We use baking soda at the shop to clean battery terminals. It's acid neutralizing alkaline works very well. You should see some of the 1/2 thick crusty crap it breaks down. We see it all the time. You still have to scrub a little. It works lots better than the spray "battery cleaner" crap from Pep Boys.
I love Mythbusters, but some of the testing they do falls short.I think They claimed dropping a penny in the carb was harmless. They never opened the throttle far enough for the penny to fall past.
And sugar in the gas tank would not do damage. Chuck just replaced the fuel pump, injectors and filter, cleaned the tank of a Tacoma that got sugared. It was jacked up !! Would not run at all.
And the knucklehead failed to get a locking cap and got hit again. Musta really pissed off somebody