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00:00Master magicians from around the world are taking science and fusing it with magic.
00:10To break everything you thought you knew about the world around you.
00:15They'll perform street magic, hidden camera tricks, and epic illusions.
00:21It'll all look like magic, but it's really science.
00:26This time, Ben makes waves with a vanishing ship.
00:31How'd you do that?
00:32Wayne makes a car tell tales on its owner.
00:36I got a little nervous of what he might reveal.
00:39Billy turns gravity on its head.
00:43Bit crazy, don't understand it, but you know, that's magic I suppose.
00:47And James gets his teeth into some seriously spooky magic.
00:52I've never seen a vampire melt on a Friday night before.
01:11As magicians, we can't share our secrets.
01:14However, science can be explained.
01:18We've taken some very clever science and fused it with magic.
01:22To a certain extent, both magic and science involve doing things that seem impossible.
01:28Take a look. Let us show you what we mean.
01:35First up, Ben's in London's historic Maritime Quarter of Greenwich, posing as an antique stall owner.
01:47I've always loved antiques. Sometimes the tall tale behind an object can literally blow your mind.
01:52And that's what I'm hoping for today, because I'm going undercover as a market trader
01:56to try and astonish some antique buyers with a bit of magic and a lot of science.
02:02Come on, ladies and gents, get your naval memorabilia here.
02:05One day only, I need to sell it all. Take a bit of history home with you today.
02:09I can tell you're interested, sir. Come on over, have a look.
02:13Hey, you guys, sorry to stop you there, lads. Can I show you some ships in bottles?
02:17You look like the kind of guys that like ships in bottles.
02:19Nice to meet you, what's your name? Josh. Josh, nice to meet you, Josh.
02:21Connor. Connor, nice to meet you, Connor.
02:23All right, point to any ship in a bottle and I will tell you the history of that ship.
02:27What about that one?
02:29The O'Hanlon?
02:31The O'Hanlon was a merchant ship that used to transport tea all over the world until 1772.
02:38When it was going from Portsmouth to the Americas, it got lost at sea.
02:42Rumour has it it was engulfed by a thick fog.
02:45Some people say that in the fog, it ran aground.
02:48But most people believe that it was set upon by pirates and sank by cannon fire.
02:54Do me a favour, mate, hold your left hand out.
02:56Take the cannon, aim it at the ship. Say bang.
02:59Bang.
03:04Cannons are louder than that, mate. All right.
03:07On the count of three, say one, two, three.
03:10Bang.
03:14You're really about to disappear.
03:16And just like the real ship, it's gone, isn't it?
03:19No, I imagine you're a wizard or something.
03:25I've never seen anything like it in my life. He's a magician.
03:28I only know the secret now.
03:30Take that for me.
03:32One, two, three. Bang!
03:36Where did that go?
03:38Where did that actually go?
03:40One, two, three. Bang!
03:43And just like the old handling, it's gone.
03:45It's kind of like it exploded or something.
03:48Like, you know how you pop a cork on a wine bottle?
03:51That's really cool. Thank you.
03:53I love how you can create a story around an entire object.
03:56I wish there was a ship with my surname.
03:58Anyway, you're probably wondering about the fog in the bottle.
04:02Now, that was created using physics.
04:05Before the trick,
04:07a few drops of water and some pure alcohol were added to the bottle.
04:11A pump was then used to create high pressure inside
04:15and the bottle sealed with a cork.
04:17When Ben pulled the cork out,
04:19it quickly depressurised the bottle,
04:22causing a rapid expansion of the water, alcohol and air inside.
04:26The expansion led to a drop in temperature,
04:29allowing the water and alcohol
04:31to then condense into a vapour of tiny droplets.
04:34This is how clouds are formed in our atmosphere.
04:37The ship was designed with a collapsible mast,
04:40which allowed Ben to use sleight of hand
04:43to steal it through the narrow neck of the bottle
04:46under the cover of the fog.
04:48Sorry, can you put it back in there?
04:50Yeah, look, watch.
04:52LAUGHTER
04:54Next up...
04:57Next up, Wayne's in New York City.
05:01He's met up with professional driver Billy,
05:05who always comes to this car wash to clean his Stretch limo.
05:09Are you ready?
05:11Wayne has asked Billy to wait with a crowd of customers.
05:14He wants to show them something special
05:17about his treasured limo.
05:21Billy spends so much time with his car, he's named it
05:25Stretch.
05:27Let's see if I can try this.
05:29Yeah, I got to do that for the magic.
05:31That's what makes it work.
05:36Ooh, that's interesting.
05:38So I'm picking up on Stretch's thoughts.
05:41I'd like to see if I can show you what Stretch is thinking.
05:45OK, let's try this.
05:48Let's use a little bit of water.
05:56ENGINE REVS
06:09LAUGHTER
06:12Did you recently get a new camera?
06:14I have many cameras. I'm actually a photographer.
06:17You're a photographer as well. That's my main job.
06:19He asked me if I had a connection with the car.
06:22I didn't think I did, but apparently I do.
06:24I'll tell you what. Let's clean that up for you.
06:30The image of the camera disappeared back into the paint
06:33as quickly as it had appeared.
06:36Just a little more water.
06:43When he made the word on the hood of the car disappear,
06:46I was a little relieved that I still have a job at the end of the day.
06:49The fact that he made it go backwards
06:51is even better than the trick having itself.
06:53He put it back to its original form.
06:55We're not done yet. That's interesting.
06:58I'm getting some almost negative energy.
07:01It's almost as if Stretch is a little jealous.
07:05When he said my car was jealous, I didn't know where he was going with that.
07:09I got a little nervous of what he might reveal.
07:24Vita D?
07:26That's the name of my boat.
07:28That's your boat?
07:29Yeah.
07:30That's why it's jealous.
07:32When I saw the name of my boat come up on the hood of the car,
07:35I was relieved that it was jealous of that because that's okay.
07:38We'll clean that one up for you too.
07:42I've actually never seen anything done like that before in my life.
07:45That was truly incredible.
07:46You know these things are illusions,
07:48but you can't imagine how they do it.
07:53It looks like magic,
07:55but there's liquid crystal science at work here.
07:59You may suspect the water Wayne's applying has an invisible dye in it,
08:03but that's not the answer.
08:05It's regular hot water.
08:10The answer was in the limo's hood.
08:13Wayne had secretly arranged for Billy's car to be painted with thermochromic paint,
08:18which changes color when heated.
08:22The thermochromic paint contained black pigmented liquid crystals.
08:26When at room temperature,
08:28needle shaped particles within the crystals are randomly aligned,
08:32allowing light to be reflected from its black surface.
08:38When heat of over 80 degrees Fahrenheit is applied,
08:41the particles within the crystals actually realign themselves,
08:46allowing light to pass through,
08:48making the layer of paint transparent,
08:51revealing the symbols which were painted underneath.
08:54When Wayne applied cold water,
08:57the particles returned to their original random alignment,
09:01and the paint reverted to black.
09:06And how did Wayne know so much about the limo driver's life?
09:10Billy's boss had willingly passed on the information to make the trick possible.
09:15One of the best parts about being a magician is getting to watch the reactions,
09:19and watch them experience this moment of astonishment.
09:23And the look on Billy's face when I squeezed the water and that camera appeared,
09:27you could tell he wasn't just thinking, how did you know that?
09:30He was thinking, what is going on with my car?
09:35Billy's in North London,
09:37setting out to convince her audience the power of positive thinking
09:41can overturn the laws of gravity.
09:44Magicians like to attempt the impossible.
09:47With positive thinking, I'm going to defy the laws of gravity
09:50with just a plain old glass of water.
09:55If you could do me a favour, hold onto that bottle for me.
09:58OK. Let's place this cloth over top of the glass, like so.
10:05You can see right through the cloth, right? Yeah.
10:08Just pour some water inside the glass.
10:11OK.
10:14Yep, that's good, right about there.
10:16You'll notice that the water can go through the cloth,
10:19and, of course, it can go out, right?
10:23Yeah, that makes sense. Go ahead, put some more water in there.
10:27All right, that's good right there. OK, all right.
10:30Do you have a phone on you?
10:32Yeah, take it out for me.
10:34Yeah, it's the company phone.
10:36Hold it in your left hand, just like that. Perfect.
10:39What I want you to do is just keep thinking positive thoughts.
10:42I always do. OK. OK.
10:45Positive thoughts. Keep saying things like...
10:49Don't wet my phone.
10:50Don't wet my phone? Keep saying it, keep saying it.
10:52Don't wet my phone.
10:53Don't wet my phone. Yeah, keep thinking it, keep saying it.
10:55Don't wet my phone! Don't wet my phone!
10:58Don't wet my phone!
10:59Whoa! Don't wet my phone!
11:01Don't wet my phone! I know.
11:02OK, stop. Move your phone away.
11:07Wow.
11:08I did think, actually, my phone was going to get wet,
11:10but that's why I used the company one,
11:11anyone, so I was happy with that.
11:13Kwam.
11:14Kwam and...
11:15Wendy.
11:16Wendy, nice to meet you.
11:17I'm Billie.
11:18Do you have a phone on you?
11:19A mobile phone?
11:20Yeah.
11:21You do?
11:22You seem a bit nervous.
11:23You trust me, right?
11:24Yeah.
11:25I just want you to think positive thoughts, all right?
11:30Positive thoughts such as...
11:33Don't wet my phone.
11:34OK.
11:35Actually, if you say it.
11:37Don't wet my phone.
11:38Don't wet my phone.
11:39Don't wet my phone.
11:40Don't wet my phone.
11:41Don't wet my phone.
11:42Don't wet my phone.
11:43Can you move your phone away?
11:44Nice and slow.
11:45You're safe.
11:46You're good.
11:47Best chick I've ever seen.
11:56So how did Billie make water defy gravity?
11:59The cloth Billie used had fine holes that allowed water to pass through.
12:05But why didn't all the water come out when Billie turned the glass upside down?
12:10It was down to surface tension in the water.
12:14Water molecules are weakly attracted to each other throughout the liquid.
12:19At the surface, the attraction is pulling the water molecules inward, and they form
12:23a kind of membrane.
12:25This membrane stretched across the holes in the gauze and plugged the gaps to stop the
12:30water behind from escaping.
12:33The phenomenon of surface tension explains how small bugs can walk on water and also
12:38why water forms round droplets when it falls.
12:43By tilting the glass slightly, Billie could break this delicate membrane and gravity then
12:48took over.
12:49Whoa.
12:50I'm not sure I'm going to try it myself, but I'll grasp it.
12:55Hey, Billie, what's up?
12:59Oh, just working on something new.
13:05That looks pretty possible.
13:13Want one?
13:14No, I've eaten, thanks.
13:15And I don't have a dark side anyway.
13:17But wouldn't it be interesting if I did?
13:23It seems everywhere you look these days, there's a book, a movie, or a TV show about a vampire.
13:29I thought it'd be really fun to try to convince some hardcore vampire fans that I was one
13:32of the undead using some cool science I learned this week.
13:35I mean, surely no one really believes in vampires.
13:38Do they?
13:42James has picked a 200-year-old former prison in London to perform his next trick.
13:52Good evening.
13:53Would you like to come through this way over here, please?
13:55Along with his spooky assistant, the scene is set to convince this crowd of horror fans
14:00that he might actually be a vampire.
14:07Everyone knows vampires are fictional, but can tonight's live audience be 100% sure?
14:15Because James will be cooking up some extremely spooky chemical reactions to make them believe
14:21he's one of the undead.
14:26Can you come stand over here against the wall?
14:28Can you?
14:30It's right over here.
14:32Let's have a look.
14:34This is holy water.
14:37Vampires can't go anywhere near it.
14:39It's attracted to them.
14:41It tries to overcome them.
14:43Would you do me a favor and just put your finger through it?
14:48Nothing happens, right?
14:50It's because you're immortal.
14:52But watch.
14:55Watch.
15:06The supposed holy water genuinely moved towards James' finger.
15:11The crowd can't understand how it happened.
15:16It was quite hard to explain that the water seemed to be coming towards him.
15:20Kind of creepy and dark.
15:22Quite a spooky, unreal thing to see.
15:24I don't understand how that happened.
15:26Sort of...
15:28Can't explain it.
15:29They don't know that James was using science.
15:32Time for him to step up the shock factor.
15:39I am prepared to take it a step further.
15:42If holy water was to touch my skin, the results can be disastrous.
15:53SIGHS
16:07Half the bottle seemed to be water.
16:09As soon as it touched his skin, it was blood.
16:12It's quite hard to explain.
16:14It's a bit bewildering, I suppose.
16:16I don't know what happened there.
16:18I didn't know how he was doing it.
16:20It was magic.
16:22Next, James attempts to prove he really is a vampire
16:26by melting his flesh with holy water.
16:37In a former prison deep underground in London,
16:41James is unnerving an audience of horror fans
16:44by making them wonder if he's truly the victim of a dark, vampiric curse.
16:50So far, he's attracted holy water towards himself,
16:53and just a few small drops of it on his skin made him bleed.
16:58But now he's going to see if he can make the crowd believe he's really been cursed
17:04by melting his skin and bones with three gallons of supposed holy water.
17:14It's hard to argue with the facts.
17:30If I really was cursed...
17:34..I'd want to go to sleep forever.
17:44Yeah, I'm fine.
17:52You still OK? Yeah.
18:09This is holy water.
18:11If he really is cursed...
18:14..then this is the end.
18:41WHIRRING
19:05EERIE MUSIC
19:11EERIE MUSIC CONTINUES
19:32I covered him in holy water, and he just disappeared.
19:36To see him sort of slowly melting away, it wasn't just like, poof, he's gone.
19:41As I peeled it back, it was like a sticky substance left there,
19:45like it melted or something like that.
19:47It seemed like he evaporated on that night.
19:49I didn't expect him to disappear.
19:51I'm stumped.
19:53I don't know where he went. I can't explain it.
19:56So how did James pull off his trio of spooky vampire stunts?
20:02The water was attracted toward him
20:05because he was charged with static electricity
20:08via a hidden Van de Graaff generator.
20:12As the negatively charged electrons passed through him,
20:16they attracted the positively charged molecules in the water.
20:22The vessel of fake holy water had separate compartments
20:26containing two different chemicals,
20:28ferric chloride and potassium thiocyanate.
20:33When they hit James' arm, they mixed,
20:35and the clear potassium thiocyanate reacted with the ferric chloride
20:40and formed iron thiocyanate, which is blood red in colour.
20:46During his disappearing act,
20:48James cunningly slipped out from behind the curtain,
20:51and a Styrofoam replica went into the coffin instead.
20:56The holy water was actually a solvent called acetone,
21:00the same chemical found in nail varnish remover.
21:05Styrofoam is mostly air,
21:07and the acetone breaks down its structure quickly,
21:10releasing the air inside the foam,
21:12leaving behind nothing but a sticky residue.
21:17So we used some really cool science to convince our audience
21:21that vampires really do exist,
21:23but, of course, we all know they don't.
21:26At least that's what you should keep telling yourself.
21:32It was really quick.
21:34Where did he take the boat?
21:36That's all I was thinking about.
21:40I had no idea.
21:43I had no idea what he was going to do,
21:45and when he did it, it was so personal to me, it was amazing.
21:50It's freaky, but I understand it.
21:52It's magic.
21:55It's quite impressive to see him melt away like that.
21:58Other than you can't explain it.