep that essential toilet accessory in mint condition, no matter what the conditions.

When toilet paper gets wet, no one wants that.

This is a particularly handy tip because if you've finished a bottle of water that big, you'll definitely need to visit the toilet.

And don't forget your hand sanitizer too, to kill all those nasty toilet germs.

But how does it work?

Hand sanitizers kill bacteria because of one simple ingredient, alcohol.

Is there anything it can't do?

Alcohol attacks and destroys the cell membrane that surrounds each bacteria.

But not all bacteria are equal.

Some have a very thin cell wall that is easily dissolved by alcohol.

Others have a thick skin, which means the alcohol can't destroy it as easily.

These two types of bacteria have different names.

Gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria.

Salmonella, which causes food poisoning, is a gram-negative bacteria with a thin cell wall.

This means that hand sanitizer is a great way to destroy it.

So they forget to bring it to your next festival.

And no, our lawyers have advised that even though hand sanitizer does indeed contain alcohol, you definitely cannot drink it.

This is a lot of effort to go to for something that's a bit of a luxury at a festival.

Most students don't even have one of those in their house.

A hack miss.

Coming up at Hack HQ with the help of human guinea pig Marcus, Mike reveals a cheap solution to an epic festival opener and then supersizes it for a spectacular explosive display.

So far we've employed balloons, toiletries and a vacuum cleaner to improve your festival-going experience.

But stay with us as we show you lots more fantastic tips to make sure your next festival is a walk in the park.

Rain is a festival goer's worst enemy.

But in China, they seem to have cracked this problem.

Kudos to these guys for teamwork.

But one gust of wind and they're gone.

For me, a classic way of staying dry at a festival is the old bin bag with a hole cut in the top.

To waterproof something, you have to cover it in a material which is hydrophobic.

And hydrophobic materials just mean anything which repels water.

The main problem with waterproof surfaces is they don't let the moisture out.

And that means you get a bit sweaty.

So there's not a huge amount you can do to actually keep dry.

The thing which is a real problem is getting cold.

So what you really need to do is raise your internal body temperature.

And the best way to do that is to dance more.

Yet again, this proves just how useful a gazebo can be.

And if that means keeping you and your mates dry during the traditional festival downpour, then this tip definitely has legs.

A hit!

Whatever the weather, this clever contraption will keep you clean and cool at any festival.

It takes portable hygiene to a whole new level.

I would like to do this at a festival, but instead of filling it with water, I'd like to fill it with cider.

What he's using here is the same type of mechanism that we would use to spray pesticides onto plants, for example.

What he's actually doing is just pumping air into a mechanism which is then going to put water under pressure.

Experts say we probably only need to shower every two days or so.

If we shower any more than that, what's happening is we're sort of stripping our skin of all its oils and its natural repair processes can't take place.

So shower less if you want better skin, I suppose, but you might not get better friends.

This all comes down to what you think is more important, friends or the thing literally keeping your whole body together.

But one thing I'm sure everyone agrees on is more water at a festival will never be a hit.

And after your shower, you're going to want to dry off.

And why not make use of those massive festival speakers?

You'll be done in no time.

Yes, I said speakers.

Yeah, nothing creepy about that.

A couple of scantily clad women being filmed by a load of blokes on their iPhones while they have their eardrums destroyed.

For me, this is an instance of technology gone preposterous.

Today's festival speakers are so powerful that they can pump out around 130 decibels.

This is about the same as a Boeing 747 taking off and it is way beyond the pain threshold for human ears.

The way sound is generated is through tiny pressure waves that travel through the air.

Now, the bigger the pressure wave, the more force that sound has.

And that's exactly what's happening here.

Massive amounts of force in those pressure waves are causing the hair on these girls to lift right off their heads.

I used to have really long hair, and then I did that with some death metal tracks, and look what happened.

This hair-raising hack is, when you think about it, fairly pointless.

A miss.

This next video finally gives you a reason to not throw out those old birthday card envelopes.

Oh, come on.

Name me one festival where you would not have a bottle opener, but would definitely have a spare envelope hanging around.

No, can't think of one.

Then it's a miss.

Now it's time to head over to Hack HQ.

Any festival worth its salt has an awesome opening spectacle.

Mike, luckily, is one step ahead and is already enlisting Marcus to help with his very own crowd pleaser.

Goggles, as ever, are mandatory.

Ah, yes, Mike.

Ready for our festival hack.

Got my tent, my wellies, my wet wipes and my trusty bum bag.

All right, let's go.

Excellent.

I'm pleased you came prepared.

So this is our festival hack, yeah?

And you've brought wellies, bum bag and things like that.

Every festival needs a spectacular opening, right?

Right.

So we're going to make a big fireball.

A fireball?

A big fireball, yeah.

All right.

So I'm going to use lycopodium.

Like a what?

Have you not heard of lycopodium?

No, mate.

What is lycopodium?

So this is lycopodium.

It seems like a fairly harmless powder.

Looks a little bit like sawdust.

It does very much so, yeah.

This is actually a moss spore.

That's moss?

That's moss, yeah.

So this is the spore of moss.

And it has some great properties.

If I pour some on there, it's hydrophobic, so it doesn't absorb moisture.

So you can put your finger in, bring it out, and my finger's not wet.

Can I do that?

Do it, yeah.

So if I put my finger in, usually it would come out...

And that is dry.

Pretty impressive, isn't it?

Awesome, but I don't know what that has to do with festival fireballs.

I'll show you right now.

You grab a flame.

And pour it on.

And you produce quite a flame ball out of that.

It's great.

The powers of moss.

It's brilliant, isn't it?

But I want to go bigger.

And I'm going to use a fire extinguisher to do it.

But aren't they meant to be for putting out fires?

In most circumstances, but not when it comes to me.

Okay.

So I'm going to get my lycopodium.

CO2 fire extinguisher.

And I'm going to fill the horn with lycopodium.

As you do.

Oh, yes.

I like the sound of this one, Mike.

I've definitely never seen a fire extinguisher used like this before, Mike.

I'm going to get you to do this one, OK?

All right.

Right.

We need a flame source, so some source of heat.

OK.

Which I'm going to put there.

Right.

Only Mike could get from festivals to fireballs via a fire extinguisher.

And then get to this end of the table.

Right, OK.

Put some safety glasses on.

Right.

What next?

Right.

Grab the fire extinguisher.

Right.

About there.

Yep.

A bit further down.

All right.

And then squeeze it.

Whoa!

That was nuts!

That's wicked.

We just use a fire extinguisher to make a fireball.

So the carbon dioxide in the fire extinguisher propelled that lycopodium into the air, which mixed with the oxygen in the air, being lit by the blowtorch, a massive fireball, just like what magicians use.

Really?

Yeah, exactly the same.

So when magicians do that little thing with fire, they use the same stuff?

Lycopodium.

Awesome.

Well, I must say, I'm impressed with this festival fireball hack.

But we can go bigger.

So we've used lycopodium here, but anything else, like sawdust or flour or even milk powder, and that's what I'm going to show you to make it bigger.

Join us later when Mike will be, surprise surprise, supersizing his festival fireball hack.

So far we've shown you some essential festival goers tips to keep you out of the rain, keep you in the rain, keep you in beer and keep your hair on point.

Don't go away though because coming up we've got egg frying, mint spraying and some wristband removing genius as we complete our eardrum bursting jaunt through the world of festivals.

Oh, and did I mention Mike will be making a huge festival fireball?

If you want a way to cool down that doesn't involve carrying an actual shower around on your back, this video's for you.

This hack is particularly brilliant because obviously there is nobody on the planet who doesn't like peppermint.

Peppermint and spearmint both come from different plants, but the minty flavour comes from a substance called menthol.

It's the menthol that is key to keeping you cool.

So it's the menthol contained in the peppermint that cools you down.

But how exactly does it work?

Menthol is a pretty amazing substance.

It works by tricking your brain into thinking it's cold, even though it isn't.

Take an ice cube and put it on your skin.

It feels cold because the ice cube itself is freezing.

Pretty straightforward so far.

Now spray some peppermint oil onto your skin.

The actual spray is at room temperature, but it feels cold.

And it's all down to the menthol.

So how does it trick you?

Our skin contains special receptors called TRPM8.

These special sensors detect changes in temperature.

When it gets cold, the receptors are activated and send a message to your brain to let you know.

Menthol can trick these receptors.

It sticks to them, switching them on and making you think it's cold, even when it isn't.

The feeding lasts a long time.

The menthol clings to these receptors and keeps you feeling cooler for longer.

So don't forget your peppermint spray to stay festival fresh.

Oh, one last thing.

Peppermint spray only works on your skin, so don't spray any on your food.

It'll just make it taste like mint.

An amazingly simple hack to keep cool all year round.

A minty hit.

If you find your gut groaning at your next summer festival, but you can't be bothered to join the queue for the nearest food stall, this next hunger-busting hack shows you how to fill that hole at your convenience thanks to the power of the sun.

Observe.

Yeah, this is a great idea because when it's really, really hot weather, you know, you don't want an ice cream or a sorbet or a cold drink.

What you really want is a hot fried egg.

Oh, is it an egg?

I couldn't tell.

Basically, to cook an egg, the egg needs to get up to about 70 degrees Celsius.

But what's happening is it's cooking it in a metal frying pan.

Now, metal, as we know, conducts heat so, so well.

So basically, more and more heat is being conducted into the frying pan.

This is certainly a great hack if your festival is hotter than the sun and you have a frying pan handy and an egg that miraculously hasn't been smashed.

But if not, then it's a miss.

How do you remove a festival wristband?

Nobody knows.

Apart from this person, apparently.

I think this one's a bit of a cheat because festival wristbands don't look like that.

He's got a rubber wristband, which he doesn't really need help getting off because he could have got that off himself.

Festival bands are disgusting.

So, they are so, so dirty.

Basically, the amount of bacteria that is found on a festival band is 20 times more than is found on your normal everyday clothes.

This only works with rubber bands.

Plus, everyone knows the way to get festival wristbands off is to just leave them on your wrist until either they disintegrate or you die.

A hack miss.

Over to Hack HQ.

The countdown is over and the fuses are lit.

There's no cannon too big, no dynamite too strong for Mike to handle.

And with his trusty guinea pig Marcus, he'll try anything so that you don't have to.

Nowadays, festivals are more popular and competitive than ever.

Getting your shindig to stand out in the huge crowded field can be a tougher task than opening Coachella.

So what, I wonder, has Mike got in store to help your festival become the standout event of the summer and start it with a memorable bang?

I'm not sure, but I bet it's got something to do with an explosion of some kind.

Right, so we've seen this in action in the Hacks HQ workshop.

Now I want the festival-sized version.

So we saw in the workshop the lycopodium powder.

Really finely divided powder, we pour it onto a flame and it produces a massive amount of flames.

Yep, thank you very much.

I now know exactly how magicians do it.

Exactly right.

Now we can do it with any powder, any flammable powder.

So what we've got here is a carbohydrate, milk powder.

Milk powder?

Perfect.

There's loads of it at every festival.

Because I don't seem to have caught on to, you know, real milk yet.

So milk powder's a flammable powder?

It is, yeah.

This is milk powder?

This is milk powder, yeah.

Of course you can.

Check you're not telling me any porkies.

Straight old sweet milk powder, right?

So you can do it with sugar, corn flour, even flour.

So any kind of powder can be used for the same effect?

Anything that's flammable.

Okay, how are we going to get this in the air the same way that we did?

I'm so pleased you asked.

We've got this wrapped in a high explosive deck cord and I've got a lump of dynamite right inside to blow it apart, atomize it into tiny little pieces so it can mix with the air.

And if that doesn't impress festival goers as an explosive opener, I don't know what will.

Right, so we've got two explosions going on here.

One is going to get the milk powder up in the air.

Exactly.

And another is going to ignite it.

That is exactly right.

That's what the gunpowder's for, igniting it.

Right.

That is absolutely great.

I'm ready for our festival-sized fireball.

Let's do it.

Is this time for me to get out?

You head off.

I'll get out of here.

Yes, Marcus.

Whenever Mike starts fiddling with powder in a field, that's almost always the cue to leave.

All right, ready, set up, it's armed.

All you need to do is press number one.

Okay, time for that festival fireball.

Three, two, one.

Look at that.

That absolutely obliterated that milk.

Talk about lactose intolerant.

So the high explosive, it blew the milk powder apart, even the bucket.

There's nothing left of the bucket.

And then the black powder ignited it, causing that massive fireball.

I can also kind of smell like a candy floss smell.

What is that?

So that's the sugar in the milk.

Yeah, you can really smell it.

So this can happen with any finely divided carbohydrate or anything flammable.

So a sawdust factory.

Imagine that.

If that was in the air, it ignited.

Boom.

Wow.

Okay.

Well, I'll tell you what.

You've definitely shown me the ultimate festival hack, Mike.

I'm impressed.

Good.

Thank you.

The biggest thing we've learned from this episode is that Mike is such a pyromaniac, he can even make milk explode.

That's the crazy world of festivals well and truly hacked.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to buy a crate of milk powder, a frying pan and an industrial-sized vat of peppermint.

Join us next time when we'll be putting more mind-blowing hacks to the test and showing you how to win at life.

See ya!