This is a list of problems that have been solved by the fictional character MacGyver from the television series of the same name. (This list is not yet comprehensive.) MacGyver employs his resourcefulness and his knowledge of chemistry, physics, technology, and outdoorsmanship to resolve what are often life-or-death crises. He spontaneously creates inventions from simple items to solve these problems. These inventions became synonymous with the character and were called MacGyverisms by fans. MacGyverisms became a distinct motif of the series. MacGyver was unlike secret agents in other television series and films because he carried only a Swiss Army knife and duct tape, instead of relying on high-tech weapons and tools.
The show's writers, which included Lee David Zlotoff and Dave Ketchum, based MacGyver's inventions on items they found on location, concepts from scientific advisors John Koivula and Jim Green, and real events. The show also offered a monetary prize to people who sent good ideas in to the show. A young fan of the series suggested that MacGyver could patch up a vehicle's radiator by cracking an egg into the radiator. The episode "Bushmaster" was constructed around this trick, and the fan was rewarded. Although staff were appointed to read every letter sent in, few usable ideas were obtained in this way.
Children watching the series imitated MacGyver and tried to replicate the simple devices he created in the show. The creative team behind MacGyver made a point of leaving out crucial elements of the inventions so that children would not be harmed.
Short summaries of all the episodes are in List of MacGyver episodes.
Season 1
Pilot (1x01)
MacGyver defuses a highly advanced nuclear warhead using a paper clip to short circuit the timing device.
MacGyver places a stick through the trigger of an AK-47 and hangs it from a tree with a piece of string. He then attaches a paper match packet to the string and lights the matches, using them as a time delay. The AK-47 falls to the ground with the stick still attached to the trigger, causing the AK to fire and distract some guards.
He also makes a "Rocket Thruster" by hitting the end of a flare gun with a rock to make the nozzle thinner, launching him and a man he rescues from a mountain. Not only would the thrust produced from a gun of that size be unable to lift the weight of two human beings, flare guns fire projectiles. The more realistic result would be a jam at the end of the gun, much like if you bent the barrel of a normal gun.
When near a deadly laser grid, MacGyver lights a pack of cigarettes to make the lasers visible. He then smashes a pair of binoculars, removing a prism to deflect a laser beam back to the emitter, destroying it.
To help rescue a group of people trapped in a building, he ties a fire hose shut, places it under a girder in the way, and turns on the water. Using the water pressure to lift the girder, he pushes it out of the way.
MacGyver plugs a sulfuric acid leak with chocolate. He states that chocolate contains lactose and sucrose (chemically C 12 H 22 O 11 ), which are disaccharides. The acid reacts with the sugars to form elemental carbon and a thick gummy residue. (This has been tested and confirmed by Mythbusters ).
MacGyver creates a bomb to open a door using a gelatin cold capsule containing sodium metal, which he then places in a glass container filled with water. When the gelatin dissolves in the water, the sodium reacts violently with the water and causes an explosion which blows a hole in the wall. ( MythBusters questioned the size of the explosion but verified that pure sodium does cause an exothermic reaction when mixed with water; however, the amount of sodium required to destroy a concrete wall would greatly exceed the size of a cold pill.)
MacGyver uses the main lighting power switch to transmit morse code to the surface.
The Golden Triangle (1x02)
In order to create a distraction, MacGyver connects a self-inflating life jacket, a self-inflating boat, and a signal flare together so that as the life jacket inflates it pulls the ripcord off the boat. This serves as a time-delay mechanism. As the boat inflates it sets off the pen flare.
MacGyver and the people of a village he is protecting create a trap using a bamboo pipe with holes drilled along its length, "fire ash", and "rice alcohol". The fire ash and rice alcohol are ejected through the holes in the pipe by a car exhaust, creating a smoke screen and irritating the eyes of their attackers.
To slow down their attackers, MacGyver places a large tree branch across the access road to the village. Using some cord wrapped around the triggers, he hooks the branch up to some AK-47 assault rifles pointing toward the road at ground level. When the soldiers try to move the branch, they inadvertently pull the cord and the guns shoot out their jeeps' tires.
To bring down a helicopter gunship, MacGyver lassos a metal cable onto one of the helicopter's skids and connects the cable to a jeep's winch. By winding in the winch, he pulls the helicopter to the ground. Note: In real life reeling in a helicopter in flight by one skid would have caused a dynamic rollover and a crash of the helicopter. Additionally, the pilot of the helicopter would have felt the center of gravity of the helicopter change when MacGyver hung on the skid to attach the cable. The amount of lift generated by some helicopters could also possibly be enough to reverse the tables, lifting the jeep into the air instead, provided the cable didn't snap under excessive force.
Thief of Budapest (1x03)
MacGyver uses a board and a bunch of light bulbs to simulate the sound of a tire being blown.
He uses salt combined with sugar and a small amount of chemical enhanced weed killer to create dynamite with a battery acid trigger.
He also creates a magnifying glass from a hairpin and wine to read names of spies off a watch.
He creates a traffic jam by jamming the timing mechanism for the traffic lights using cut strips of a plastic credit card.
He makes all police radios within a one mile (1.6 km) radius malfunction by duct taping an ordinary transistor radio to a pick-pocketed police radio and sends it up in the sky using around twenty balloons.
The Gauntlet (1x04)
MacGyver is in a room trying to get out, but sees the key in the other side of the locked door. He takes out a map, unfurls it and sticks it under the door. He then pushes the key out of the lock using his Swiss Army knife, and the key lands on the map. He then drags the map back under the door, thereby getting the key to unlock him from the room.
In order to disguise himself, MacGyver rolls up the same map and uses it as a peashooter to distract a woman who was washing some clothes.
To get away from a guard with a gun aimed at him, he wraps the same map around an iron bar to disguise the bar from the guard. He first bats away the gun and then slugs the guard in the chest with it.
MacGyver uses the same map again as a makeshift sled to slide down sand dunes to get away from the guards chasing him.
While escaping the guards, one of them shoots a bullet through the side of the balloon he is escaping in. He uses the same map and some duct tape to patch a hole over the balloon fabric and escape.
The Heist (1x05)
MacGyver rigs a pair of dice by rounding some of the edges with a shoe buffer with an abrasive added so that the chance of rolling a '7' is increased. In order to create a distraction to swap the dice at a craps table, MacGyver fastens string and a paper clip to the dress of a woman who is walking nearby. By stepping on the string, MacGyver pulls down her dress thereby creating a distraction and allowing him to swap the dice.
He uses a strand from a fiber optic lamp to bend a security laser sensor, creating enough space for him to crouch through without setting off the alarm.
MacGyver opens a sound activated security lock by filling four glasses partially full of wine at different levels and playing the tones in ascending order.
He escapes from the back of a plane mid flight by attaching a parachute to a car and driving it out the back of the plane, landing safely.
Trumbo's World (1x06)
In order to fix a piston connecting rod for a water pump, MacGyver makes an arc welder out of a generator, some jumper cables, and two half dollars. By running the DC current from the generator through the coins, he creates heat and electrical discharge, with which he can weld the con-rod.
To save a woman trapped under a heavy dugout canoe, MacGyver wraps a rope around the bottom of it, attaches both fixed ends to the roof of a building, and places a stick in between both parts of the rope. By twisting the stick, he is given a mechanical advantage and is able to slowly lift the canoe up.
As a way to hold off ants for a while, MacGyver makes a flamethrower out of a hose, pipe, and tank of gasoline. He also uses some "kitchen ingredients" as a fuel-thickener to prevent the contraption from simply exploding. (The vagueness about the "kitchen ingredients" that make this possible provides a good example of measures taken by the show's producers and writers to prevent potentially dangerous recreations of the stunts by viewers.)
MacGyver and Trumbo make a nitromannite bomb by taking the nitrate from fertilizer and cellulose by mashing plant bark. The ingredients are mixed together, stirred with a drip or two of acid, then
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