23 thoughts on “Explain this illusion!”

        1. That’s what occurred to me second BUT – no matter how loosely the spirals are held in the fingers – they would move with the hands. Unless they were somehow restrained longitudinally and I can’t see how.

          (First thought was that the hands were twisting the spirals but they’re visibly NOT doing that).

          What is noticeable – looking at the shadows – is that the left-hand spiral comes much further off the paper than the right-hand one, which must be somewhat flattened.

          This doesn’t help.

          Only other possibility is that the spirals are in fact much longer than appears, and their ends are hidden behind a cut in the paper. Doesn’t seem very likely.

          I do note that, as he pulls one spiral away, so the other one ‘lengthens’ to stay with it. This must be a clue but I can’t solve it.

          I remain completely baffled.

          cr

  2. Without googling it looks to me like he’s taking advantage of the angle of light and using the shadow of the coil for the illusion.

    I’ll google it. I will not be surprised to find out I’m wrong. I usually am. About everything.

      1. Ah, so they’re connected. I thought he was just very skilled with keeping two separate wires together while spinning them.

    1. Exactly what I’m thinking. Spinning the wires in place would give the illusion of being pulled apart/pushed together.

  4. Something to do with shadows and he’s just moving his hands up and down the spirals? I really can’t figure it.

  5. He is turning a single connected coil in half steps (the white helps for positioning the fingers). The overlap of 3 peaks and valleys stays exactly the same with each “pull” (twist).

    The movement of the hands enforces the illusion, especially because the frame does not let us see coil extending with each movement on the right and left.

    I think that’s pretty much it. But even with that knowledge, maddeningly effective. My monkey mind is still losing money on the bet.

  6. The two wires are attached and he’s just spinning them to create the illusion that they’re coming apart. You can see this by watching the wire opposite to his moving hand because it seems to “grow” as the hand moves away… but it’s not growing (of course), but rather the join-point is re-centering.

    I had to watch the video about 10 times to unfool my eyes… it’s very effective!

  7. I think there are two wires and he is twisting them. The wires are like corkscrews: as he moves his hand to the right, he twists the wire which screws it towards the left, so the wire doesn’t translate in either direction.

      1. Also, I think the area of overlap is moving slightly left to right and back again. So when he moves his hand to the right, he screws the right hand wire towards the left. However, screwing the wire to the left doesn’t quite compensate for the movement of his hand, so the wire translates slightly to the right. At the same time, he screws the the wire in his left hand towards the right but without moving his hand. This keeps the same overlap between the wires although the overlap moves slightly to the right. Then it is all repeated the other way. Possibly! Perhaps!

  10. Arrgh! I just followed to the next Youtube video where it is explained and all I can say is, I’m amazed by the complication of the explanations given by commenters above (including notably me) when the answer is so simple and obvious. We’re all assuming one vital fact which is, in fact, incorrect.

    I won’t say what it is here, I’ll leave it for PCC to reveal all in his next post.

    cr

  11. If you really want to understand, look up your local International Brotherhood of Magicians ring or Society of American Magicians group and attend a meeting.

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