The impressive speed that magicians could throw the cards gave rise to a myth that a card can kill or seriously injure someone if thrown correctly by a person with enough force. However, this myth was tested on the Discovery Channel program MythBusters , and subsequently debunked. Mythbusters' co-host Adam Savage, was already quite familiar with the throwing card trick and was showed to be quite adept at performing it, with his maximum throwing speed being clocked at 25 miles per hour or 40 km/h (which failed to cause any injury). The episode also feature record holder and card throwing expert Ricky Jay, who demonstrated card throwing, and also had the speed of his throws was clocked by the Mythbusters. A playing card lacks enough mass to transfer sufficient energy to its target on impact, and even when accelerated mechanically by an electric motor at about 150 mph, it it did not puncture the skin enough to kill a person.
