Indiana Jones

Last night I caught a rerun of Mythbusters dealing with Indiana Jones on the Science Channel.  I don't normally have access to a television set so this was cool. 
They explored 4 different topics in regard to the Indiana Jones movies.
1. Can you swing across a ravine using a whip?
2. Can the tip of a whip go faster than the speed of sound?
3. Can you use a whip to take a gun of someone who is pointing one at you?
4. Can you run fast enough to avoid getting hit by poisonous blow darts?

The first thing they did was build a bull whip to their specifications.  It was great watching Adam show us the process of making the whip but once it was made, both Adam and Jamie had to take whip cracking lessons from a master so they could recreate some of the stunts.

Turns out Adam was much better at it than Jamie. 

So now the answers to the above questions.
1.  Yes you can swing across a ravine using a whip but the "tree branch" you use must have rough not smooth bark or the which is unable to hold on to the branch.  I think Adam fell 4 or 5 times before they added some rough bark to the branch and the whip was able to hold.

2.  Yes the tip of a whip can go faster than the speed of sound.  They used a high speed camera and multiple tries before they were able to actually calculate the rate the whip tip was traveling.

3.  Yes, it is possible to disarm a person with a whip if you have the skill level.

4.  Yes, it is possible to run fast enough to avoid poison darts as you run with the little god.  They built in the 1 second delay from the movie and Adam was all the way through the course before the poisonous darts even started firing.  So they eliminated the delay and he still made it through the course before getting hit by the last dart so they decided that was plausible.

As you can tell from previous posts, I am a science geek and love anything to do with Mythbusters.