How is the fake candle power trick done?

96

Ok, I am not going to insult anyones intelligence here and claim that this video could be true. I am curious how it is done though. My theory is that during one of the early cut scenes the nails that are inserted into the candles are connected to power from under the table. Or longer nails are inserted and there are hooked up to power from the back of the candle and simply draped over the back edge of the table (not visible by the camera). The power is then controlled by a switch that is located under the table.

It seems that his hands go under the table whenever power is applied or removed. I guess it could also be controlled by someone who is off camera. I was thinking that the jumper cables were simply connected to power from the right and left where the camera can’t see but the jumper cables are placed on the table at the end and are still providing power…

The embedded video has been updated since it looks like the old one does not work anymore.

Video after the jump.

Via: TechEBlog


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96 Comments


  1. There is definately somethig dodgy about that trick.
    im guessing a switch under the table and leads where you cant see them (behind the candles)


  2. Yeah, it’d have been a more perplexing video using a footswitch instead of the hand disappearing under the table.


  3. I think the lamp and the motor get a little watch battery and a light sensor captor/interuptor.

    Excuse for my english.


  4. An other solution is to put a win under table and use the running induced…


  6. He probably has some wires running through table and candles thus touching the nails. He simply drilled the table after shooting the sequence with “how to”. Stupid.


  7. I love how he gently rubs the nails with the magnet. 🙂

    I am surprised that he didn’t soak them in a mystery solution, or deionized the air prior to the experiment. But other than a few magnet rubs there is nothing exotic…


  8. When he goes to turn it on the second time (with the motor), his left arm is lightly exposed. About two frames before the actually lights the second candle, his vain moves up about 2mm. This indicates that he had to use his finger to press something under the table. The timing is also not perfect.


  9. During the break for the close-up of the magnet, he connects wires to the nails through the bottom of the candles. The candles have moved slightly backwards after the insert shot. The wires would be hidden behind the candles, so there’s no need even to drill holes in the table.

    You can clearly see his right arm twitch when the light goes on and off. Not very impressive.


  10. Keep looking at his left hand !
    He has a adjustable resistor under the table


  11. Pause it at 2:20-ish, come on.. that’s terrible! One candle and the bulb are lit.

    There are so -many- different ways this could have been faked; I think the important thing is just that we sit and hope the people who believed this and attempted it somehow manage to burn themselves severely in the process =D


  12. I wonder how many people will end up trying to duplicate the effect? Hopefully no one buys more candles and throws out batteries for things like emergency radios…

    This would sell well at 3:00AM as an infomercial kit!


  13. I’m with alan about the showmanship with the magnet rubbing. I would have added varying intensity of the light bulb as the candle flame was coming about. And for god’s sake, Use a darn foot switch so your hands are always visible. Who knows though, maybe someone trying to reproduce this actually makes it happen.


  14. I tryed it two with my experment, I got 0,0003 volts out of it.
    If this was real, somebody would know it years ago…


  15. He turns the candles round, but as the turn approaches 180 degrees, he masks the bottom edge of both candles with his index fingers – the wires come out the bottom of the candle, and are probably melted into a groove towards the edge of the candle. If he’s sensible, he’s used brown wires – just to be certain. Me, I’d not have filmed from so close up, and would have done a lot more waving of hands. I probably would also have gone to the trouble of making a “trick” wire, nail, candle and bulb with a remote switch. The other wire and candle would just be for show. Doing it this way would enable the whole thing to be self-contained and mobile – no hidden wires needed! Hmmm…I might try developing that…I’m no magician, but it could be fun!


  16. He’s a **#@* idiot. He’s clearly doing something underneath the table with his left hand. Why are we spending so much time on this jerk/movie? If I had this guys email address, I’d send him a ton of hatemail and sign him up for spam..

    To the jerk in the video: You wasted 8 minutes of my life. Give them back. :/


  17. I could do the same thing using induction with a coil under the table, or hollow out the bottom of the candles and put a small battery in each so the nail hits on of the terminals and a conductive clear material, kind of like pcb repairing liquid would join them together and switch using 2 hidden copper enamel wires or just have 2 hidden wires behind the candle


  18. This one’s for Dave – because it’s fun to figure out either how he did it, or how we’d do it ourselves. A gadget hacked to create an illusion of something magical is still a hacked gadget, non?


  19. I come here to learn about electronics and watch funny gadgets and mods.. If I need to be entertain by a magician (he’s a wannabe) I’d go somewhere else..


  20. Hey, I tried this and failed. Nevertheless, I’m not going to stop =) This video was very educational, in a sense that I googled a lot and learned about Peltier effect. Now I’ll do something like this, only for real, with a hot metal bar. That should give me a whopping 0.01V at max, though – not enough to power anything. Even though the video is a fake, there should be a way to generate electricity in a ‘similar’ manner. Maybe if your replace candles with acid solutions and a salt bridge =)

    Actually, onw reason I tried this is because I don’t know enough physics to _prove_ that this is impossible in principle. For instance, Peltier effect seems totally fantastic for me. Also (from wiki):

    Almost any liquid or moist object that has enough ions to be electrically conductive can serve as the electrolyte for a cell. As a novelty or science demonstration, it is possible to insert two electrodes made of different metals into a lemon, potato, glass of soft drink, etc. and generate small amounts of electricity. As of 2005, “two-potato clocks” are widely available in hobby and toy stores; they consist of a pair of cells, each consisting of a potato (lemon, etc.) with two electrodes inserted into it, wired in series to form a battery with enough voltage to power a digital clock. Homemade cells of this kind are of no real practical use, because they produce far less current—and cost far more per unit of energy generated—than commercial cells, due to the need for frequent replacement of the fruit or vegetable. In addition, in the two-book series “Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things”, there are instructions to make a battery from a nickel, a penny, and a piece of paper towel dipped in salt water. Each of these can make up to 0.3 volts and when many of them are used, they can replace normal batteries for a short amount of time


  22. Isn’t is obvious? After he puts the alligator clips on the nails, the middle of the wires are hanging off the table. They are hooked to a power source and theres a little switch under the table.


  23. What make it look like a fake is that the light is lit to fast; the led should fade up to make the illusion more convincing. The illusion is kind of childish and can be made in lots of ways and much better. I think the wires to the batter and switch he got under the table is hidden by the candles ant they are connected to the nails.


  24. It’s so funny…

    1.He always changes the hand when he uses the lighter.(Nice one!)
    2.Switch under the table
    3.Connection Method:After the introduction the Nails were connected in the candle(Hole in the middle to the nails)
    4.Right nail is after the introduction deeper in the candle


  25. I didn’t believe what the video claims but I still tried it myself and even taped it:

    http://berrynose.wordpress.com/2007/02/08/electricity-from-candles-real-or-fake-you-judge/

    As expected, it didn’t work. But the saddest thing is that many people rated the original video 5 stars in Metacafe, and the guy called Mysterious1 who posted this video has already earned hundreds of dollars out of it!
    On the other hand, mine which shows the true fact
    was only rated below 3 stars. How ironic…

    I made this video for just one purpose: that is to wake people up and think twice and carefully before casting their vote. But for now, it’s the people who cheat takes all. And Metacafe is helping them. How sad.


  26. Also, if you play the original video hosted at Metacafe (even if it’s embedded in other sites like this one), it’ll be counted as one view and Metacafe will reward the original poster of this video. If you believe it’s fake, don’t play it again.

    btw, there’re many comments under this video in Metacafe, but I could only see those that believe in it or praised about it. Many others were deleted by the original poster.


  27. Wow, according to this page that video made the guy over $1000 so far!


  28. He should have used a foot switch, then he wouldn’t hae had to put his hands under the table.


  29. IT’S TRUE! IT’S TRUE! I DID IT YESTERDAY AND IT WORKS, I PROMISE. YESTERDAY I WENT TO BUY SOME MASSIVE FKUC-OFF CANDLES AND NOW I’M POWERING MY STEREO, THE TV, THREE 100W LIGHT BULBS AND THE FRIDGE FULL OF BOLLOCKS THAT’S HOVERING NEXT TO MY PET UNICORN AT THE END OF THE RAINBOW. MMMMMM WAX.


  30. PEOPLE OF THE INTERNET. (yes it needed to be capitolized). Move the bar to anywhere between 2:15 and 2:24. The bulb is clearly lit when the candle is not.


  31. The Department of Energy definitely needs to see this!!!


  32. after the magnets’ scene, both cables look different, and that’s because there are 4 cables and not only 2.
    So, there is one pair of cables attached to the candles and one pair of cables attached to some power supply, and yes, obviously there is a switch, right in his left hand… actually you can hear the switch’s clicking when he puts his hand below the table lol.

    — sorry for my bad english —


  33. nice fake.


  34. Sh*t,
    I’ve got the nails, candles, magnets etc, but forgot to buy matches 🙁


  35. nice trick, after two attemps it finnaly worked. thanks, my son used it for show and tell, it was a big success


  36. ok.. Wires under or through the table, embeded nails hidden or whatever.. current observed was too instantanious as the candle is lit.
    You want power from a candle, buy a standard 2 lead thermopile and place it into the top portion of the flame, it will produce about 750 mV.. just barely enough to run a small pancake fan (like the ones used in computer power supplies.)
    This is one of the system parts of mosquito magnets sold all over the US.
    Credit though: at first glance, I actually kinda hoped that somehow I had overlooked a electron echange thing with the burning of wax from the candle.. but when he hooked up a bulb instead of a multimeter..well letdown time.
    There are many things we still are yet to learn about our universe and the physics that run unseen, and someday maybe we will have thermocouples efficient enough to power small things in emergencies by campfire or candles.


  38. How about electricity from waste heat.
    http://www.hi-z.com sells Thermo Electric Genetators that use
    the Seebeck (Seabeck?) principle. From 450 deg F. you can
    get up to 8 Amps @ 2.5 Volts.


  39. as a ham radio operator I remember being able to turn on motion lights with a a liniar amplifier hooked to a 10 meter ham set which is right next to 11 meter cb radio. the switch he hits goes to a hi power transformer or liniar able to produce electricity through the air the nail catch it as he hits the switch and turns on the bulb and adds to his sterility so he is unable to reproduce other morons


  42. He could be using inductive power so that he doesn’t need wires to the candles. Then he could just trigger it with his feet or something.


  43. It does have a fake look to it, but there’s no reason it couldn’t be real. Burning things releases energy and energy can light a bulb or turn a motor. There’s nothing here that would appear to violate conservation of energy. Paraffin (candle wax) is a very big molecule with lots of carbon and hydrogen, which probably converts mostly to CO2 and H2O when burned. There could be other intermediate products in the process of burning, even ions, and ions flowing through a wire is all you need to light a bulb or turn a motor. If it really does work, I would imagine that the two candles would need to be made of different types of wax, producing different ions when they burn.


  44. Pat, there are two main reasons that this can’t be real. 1. You need to have a complete circuit for current to flow. Energy is being released, but how do the ions travel from one candle to another? Also, the combustion reaction occurring at the wick has a good 5 cm of distance between that and the nail. Hydrocarbons (like paraffin) are excellent insulators.

    There are no intermediate products in combustion. You get CO2 and H2O from a combustion reaction (CO if you have low O2). The only way to release ions is from things like added perfumes and impurities. Incomplete combustion doesn’t produce ions.

    2. You can’t magnetize a nail like that. One direction folks, one direction. Even if he was trying to simulate something like the old experiment with a lemon, it doesn’t make any difference if the nails were magnetized or not.

    Now, if he were to connect the candles via the melted wax or something, I would pay more attention. However, as I said before, hydrocarbons are excellent insulators (even in liquid form), and would not make a good circuit path at all, so it would still be fishy.


  45. My bet would be something inside the candles. A simple remote control for an RC car or TV with a battery attached and then just a lone battery inside the second candle. If you listen to the candles they clunk rather hard when set down and do not seem to set all the way on the table. This would make the “no wires” look possible.


  46. Instead of everybody speculating and saying wheather its a trick or that it may possibly work, why doesn’t
    somebody try the damn experiment and see if it works. He obviously has taken everyone for a ride
    there is no scientific way in the world that this stupid trick could actually work. Wake up
    people its a TRICK stop thinking about it its a no brainer.


  47. Clearly a trick, but pretty clever regardless


  48. If this device work as stated it would be based on the technology in patent of Thomas Townsead Brown’s number 3022430,
    Electrokenitic Generator.T T Brown’s device directly converts the electro chemical reaction of burning fuel into electrical energy. There is a collector grid that has an positive bias charge to set up the the current flow as in the old therm-ionic vacuum tubes.
    It may be possible that the magnetization of the nails serve as the bias.I believe it is not likely that this candle device
    works as shown. T T Brown’s does work and is used in advanced
    technology. Like electro static aircraft shown in the patent?


  49. It’s the Seebeck effect
    Thermal (heat) energy
    In metal generates
    Electromotive force (emf)
    A small current
    Due to electron flow
    It is the principle
    Used in thermocouple
    Which measure heat
    There is a direct relationship
    Between emf and heat
    Or rather temperature
    Look it up
    Impress your friends


  50. Dude, Terry. It is a trick. You said yourself, *small* current. dc motors use a lot of current. Flashlight bulbs use a high voltage. This is bull. And doug, you can’t magnetize nails by running a magnet over them. That is just dumb.


  51. Hey Carl you are so so wrong about the nails…….


  52. If you observe the experiment closely,
    there are tiny bubbles forming in the wax
    It’s good example of cold fusion.


  53. You idiots…….it’s the flux capacitor that makes it work!


  54. Shhhhh! Don’t give away our flux capacitor secret 🙁
    Keep saying its from the Large Hadron Collider after effects.


  55. It’s obviously a hoax, my question is, where is the pay off for this guy? I could understand it if he was marketing science kits, or candles and nails, but he’s not. I don’t see an economic model here, how is he rewarded for his efforts?
    One possibility might be to win the admiration of his friends, or members of a close knit club or society of cyber-geeks, with whom he has engaged in a competition to see who could get the most buzz going about his or her personally concocted hoax. Perhaps the winning hoax could be chosen by garnering the greatest number of comments on this page, or on the pages of similar sites. If this was the reason for his behaviour it might be understandable, if not, perhaps he should seek the care of a professional.


  57. Chris #22,back on February 06, 2007 says it best:

    “Isn’t is obvious? After he puts the alligator clips on the nails, the middle of the wires are hanging off the table. They are hooked to a power source and theres a little switch under the table.”

    Go back and watch the wires going to the motor. When he lights the candles, the wire from the motor to the end of the table on both sides move. The wire from the nails to the table do not move.


  58. I just re-reviewed the video. Actually the wire does move everywhere when the motor starts. The wire going off the table does go directly from nail to the motor. So, it would have to be faked at the candle.


  59. I TRIED IT AND LOOKED GOOD BUT I DIDN’T HAVE DAMM MATCH


  60. Why does he bother to change hands when he’s lighting the candles? To distract you from looking at his hand going under the table. Same thing when he blows the candles out. Watch his hands.


  61. The guy is right the light is on before the candle is lit.
    so lets rule out the obvious. (that this is real).

    Nice magic trick however is is still not cracked fully.
    were close but yet to be explained blow by blow.

    I see this strange all bulb is a flashlight bulb. 3 vdc. =’s,
    2 X 1.5 standard A type batteries. D or C sizes.
    Perhaps embedded in the candles. or look at the table too. the strips of wood is a ‘different color’ why? ytbd? perhaps it is a special prop? to pass electric up thew the table to the bottom of the candle? the nails complete the circuit from the center of the candle.

    the magnets are a distraction and the fire. have nothing to do with the bulb and motor.

    However any nut who goes out and does this and thinks it is real as stated in early blog, the Dept of Energy needs to see this and soon!


  62. I love how people can watch this and think it’s real, but then watch a video of a bottle of water crystallize into ice (more of a slush, really) and insist that it’s fake. They cry “SODIUM ACETATE!” like it’s easier to accept than water turning into ice. I’m just so glad to see there are so many other people out there whose first impression was the same as mine: coulda done it better with a foot switch.


  63. I agree with those who have discovered this silly fraud. Sixty years ago, I was an electronics instructor in the US Air Force teaching 18 year-olds to maintain and repair radar sets designed to land airplanes in a fog. We had some strange circuits, but, nothing like this! Another commentator is correct – there is no complete circuit and no inductive elements that could induce electron flow in the leads. Where are our PhD physicists when this sort of scam is exposed to the gullible public?

    However, small iron or steel objects can be magnetized by plroximity to a strong magnetic field. Magnetizer/demagnetizers are sold in hardware stores and copper wire loops substituted for soldering gun tips can also do the trick and this is not trick. I sharpen wood carving chisels for others and can always tell when I get tools that are stored on magnet tool racks. The iron cuttings cling to the tool and are difficult to remove for further honing, etc..

    For what it’s worth,

    An old-timer


  64. Where are the mythbusters when you need them. I have seen a coil pull electricity from the air before. but its location was near high power lines. I have nothing to add here, but remember keep an open mind. we are entering a new world where we are being led to believe powering cars with water is feasible.


  65. Slight of hand/// The bottom of the candles are never shown in the video I believe there to be a plate with leads attached within each candle the nails are pushed in to make contact with this hidden plate attached to this plate are 2 leads The bottom of the candles are bored out which is why they are never shown When the candles after the nails are inserted are first placed on the TV tray note the location of the wood grain on the table When you are diverted to the lone candle it is located in a different spot more towards the front of the dark grain after this shot(Stop camera) The table is then drilled a positive lead to one candle and a negative lead to the other candle are then passed through the table to a battery pack below the table Then watch the hands disappear to switch the battery pack mounted below. Nice work I must say but being interested in magic and having a solid understanding of electricity this trick would be better displayed on a glass table with the illusion that it is glass and transparent This can be easily accomplished magicians use this illusion when producing live tigers and such also if the wood grain on the table was held consistent with the placement of the initial set of the candles and a rheostat used like a sewing machine pedal where the light brightness and the speed of the motor would have increased with the flame of the candle and the hands were placed on the table at all times it may have even fooled me Nice try but needs more thought. PS to polarize a nail to become magnetic or retain a residual magnetism you would need to make several strokes with a stronger magnet all in the same direction. For current to be produced you would as well need 2 candles of different material as to create a difference in potential these candles are identical which makes this stunt physics impossible. Opposing flames closing a circuit physics impossible You can heat metal which can produce a very small amount of current (thermocouple)but current passing through 2 flames C’mon a rope wick and wax at best can be an insulator not a conductor…………………. Signed No Mystery Here


  66. My Guess:
    wood painted metallic plate on the table below candles
    small metallic plate under the candles (round bottom of the candle)
    wire connecting the metallic plates on the table via a switch under the table
    with this mechanism, he can easily glow a light by operating the switch.
    Before the 2nd candle is lighted, itself, the bulb glows, the timing of his manual operation of the switch and lighting the candle are not 100% perfectly timed.


  67. I tried it with a FLUX CAPACITOR – Haven’t seen the damn thing since…

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