June 19, 2023

Dip your hand in molten lead without being burned!

"Don't try this at home," isn't enough of a warning for this.

Adam Savage recently answered a question about this video asking whether it was as surreal an experience as it seemed.

Adam said, 'yes', it was and went on to explain why it works, why they were understandably afraid of it, and how they slightly cheated by wetting their hands first.

There's a lot of explanation about the leidenfrost effect and how it protected their hands (and hot dogs), but the short version is that if the surface is hot enough relative to the liquid, enough of the liquid can instantly boil, creating a cushion of boiling gas between the liquid and the solid surface, sort of protecting the two from each other.

That's all well and good - as well as an explanation of how walking on hot coals works - but I'm still not sure I'd trust myself with the molten lead.

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