If you want to be that cool aunt or uncle at the parties who are the centre of attention for all the kids, or you simply don’t want to waste another $500 on some magician or a clown, you’ll need to learn some cool tricks yourself. Now everyone doesn’t have the time to practice the sleight of hands, nor does everyone have a sharp enough memory to mesmerise the crowd with their retention tricks.
The video below by Physics Girl will teach you five amazing party tricks that will surely leave your audience awestruck and bewildered.
All of these tricks can be easily performed without much practice, as they use simple and basic physics.
And in case you are curious how these work, we have summarised explanations for all 5 of them:
The balloon on a stick trick uses the concept of surface tension. Punctures are only made at points where the rubber’s surface tension is lowest. Thus a sharp skewer can pass through without putting too bursting the balloon. So for this trick to succeed, be sure to not fill up the balloon entirely.
The balancing forks trick uses the simple law of equilibrium to balance the two oppositely placed forks on a match stick. Since the forks are pointed in the opposite direction, the centre of mass lies between them, thus creating keeping the centre inside the support polygon allowing them to balance.
Rising water and milk trick use the change of pressure and the knowledge of atmospheric pressure. The temperature of the air changes after the wine glass is placed over it, thus lowering the pressure and the temperature. And as the pressure around the glass (atmospheric pressure) is higher than that of the glass, the liquid is forced up into the glass.
The wine glass suction cup uses the same atmospheric pressure to create a vacuum of sorts. Since the burning matches inside the glass suck up the oxygen, it lowers the inside pressure. Thus the air outside keeps pushing up on the glass, creating a suction effect. The ring of olive oil creates an airtight seal, thus completing the vacuum effect.
The floating sinking peanut trick uses the concept of densities. CO2 in carbonated water makes its density greater than the regular water, and gently mixing them will create a solution of non-uniform density. This will in turn “confuse” the peanuts into deciding between floating or sinking.
Do you have any other cool party tricks? Let us know in the comments’ section below!
