Incredible Science Tricks Many magic tricks can be explained through principles of physics, chemistry or mathematics. But having their roots in the sciences doesn t make these tricks any less impressive to demonstrate or, just as important, to witness. Forget using Abracadabra! to get your magic tricks to work. Rely instead on your scientific knowledge, as you perform the following tricks. Prepare to amaze your family and friends! Magic s just science that we don t understand yet. Arthur C. Clarke
Mathmagic Did you know that many tricks performed by magicians and illusionists are based on mathematical principles? We even have mathmagicians today: people so skilled at manipulating numbers that they seem to be psychic. You too can be a mathmagician: try the following activity. The simple mathematical formula below allows you to guess the birth date of a complete stranger and impress your family and friends with your psychic abilities! Materials a calculator mathematical formula below Let s get to work! 1. Ask for a volunteer from your audience and explain that you can guess this person s date of birth (day and month). Offer your calculator and ask your volunteer to input the number that corresponds to his or her birth month (January = 1, February = 2, March = 3, etc.). 2. Take back the calculator and tell your volunteer that you need to make a few calculations with this figure. You can also use an online calculator, or a calculator program, on your own computer. 3. Press the calculator buttons as follows: A. Birth month 5 0 = B. + 2 5 = C. D. = 2 + 1 5 = 3 4. Next, return the calculator to your volunteer and ask him or her to press the addition button, the number that corresponds to his or her day of birth (1 to 31) and then to press the equals sign. Day of birth + = 5. Take back the calculator and press the calculator buttons as indicated: 2 0 = 3
You re now ready to announce your volunteer s date of birth and to amaze your audience! The two final numbers of the solution are the day of birth, and the first one or two numbers are the month of birth. For example, if the calculator reads 228, your volunteer was born in the second month, on the 28th day. The answer is therefore February 28. How does it work? The adding, subtracting and multiplying you carry out in this trick serve to make your volunteer forget one simple fact: you already have the information you need (the month and day of his or her birth). When you use the calculator, these important numbers get lost in other numbers and disappear. Simple mathematics allow you to retrieve them. At the end of step 3d, with most of the mathematical calculations complete, you end up with a total that corresponds to 100 times the birth month, plus 203 (no matter which month was entered): Answer from step 3d = 100 x month + 203 After your volunteer has added the day of birth in step 4, all you have to do is subtract 203 to recover the date (203 203 = 0): Answer from step 4 = 100 x month + 203 + date 203 Answer from step 5 = 100 x month + date For example, if your volunteer s birth month is May (the fifth month of the year) and if the day of birth is 23, the total would appear as: Answer from step 5 = 100 x 5 + 23 Answer = 500 + 23 Answer = 523 Have fun and see if your friends can figure out how you managed to guess correctly!
Monster Marshmallow Marshmallows are delicious: perfect as a campfire treat or in a cup of hot chocolate. But what happens to marshmallows when they are heated? Discover their awesome chemical properties with this fun experiment! Materials one large marshmallow a plate a microwave oven a toothpick food colouring Let s get to work! 1. Dip one end of the toothpick in the food colouring and draw a happy face on top of the marshmallow. 2. Set the marshmallow on the plate and place it in the microwave. 3. Heat the marshmallow for 60 seconds (on high). 4. Remove the marshmallow from the microwave. 5. Note how the marshmallow s shape has changed. 6. Wait a minute and then look at its shape again. Be careful: the marshmallow will be very hot for a few minutes after you take it out of the microwave. What happened? Marshmallows are made of sugar, water and gelatin. Gelatin is typically used to make a gellike substance such as Jell-O. In the case of marshmallow, the gelatin is whipped before it has the chance to set. As a result, many tiny air bubbles get trapped in the gel, making the candy fluffy and light. In the heat of the microwave, the air inside the bubbles expands, taking up more space than before and making the marshmallow puff up. Some of the bubbles pop and the air escapes from the marshmallow. Once your puffed-up marshmallow is out of the microwave, carefully look at what s inside. What happened to the happy face you drew? As the marshmallow cools, the air bubbles return to their original size. A lot of air has escaped, which is why the marshmallow is smaller than its original size. Without the air to hold it up, the candy has become much denser, hard and chewy. Science is scrumptious! Step 1 Step 4 Step 5
The Thaumatrope: An Optical-Illusion Toy Do your eyes sometimes play tricks on you? In this activity, that s precisely the effect we want. The thaumatrope has been a popular toy since the 1800s. Two pictures are joined back-to-back and attached to an axis, which, spun at top speed, makes the two appear as one image. Materials patterns for image pairs (included in the PDF kit) scissors a glue stick adhesive tape a wooden skewer or straw coloured pencils Let s get to work! 1. Choose and print a pair of pictures. 2. Colour the pictures. 3. Follow the heavy black lines to cut out the pictures. 4. Use the tape to attach the skewer or straw to the reverse of one of the pictures. This will serve as your axis. Make sure that the dotted line is in the centre and that your axis does not extend above the image at the top. 5. Glue the second picture back-to-back with the first one (the skewer or straw will be between the two pictures). Before gluing them together, make sure that the dotted lines are aligned. The surfaces that you coloured should be facing out. 6. Leave the glue to dry and voila you have your own thaumatrope! 7. To work the toy, hold it between your palms (as far from your face as possible for the best illusion). Rub your hands together quickly to spin the skewer or straw and see your two pictures become one. Step 4 Step 5 Step 7 How does it work? The scientific principle behind this toy is known as persistence of vision. What happens is simple: the pictures change so quickly that the eyes and the brain don t have time to see the individual images. The brain is still registering the first picture when the visual information from the second one arrives. As a result, the brain superimposes the two pictures to make one single image.
The Egg and the Bottle This egg-and-bottle trick is a classic experiment that everyone should try once in their lifetime. The premise is simple: ask members of your audience if they think a hard-boiled egg can enter a bottle opening that is clearly smaller than the egg. Impress your audience by proposing that you can accomplish such a feat without breaking the egg and, even better, without touching it. Materials one hard-boiled egg a bottle (choose one with an opening slightly smaller than egg width, such as a juice bottle) a small piece of paper Let s get to work! a match or lighter vinegar baking soda a tablespoon measure a plate 1. Ask an adult volunteer to light the piece of paper and immediately drop it into the bottle. 2. Quickly place the egg on top of the bottle opening. 3. Watch the egg enter the bottle. To avoid the risk of burns, ask an adult to help with this activity. What happened? Physics happened! Step 2 Step 3 When the burning paper goes into the bottle, it heats the air inside. Placing the egg over the opening seals the bottle. Compared to the air outside the bottle, the hot air inside has a slightly lower pressure. To balance this difference in pressure, the outside air attempts to mix with the lower pressure air inside and, in doing so, it pushes down on the egg. Being hard-boiled, the egg can change shape and is thus forced into the bottle! Astonished by this achievement, your audience will probably want to know whether you can now get the egg out of the bottle. If a difference in pressure between the air inside and outside of the bottle put the egg in, can it also get it out?
Step 2 Step 5 Let s get to work again! 1. Place the plate beside the bottle containing the egg. 2. Add about 3 tablespoons of vinegar to the bottle. 3. You ll need to do this next step fast. Add about 2 tablespoons of baking soda to the bottle and then quickly turn it upside down on top of the plate. Make sure that the egg is blocking the opening. 4. You ll see bubbling inside the bottle as the vinegar and baking soda react together. 5. Watch the egg slip out of the bottle. What happened? This time, chemistry happened. Mixing baking soda and vinegar causes a chemical reaction that releases carbon dioxide gas in the bottle. The egg blocks the bottle s opening, causing the gas inside to build in pressure. Again, balance needs to be restored. So that it can recombine with the lower- pressure air outside the bottle, the high-pressure gas inside pushes on the egg, causing it to ooze out. Most of the materials required for the experiments are common household items. You may need to borrow some, and purchase others at the store. egg match or lighter baking soda glue stick skewer or straw bottle vinegar scissors adhesive tape marshmallow toothpick food coloring calculator
Book Mathemagic!: Number Tricks by Lynda Colgan This fascinating book is filled with simple magical tricks that can be solved with mathematical equations. Even those who don t see math as a favourite will be captivated by the activities described and keen to demonstrate them to family and friends. (Kids Can Press, 2011) Internet Link Science Snippets Staff at the Canada Science and Technology Museum have made some fun videos of amazing scientific experiments. You, too, can re-create these experiments in the comfort of your own home or at school, to entertain your family and friends. New videos will be added throughout the year. http://www.youtube.com/cstmweb Film The Sorcerer s Apprentice Follow the story of Dave, a physics student who inherits the magical powers of Merlin, only to find himself caught in a war between two powerful sorcerers. (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, 2010)
The Thaumatrope: An Optical-Illusion Toy Patterns for image pairs