Remove a coin from water without getting wet fingers

Take a dinner plate or saucer and pour a small bit of water (about ½ a cup or so) in the plate. Place a coin (any will do) in the plate near the edge, but so it is completely underwater.

Bet your spectator that you can remove the coin from the plate without getting your fingers wet. The following conditions will be in place:

• You WILL use your fingers to remove the coin.
• You WILL leave all the water in the plate.
• You will NOT wear any sort of glove or put any substance on your fingers.
• You will NOT move the coin from out of the water with any foreign object or by any other means.
• You will NOT tilt the plate.
• You will NOT use a sponge or straw on the water.

When the spectator agrees that it sounds impossible, do the following:

Take a small candle (a votive type works perfectly, but any will do as long as it fits under whatever water glass you happen to have at the table with some room to spare) and place the candle in the center of the plate of water and light it. (Remember, the coin must be near the edge of the plate at the start of the betcha to make room for the candle.) Take a glass drinking glass (don't use plastic), invert it and place it over the lit candle. In a few seconds, as the candle flame consumes all the oxygen under the glass, it will form a vacuum. The result will be all the water in the plate will be sucked up into the glass, leaving the coin now out of the water. Pick up the coin with your fingers - still dry - and win your betcha.

Practice first to see how much water will be sucked up. It will vary depending on the size of glass you use.

That's really cool!

Thanks for sharing

I had a science teacher in high school that used to do somthing similar. Thank you for the mamories.

Mamories?

who did your operation?

That's very cool.

Nice

My science teacher did this to and it's pretty cool

Would be hard to do in a bar setting, as a candle would be hard to procure. And if you carry one of those around, well, you'd just look weird!

Very nice

thanks

You could try using spat-out chewing gum (preferably your own) with a small wooden match stuck in the middle of it instead of the candle

This is how I do it in a bar setting.

use an olive or cherry (you know the ones they put in the drinks) and then matches. One in the olive or cherry and another to light it. I set it up as a puzzle.

You have:
two matches
an olive
a glass
and a match book

the rules are:

You have to use all objects in the puzzle in a logical way and you can't add any other objects for the puzzle.

"You WILL leave all the water in the plate."

Well there's the flaw..so you do lose your bet if you say that.

Technically the water does stay in the plate. It just moves upward in a cylindrical shape following the interior of the glass. The base of this water "column" is still firmly within the plate proper. The water cannot be said to be in the glass without also being in the plate at the same time.

Although if you are concerned you could say something to the effect of, "The water will not be spilled."

Change the word IN to On.
The water is not in the plate, but is still on the plate.
Gwyd

I think Roth does this on his Bar Betcha's dvd....cool...

Very cool! Thanks for sharing!

Cool idea. I wish I had that kind of science teacher...

This was also taught by David Roth in one if his videos. very nice bar bet

-Matt

So not even a drop of water is left on the coin? somebody might argue against that.

Yes but the point of bar bets is to make the specktator happy to pay up - if you play it right and say well no skin off my noes keep your money - they may well pay up anyway - it in how you hadle the punters! They have learnt a new trick adn can use it on someone else .... hey its worth $20 if you play it right! Its all about the presntation........