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Magic is one of those entities that has always been a part of our existence from street performers to large stage extravaganzas—we are captivated by the art, marvel at the dexterity and skill of the magicians, and are attracted to the spell of magic from an early age on. One area of magic tricks that really captures the interest of the public is when the magician starts dabbling with fire and gets into the realm of fire magic tricks.

One of the simplest and yet most impressive of the fire magic tricks is that of burning money—or seemingly to burn money. The trick is based in a chemical reaction, can be done by someone in their living room to impress a bunch of friends, and always produces a positive reaction from the group. Basically it is that alcohol has a higher flash point than paper or cloth, so when a dollar bill (which is paper and fabric based) is soaked in a mixture of 50% water/ 50% alcohol, allowed to dry somewhat until it is just damp, then lit—-the alcohol burns brightly while the water soaked bill does not. Allow the flame to burn until it goes out, and the dollar bill is untouched. You can add a pinch of salt to the water/alcohol mix if you like, to add some bright color to the flame for added effect.

Another magic trick using fire as a component, is that where you would use 100% cotton cloth balls that are tied with cotton thread and then soaked in a flammable liquid until completely soaked with the liquid. But, and this is a big “but”—make sure the flammable liquid you are using is one that burns with a cool flame, otherwise you will burn yourself if you try to perform this trick with a hot burning flame. Use T shirt material for the 100% cotton source, and the thread is 100% also—no acrylics (they melt). Use naphtha lighter fluid (cooler burning flame), wrap the cotton into tight balls and wrap with the thread around them to hold their shape, and soak the balls in the fluid until thoroughly soaked through. Place them on fireproof surface and light with a match. Gently pick up the burning ball with a pair of tongs and place it on your palm. The flame of the naphtha liquid is cool enough that you will not be burned, but if the smoke turns black—stop the trick because the cotton is burning, and you don’t want that to happen. The balls can be used over again many times and each time will make conversation stop when you place them on your open palm.

This next trick is quite simple in the fact that is uses a omnipresent candle—everyone has one somewhere in the house—a drinking glass, and some kitchen ingredients; namely, baking soda and vinegar. The principle here is that if you can produce CO2, and because it is heavier than ambient air, you can extinguish a flame by flooding it with CO2 and knocking out its O2 supply. To do this, you mix a small bit of the baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and the vinegar (acetic acid) together in the clear glass; light the candle; and hold the glass at an angle over the flame and pour the resultant CO2 out of the glass onto the flame. The flame will go out, and your viewers will be hard pressed to tell you how that happened, because the glass is clear, and the CO2 is invisible. Viva Physics and Chemistry.

So you want to impress your friends with some kind of cool trick that is not hard to do, but will make them wonder just how it works after they see it done—-then, this is the one of all the fire magic tricks there are out there that will fill the bill. Just get 2 wooden matches, a coin the size and weight of a quarter, a plate, a narrow drinking glass, and some colored water (so you can see the water moving). Pour the colored water into the plate and take one of the matches and bend it so one end is in the water and the other sticking upright, and weight it down with the coin so it stays in place. Light the match with the other match, immediately grab the glass and invert it over the burning match placing it into the water onto the plate. Watch as the colored water crawls up the sides of the glass and stays there even when the match flame goes out—-you and everyone else will be amazed.

Mention fire and ice, and people’s eyes light up—-but what if you could light up the ice—what then? Well, with this little “pull the wool over their eyes” , you can perform one of these fire magic tricks and they won’t know what happened as long as you don’t give away your secret that the “ice” is not really ice at all, but glass. Start by going to the craft store and purchasing some glass cubes that are meant to look like real ice cubes. Get some fuel like 90% rubbing alcohol that you can pour over them and it will burn. Place the cubes on a fireproof surface, all the while making your audience think they are real ice, pour the flammable liquid over them and light it. The “ice” will have the effect of actually burning and only you know the truth. If you want to give the flames a little pizzazz, add some boric acid to the alcohol before pouring it on the cubes, and you will get bright green flames. A real crowd pleaser.

When performed properly and with a certain amount of panache, fire magic tricks always occupy a spot near the top of the ladder in popularity when it comes to magic tricks. We all fear fire in some way, and yet we find it mesmerizingly beautiful; hence the reason that fire incorporated into magic tricks is such a pull; and you can always guarantee a positive response from a watching audience when fire is included in the chain of events. “Playing with fire” is never to be taken lightly, and this is no exception; be extremely careful in how you perform these tricks, and everyone will enjoy themselves, including you.

Barb Church writes on topics such as Levitation Tricks. For more information on Magic Mind Reading Tricks visit our site.