List of problems solved by MacGyver

This is a list of problems that have been solved by the fictional character MacGyver from the television program of the same name.

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Episode list

Pilot (1x01)

Optics
Optics
MacGyver destroys a laser array using binoculars and cigarettes. He lights three cigarettes from the lasers then puffs smoke (whilst coughing violently) to make the lasers visible. The episode states that the laser is a carbon dioxide laser. These operate at a wavelength of approximately 10 micrometres (far infrared) and are thus invisible no matter how much smoke is in the air. He then smashes the binoculars, removing a lens fragment to deflect a laser beam back to the emitter and destroy it. Time index: 21:00. Unverified.
Chemistry
MacGyver plugs a sulfuric acid leak with chocolate. He states that chocolate contains lactose and sucrose (Chemically C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁), which are disaccharides. The acid reacts with the sugars to form an elemental carbon and a thick gummy residue.
Physics
Physics
When MacGyver needs to move a large steel beam blocking his way, he cuts the end off a fire hose, ties a knot in the hose, and runs the hose under the beam. He then turns on the water, and the hydraulic pressure in the hose causes the beam to lift enough for him to shift it out of the way.
Chemistry
MacGyver creates a bomb to open a door using a gelatin cold capsule containing sodium 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 opens the barred door.

Hellfire (1x08)

Chemistry
MacGyver repairs a short-circuited electrical fuse using the aluminum wrapper of a stick of chewing gum to create new contacts to the damaged fuse terminals.
Physics
Physics
To carry several boxes of explosives leaking nitroglycerin across rocky terrain, MacGyver places the crates on a surface suspended by wagon springs and sand, both of which absorb shock from the terrain.

The Human Factor (2x01)

Optics
Optics
MacGyver builds a telescope using a newspaper, a magnifying lens, and a watch crystal (the crystal covering). He rolls the magnifying lens and the crystal into the newspaper, making a telescope. Due to a continuity error, it is not clear which lens he puts closer to his eye. He is also seen twisting the newspaper around the x-axis, in order to get focus. Perhaps he put one lens in at an angle to the YZ plane (right handed) intentionally? Approximate time index: 14:00. Unverified.
Physics
Physics
In order to fake a handprint for electronic scanning, MacGyver applies distributed pressure to a thin layer of plaster dust covering the scanner, making it read the most recently scanned hand. He scrapes a plaster wall to get dust, then spreads it liberally over the entire scanner, where some of it sticks to the sweat of the previous user. He gently blows away the excess, covers the sensor plate with his jacket, and presses down lightly with his fingers. Category: Biometrics. Approximate time index: 17:15. Unverified.
Optics
Optics
MacGyver needs to destroy several laser emitters blocking a hallway, so he sets up a mirror to reflect the lasers at each other. The lasers come from the ceiling and cross diagonally at equal angles from vertical. MacGyver slides a mirror (pushed on a cleaning cart) underneath the lasers so that the lasers reflect back on each other and destroy the emitters. Approximate time index: 25:30.
Chemistry

Physics
Physics
As laser-wielding robots home in on his body heat, MacGyver creates a fake heat signature by burning magnets wrapped in paper. He opens several telephone handsets to get the magnets, and finds paper and matches in the science lab he is in. Once aflame, he throws one piece of burning paper, with a magnet wrapped inside, at each robot. The magnets stick to the metal of the robots. With each robot "tagged," they home in on each other and destroy one another. Approximate time index: 33:00. Unverified. Magnets would likely have been strong enough. (It should be mentioned that the robots would also have a heat-signature, potentially within the same range as a human -- however, it is quite likely that heat-producing components within the robots themselves would have been shielded in some way, such that a burning object on the robot's external surface would have made them appear noticeably warmer).

The Eraser (2x02)

Chemistry
MacGyver repairs a post mix soda gun by bleeding off some built-up CO₂ that has caused a valve to stick. He takes off the button panel of the soda gun, removes the troubled valve spindle (both with his Swiss Army knife) and inserts a miniature pirate's sword from a plate of olives. Using the sword, he opens the valve to the CO₂ line fully, and draws out the sword which lets it close naturally. Unverified. Terminology source. Approximate time: 9:30.
In order to bypass an electronic door lock, MacGyver shorts out the circuitry. He detaches the main circuit board from the door, which is on the back of a metal plate. Using a cut power cable from a nearby lamp, he applies electricity from the wall to two of the main points on the circuit board. These points are apparently wired to a switch on the inside of the door lock which is designed to pass a current through them when the switch is pressed. The resulting short circuit causes the lock to open. Unverified. Approximate time: 15:45.
When he needs to remotely control a car's door locks, MacGyver connects the car's mobile phone to its onboard computer's signal lines for the door locks. Using his knife to open the back of the phone, he identifies the contacts where power is routed when the phone is taken off the hook. He opens a tube of wires and identifies, presumably based on color, the two wires which control the computer's locking circuitry. He wraps one wire around each contact, reassembles the device, and waits at a nearby phonebooth. When the car's owner gets in, he calls the phone and pretends to order a pizza. The doors lock when the owner puts the phone down. The doors unlock when MacGyver approaches the car and signals to pick up the phone. Unverified (researchers should know this episode aired Sept 29, 1986). Approximate time: 25:00.

Twice Stung (2x03)

With his friend dying of carbon monoxide poisoning, MacGyver breaks through his friend's apartment door by tying a fire hose to the door handle and an elevator handrail, then sending the elevator up. He cuts the fire hose with his swiss army knife, ties the nozzle end to the door, the other end to the hand rail, and lays the hose very flat against the ground so the elevator's doors won't close on it. When the elevator goes down, it pulls enough of the door with it that MacGyver can reach in and unlock the deadbolt and chain door lock. Unverified (can that knife cut that hose?) Approximate time: 5:30.
Physics
Physics
With two hostile men breaking into his friend's house, MacGyver stuns the intruders with a flash from a photoflood bulb, allowing him and his friend to escape. He takes the battery out of a normal, high power flashlight and connects one of the wires from the flood light power cord to it. The other wire he cuts in the middle, and strips both new ends. One end he attaches to the open terminal on the battery, and then he lays both ends near each other on the ground. He folds two matchbooks into triangles an inch high or so, and lays them near each exposed wire. He rests a metal letter opener on top of the two matchbooks. When the intruders step on the letter opener accidentally, the circuit is closed, and the lights flash. Unverified (battery power? Or did he connect the battery to the trigger pins?). Approximate time: 32:00.

The Wish Child (2x04)

MacGyver lights a fuse without a match by concentrating sunlight on the fuse with his watch crystal. He removes the crystal with his swiss army knife and holds it so a fine point of light is directed at the fuse's end. Unverified. Approximate time: 13:00.
To scale a wall, MacGyver converts an umbrella into a grappling hook. First he pulls down a clothesline and cuts it, to get rope. Then he cuts away the fabric of the umbrella so only the metal spokes are left. He ties the rope onto the handle of the umbrella and throws it over the wall, where it catches on some pipes on the other side. Unverified. Approximate time: 27:45.
Bombs
Bombs
When blocked by a heavy door with a strong lock, MacGyver destroys the lock by igniting gunpowder inside of it. He steals the gun from a henchman and empties it of bullets. He opens each bullet and pours out the gunpowder into a small piece of cloth torn from his clothes. He stuffs the wrapped up powder into the lock, and puts one cartridge in after it, but leaves it sticking out a bit to act as a fuse. He jams the fuse with the gun, exploding the gunpowder and opening the door. Unverified. Approximate time: 42:15.

Final Approach (2x05)

Physics
Physics
To scare away a mountain lion, MacGyver creates an basic waterfall from a small stream. He uses a hollow half-pipe shaped log to guide the water flow and removes rocks from its path. Approximate time: 24:15.
MacGyver builds a stethoscope out of a pair of headphones and some rubber tubing. He gets a pair of 2' rubber tubes from an airplane pressure gage. He disassembles the headphones, which operate on air pressure rather than electrical current. Using just one ear piece, he takes out the existing rubber tubing, and replaces it with the loose tubing from the plane. This essentially creates a microphone out of the ear piece, and he can now listen from the opposite ends of the tubing. Unverified (why couldn't he have used the existing tubing?). Approximate time: 31:30.
Physics
Physics
In a particularly elaborate stunt, MacGyver builds a mud runway for an airplane. This allows the plane, which has a punctured front tire, to takeoff, after replacing the wheel with a log that has a v-shape chiseled out on the inside and a smoothed half-circle outside. (The other two wheels ride on solid ground.) First the runway area is cleared of debris, then a 1' trench is dug. The mud is filled in from a nearby river, carried in campers' backpacks. In order to align the runway, MacGyver builds a theodolite, a device used to sight straight lines. The theodolite is built from relatively straight tree branches and uses earrings as sight guides. The runway is 300 yards long and the plane is a 5-passenger, single engine Cessna. To land the plane, he has an airport lay down foam. Unverified. Approximate time: 35:00.

Jack of Lies (2x06)

Bombs
Bombs
In order to stop a pursuing Jeep, MacGyver builds a roadblock out of a fire extinguisher. He is in an airplane that is being chased down a runway by several Jeeps. To stop one of them, he tapes two metal hooks to the outside of the extinguisher and removes the nozzle assembly. Then he launches it out of the plane with elastic ropes that cover the door. When the Jeep drives over the extinguisher, the hooks pierce the cylinder and it explodes. Unverified. Approximate time: 16:00.
Chemistry
In setting a trap, MacGyver recharges a lead-acid battery battery with wine. He unseals the battery and pours wine in, which replaces the missing sulfuric acid. This gives the battery a small charge which is what he needs for his trap. Unverified. (Possibly misunderstood.) Approximate time: 38:00.
In part 2 of MacGyver's trap, he ensnares the bad guys with a tarp. A floor switch is made from a board on a spring, which, when stepped on, closes a circuit. The circuit runs through the battery and to a starter motor on a prop plane. The starter motor turns the propeller, which is tied to a rope that hoists up the tarp. Unverified (battery power?). Approximate time: 47:30.

The Road Not Taken (2x07)

Bombs
Bombs
To stun soldiers pursuing him, MacGyver burns a string dipped in kerosene attached to a tin can. The resulting flame is bright enough to look like a fuse for a bomb, and the can is filled with animal fat which resembles an explosive. Approximate time: 15:00.
When he needs to throw off some pursuers in the jungle, MacGyver builds a tree-based catapult to throw stones, and puts a light-based fuse on it. First he pulls four flimsy trees together and bends them down to the ground. He routes them under a solid tree branch and ties them together with a thin vine. Then he sets down his friend's rosary to refract sunlight onto the thin vine, creating a fuse. He stakes the thin vine into the ground with a good knot on a pointed stick, and attaches the pockets from his jacket (filled with rocks) to the tree trunks. Approximate time: 23:30.
Bombs
Bombs
MacGyver creates a rocket-propelled flare out of bamboo, fertilizer, matches, a strip of cloth, a small tin can, a thin metal rod, a funnel, and a wooden spoon. The fertilizer has nitrates, which is the explosive. He packs the fertilizer in the bottom of the bamboo, then the matches, the the tin can which is itself packed with the cloth with a strip hanging out. He ties the spoon onto the side of the rocket with the metal rod. The funnel is attached to the top of the rocket, to contain the explosion. The strip of cloth serves as the fuse, and then matches as the igniter. MacGyver sets the entire apparatus in a fireplace, where he lights the fuse and lets the rocket take off. Unverified. Approximate time: 43:30.

Eagles (2x08)

MacGyver is trying to help an eagle shot by the crossbow of a hunter. After he removes the arrow from the wing, he splints the wing with the arrow and some rags. The splint is essentially the same as any other, with the arrow serving as the inflexible component and the rags to tie it together. Approximate time: 11:30.
Bombs
Bombs
MacGyver destroys a building with a propane tank, a grindstone, and some ball bearings. He lets the gas from the tank loose and switches on the grindstone. From outside, he shoots the ball bearings into the building at the grindstone. Although he doesn't hit the grindstone, the bad guy he is after shoots a crossbow into the building, and does hit the grind stone. A spark ignites the gas, and the building is flattened. Approximate time: 35:45.
In order to launch the above mentioned ball bearings at a high enough rate of speed to build a spark, MacGyver must build a slingshot. He uses a bicycle and some old tubing to do it. He pulls the handlebar grips off the bike and covers the exposed metal on each side with parts of the tubing. Then he replaces the grips over that tubing, giving him a tight but elastic portion of tubing. That's his slingshot. Approximate time: 36:15.
Chemistry
Despite MacGyver's best efforts, an eagle he is trying to save doesn't make it, and its young are at stake. After hang gliding to the nest on top of a butte in Monument Valley, Utah, MacGyver brings the eggs back to the house where this episode takes place. To give the young a chance, he builds an incubator with padding from a chair and vegetable oil. As MacGyver puts it, "the oil combines with the fibers in the padding to create a low level spontaneous combustion," generating heat. Approximate time: 45:15.

Silent World (2x09)

MacGyver builds a time-delayed device to pull a switch out of water, plastic bags, sticks, and fishing line. He fills the two bags with equal amounts of water, and ties them to a straight stick. He balances the stick on a fulcrum made of two other sticks, and then attaches a fishing line from one water bag to the switch. He pokes a hole in that bag, letting the water slowly drain out, eventually making the whole apparatus tilt and pull the switch. Approximate time: 44:00. Plausible.

Three For the Road (2x10)

MacGyver stops goons chasing his convertible by flipping the top of the car onto their windshield. The chase starts with the convertible's top down, and MacGyver unscrews it and cuts it free from the binding fabric. The driver of the convertible then pushes the button to put the top up, which releases the whole assembly. It flies onto the chase car, blinding the pursuers. Approximate time: 21:00. Unverified.
MacGyver fixes a broken fuel line with a ball point pen. The fuel line has a hole in it, so he cuts out the section with the hole completely. He then joins the two loose ends by sliding them over a ball point pen so they form a seal. The fuel flows around the pen but inside the line. Approximate time: 23:00. Unverified.
MacGyver builds a mortar out of a muffler, a small amount of gas, stuffing from a seat cushion, and a steering wheel knob to stop pursuers. He bends the end of the muffler, to contain the explosion, and stuffs seat cushion material into the bent end. He then pours gas on top of that, and finally packs in the steering wheel knob, which serves as the projectile. He pokes a hole in the bend end of the muffler and stuffs in a short length of cushion material, to provide a fuse. He lights it, aims, and shoots the knob at a chasing car. Approximate time: 27:30. Unverified.
To stun intruders, MacGyver rigs a circuit to blast a car horn when a door is opened. He connects a car battery to a car horn, with a metallic door handle acting as the switch. When the door is opened, the circuit is closed, the horn sounds, and the intruders are stunned. Approximate time: 39:00. Unverified.

Phoenix Under Siege (2x11)

MacGyver moves a New York lock from the opposite side of a door with an electromagnet. To build the magnet, he uses two 12-volt batteries as his power source, a sink faucet as the metal rod, and some copper cabling to wind around the faucet. He connects everything, and slides the lock out of place. Approximate time: 33:30. Unverified.

Family Matter (2x12)

MacGyver busts open a steel window covering with some rope and a donkey engine. A donkey engine is a device used in the logging industry to move fallen trees. Part of the engine includes a belt that goes around a cylinder, which MacGyver replaces with a rope. He ties the opposite end of the rope to a steel bar that he slits between the crossbars on the window covering. Through the rope, at the end next to the engine, he splices a thin metal cable which he attaches to the ignition switch. That lets him wait next to the window, and when he's ready, turn on the engine by tugging the rope. Approximate time: 32:00. Unverified (would it be plausible to find a donkey engine still in use?).
To throw his opponents off balance, MacGyver builds bombs out of swamp gas, bamboo chutes, and mud. Because a bamboo chute is hollow but not porous, it is well suited to hold gas. Swamp gas is mostly methane, which is lighter than air and thus rises out of swamps naturally. So MacGyver cuts several bamboo chutes, each just past the natural solid disc that is in bamboo every few feet. The disc, patched with mud, makes one solid end, and the other open end he puts just under the surface of the swamp water. He lets the gas build up inside the chute for a little while, then caps it off with a wad of mud and a leaf. When he's ready to detonate the bombs, he lights the leaf, and eventually the gas explodes. Approximate time: 39:00. Unverified.

Soft Touch (2x13)

MacGyver uses a road flare to follow a van without being spotted. As the van gets moving, MacGyver pulls a road flare out of the back of his jeep and throws it onto the roof of the van, into an equipment rack. The smoke trail from the flare is enough to allow MacGyver to follow it without needing to maintain line of sight. Approximate time: 32:00.
MacGyver breaks a padlock with magnesium alloy fragments, an iron pipe, some cloth, and a match. First he rolls up the cloth to fit snugly into the pipe, and pushes it down a few inches to make a stop. He gets the magnesium from the spokes of a wheel chair's lower wheel and stuffs it on top of the cloth, and then covers that with another cloth. He wedges the pipe into the end of the padlock and lights the cloth on fire, causing the iron to heat up and expand. As it expands, it weakens and finally breaks the lock. Approximate time: 39:15.

Birth Day (2x14)

MacGyver creates a distress beacon out of a mast bag, marine signal flags, helium gas, and water. The point is to get help from someone a ways away, so he needs to send the flags their way. He first soaks the mast bag in water to make its surface less porous, so that it will retain helium gas. He then fills the bag with gas and seals it with a string. Dangling from the string, he attaches the signal flags - four in total, one for each letter of the word help. Approximate time: 41:30.

Pirates (2x15)

In a rare unsuccessful MacGyverism, MacGyver fails to blow open a hatch with a bilge pump, a hose, and a dock buoy. MacGyver is stuck in the bilge of a ship that is taking on water. He has the idea that he can blow open the locked hatch (locked by the bad guys, naturally) by overfilling a buoy with water until it explodes. He pokes a hole in the buoy, inserts a tube, connects the end to the bilge pump, and fastens the buoy to the hatch with an angle brace. Unfortunately the buoy tears instead of exploding, causing the water to spill out and defeating the MacGyverism. MacGyver escapes from the predicament by finding a nearby tank of compressed gas and knocking open the valve, sending it shooting up through the hatch, blasting it open. Approximate time: 30:00.
MacGyver safely detonates a land mine with a piece of string. The land mine is triggered by a rope, which when pulled on, arms it. When the rope is let loose, the mine goes off. The idea is that as you are walking, you trip over the wire, setting off the land mine. MacGyver catches himself as he arms the land mine, and then ties a piece of string to the rope. He holds the rope taught, walks away from it, and finally lets it go off from a safe distance. Approximate time: 39:00.

Out in the Cold (2x16)

MacGyver is trapped in an avalanche while skiing. He manages to signal a rescue team from beneath the snow with a ski pole and parts of his ski suit. He pulls the grip and point off of his ski pole, giving him a 5-foot long hollow tube. He tears off some cloth from his ski suit in roughly a square shape, and then a long, narrow piece and his zipper. He ties the square into a parachute with the narrow piece and attaches the zipper to give it a weight. He feeds the whole bundle into his pole and blows it out the other end, which he has poked through the surface of the snow. A member of the nearby rescue team sees the parachute and saves him. Approximate time: 18:00.
Using parts of a microscope and a drop of water, MacGyver is able to read microfilm which some bad guys are after. He uses the light from the microscope to backlight the film, and the drop of water is his magnifying glass. The viewing head on this microscope is not attached and not used. Approximate time: 35:00.

Dalton, Jack of Spies (2x17)

While being pursued by dirty CIA operatives at a strip club, Macgyver loads a confetti cannon with make-up powder and fires it at them as they enter a door, thus blinding the enemies with powder. Unverified. Approximate time: 26:23

Partners (2x18)

While MacGyver and his friend are trapped in a semi trailer as it was about to explode, MacGyver sneaks through the trunk of an old taxi and finds a car battery, a tailpipe and something to rub it with to generate heat. Meanwhile the battery explodes and opens the locked semi trailer.
While MacGyver and his friend are being chased by terrorists, his friend forms a contraption on the door of the taxi so that if the door is opened, the taxi would zoom toward the terrorists' van so they could jump out of the car before the terrorists shoot their bazooka.

Unfiled solutions

MacGyver plays back an old phonographic record on a black cylinder using a safety-pin and a piece of paper. He rolls the sheet of paper into a cone and puts a safety pin on the tip. MacGyver places the tip of the safety pin on the black cylinder and rotates it in order to listen to the contents (Season 4).
When needing to attract/distract attention, MacGyver creates fuel for a flare gun by filing off the end of a racing bike made of a magnesium alloy (Season 3 or 4 - The Heist?).