10 Amazing Fire Tricks!

YouTube caption: 10 Amazing Fire Tricks!

These are relatively simple tricks that you can perform at home with basics supplies. All of these tricks can be dangerous so please use extreme caution when performing these experiments. Use safety glasses, gloves, well ventilated areas and adult supervision.

Tricks in the video:

1. Traveling Flame:

This is a simple yet amazing trick. Some candles contain a chemical called paraffin. Paraffin is petroleum by-product. When you relight the smoke, you’re actually lighting the paraffin residue within the smoke. The closer you get the lighter to the candle, the easier it is to relight. It’s fun to see just how high you can relight the candle. The version in the video shows the candle being relighted about 6 to 7 inches away.

2. Rising water:

When the glass is placed over the candle, the flame burns up the oxygen, forming a vacuum. The vacuum sucks the water from the plate into the glass. Other versions of this trick ask for the candle to be attached to the plate but I thought it was cool to see the candle float up.

3. Crayon candle:

Very simple and fun to do. Hold a flame to the crayon for 15 or 20 seconds and it will light and stay burning for 5 to 10 minutes.

4. Burning ping pong balls:

Ping pong balls are highly flammable. They are made of celluloid. I was shocked the first time I lit one. It literally bursts into flames. The fumes can be highly toxic so if you perform this trick, do it outside and don’t breathe in the fumes.

5. Candle seesaw:

This is such a fun trick to try. Drill a hole through the middle of a long candle. Be careful not to split the candle. That’s why I used a drill with a small bit. Then carefully put a nail through the hole. Balance the candle between 2 glasses and light both ends. Even if the candle starts from a complete standstill, it will eventually start rocking dramatically. As the candle burns it melts the wax and the wax drips off, causing the candle to lose weight. When one end goes down, the flame burns more wax off than the other end. So the bottom end loses weight rapidly, causing the top end to become heavier. It rotates down and the process continues.. If you position the nail perfectly through the center, you can get the candle to flip almost 360 degrees.

6. Fire in a bottle:

Pour about 1 inch of rubbing alcohol in a long narrow bottle. Shake it up to coat the entire inside, open the lid and light the top. It will light quickly, shooting a flame down into the bottle while making a loud whistling sound.

7: Singing pipe:

I ordered this pipe from a science based website. You can find it by doing a search for “singing pipe”. You heat the mesh screen in the bottom of the pipe then hold the pipe upright. The mesh screen is so hot that it gives off a large amount of heat. When the heat rises up the pipe, it creates a flow of air that causes the pipe to resonate, thereby creating a tone. When you tilt the pipe sideways, the flow of air is disrupted, which eliminates to the tone. When you hold the pipe upright again, the tone will return.

8. Black snake:

Use, 4 parts powdered sugar to 1 part baking soda. Stir and then add a decent amount of rubbing alcohol. All you have to do is light it and watch the magic begin.

9. Fire tornado:

This is an oldie but a goodie. When the mesh trash can spins, it creates a mini vortex around the flame, which causes the flame to spin. Most versions of this trick are done using a lazy susan, so you have to spin it manually. I thought it would be interesting to try it on a turntable. It works much better with the turntable.