Top 10 greatest magic tricks finally revealed.
The skill of a magician lies in their ability to keep you frozen in anticipation of their next
unbelievable trick. It often seems that magicians are capable of doing things which defy all known laws of the universe.
Do you know how to bend a spoon or how to fly without wings?
Let's have a look at the most famous tricks that have amazed people over the years from a new scientific
angle. They are not all that they seem.
Secret number 10 - pulling a rabbit out of a hat.
Eddie Valiant, you're under arrest.
To perform this trick, you'll need a rabbit, a tablecloth-covered table, a piece of cloth and a top hat.
Take a square piece of thick black cloth and tie all of its four corners together loosely.
Place a rabbit inside this improvised sack. Hang the sack on a hook
located on the side of the table that will be facing you during the performance.
Arrange the tablecloth in such a way as to prevent the audience from seeing the sack.
In the beginning, show the top hat to your audience to demonstrate that there's nothing inside.
Next, put the hat on the table with the hat opening facing the table's surface.
Using inconspicuous movements, lift the hat quickly by the brim and put the sack underneath the hat.
Now, make some movements showing that you're conjuring something up,
remove the hat from the table and reveal the rabbit to the audience.
Secret number nine - the torn banknote.
I'm talking about this.
Some time ago, people wondered how David Copperfield managed to seemingly tear a folded dollar in half right in front of people.
Then, he managed to unfold it to reveal that it had been completely undamaged.
The secret here is making cunning use of a pencil.
The latter has been cut in half diagonally and connected with strong magnets.
This allows the banknote to be easily passed between the two magnetized halves and remain undamaged.
Have you ever heard about this secret before?
Secret number eight - a 'zig zag' lady.
This incredible trick makes use of several 14 inches high boxes and an 8 inches high mobile platform.
As the female assistant enters the bottom box,
she stands on top of a concealed spring-operated hatch. The hatch opens down into an empty compartment
locked inside the mobile platform.
As the Illusionist shuts all of the boxes' openings, the girl slips down through the hatch and sits cross-legged
inside the platform's inner compartment.
Each of the upper three boxes features two openings - one real and one false.
When the boxes are stacked on top of each other, the real openings form a
human-sized door (used by the assistant to enter the structure).
On the other hand, the false openings are designed to reveal niches only about two inches deep.
Located inside each of those niches are mannequin parts which correspond to various parts of the real girl's torso, and
sport the segments of the same outfit the real assistant is wearing.
As the performance commences, the illusionist takes down each of the upper three boxes in turn and shuffles them around.
This is done to confuse the audience.
When the illusionist finally proceeds to open the boxes,
the audience sees a mixed up version of the assistants torso. Of course, we're talking about
small mannequin parts
located inside false openings.
Secret number seven - the disappearing cup.
Amazing!
A glass of water is placed on the table
which is covered with a handkerchief.
Then the magician lifts it up and throws it into the air. As a result, the handkerchief falls on the floor and the glass
disappears. The trick here is twofold.
Firstly, there's a wire ring sewn into the handkerchief which creates the illusion that the glass is underneath the handkerchief.
Secondly, the glass is then lowered into a secret pouch through a hole in the table.
Secret number six - another human 'zig-zag'.
The success of this trick to a great extent depends on the abilities of the magician's assistant, whose main
task is to be able to maintain her feet and hands in a position similar to that of an ordinary
upright human posture inside a tiny and oddly-shaped box.
Secret number five - Michael Jackson's 'anti-gravity lean.'
Remember that gravity-defying lean which Michael Jackson and his dancers performed in the video for the song 'Smooth Criminal'? It looked
incredible as Michael kept his entire body straight while bending his ankles at an acute
45-degree angle.
The secret here is the specially designed shoes he used which had a heel that locked into pegs on the floor.
With his feet hooked to the ground, Michael was able to perform that impossible physical maneuver.
Secret number four - sawing a person in half.
We've all seen that trick, right? We usually watch it with bated breath while the magician is sawing a woman in half.
Well, it's a lot less shocking when you know that there are two assistants inside the magician's box.
No magic, alas!
Secret number three - making smoke rise from your fingers.
All the magician needs for this trick is a matchbox.
Take a matchbox and cut out one of its striker sides.
Separate the actual flammable surface from the cardboard lining. Fold the resulting strip in two and light it up.
Let the strip burn, then discard it and collect the residue produced by the burning.
This white phosphorus residue is what you'll need to perform the trick.
Slowly rub it into your thumb and index fingers. Now, all you need to do is rub your fingers together to make them smoke.
Secret number two - bending a spoon.
To successfully perform this trick, you first need to hide a small silver coin in the palm of your hand.
When you're ready to bend the spoon hold the coin in such a way that only the tip of it is visible.
Place the coin on top of the spoon's handle so that it will look as though
you are simply holding the spoon.
Press the oval end of the spoon against a table and try to make an impression of putting a lot of effort into
'bending' the spoon.
As you're doing this, let the handle drop from the back of your hand.
As the tip of the coin will still be showing, it will look like the spoon is starting to bend.
Secret number one - levitation.
Wingardium leviosa!
Stop, stop, stop.
The secret of this trick, which is highly popular among street magicians, is in the cleverly hidden support.
That's why the magicians who perform it stand in the way which perfectly conceals the end of their staff or rod.
The latter simply has an extended support passing through their clothes.
Sometimes magicians even make another person levitate. At the start of this trick, the magician's assistant
(usually a girl wearing a long dress) lies down on a table.
She makes sure that the folds of her dress fall right down to the floor,
concealing the space directly beneath the table. Then the illusionist proceeds to make her levitate above the table.
For the trick to be successful, the audience must be made to believe that the girl is being held in the air by
magic. In reality, the effect is achieved due to a lifting mechanism.
To add excitement, the illusionist takes a hoop and passes it over the assistant's body.
There's nothing extraordinary about the hoop.
It doesn't have gaps or anything.
The only requirement is that the hoop must be large enough to be repeatedly passed over the girl
without touching the lifting mechanism.
Throughout the performance, the magician must be careful to stand in such a way as to
conceal the rod that is holding the assistant up above the table.
Which 'magic' tricks are your favorite? Do you know any tricks that no one has revealed yet? Share them in the comments.
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