News: My God, It's Pure, Unadulterated Magic! Suspending Water Without the Cup

My God, It's Pure, Unadulterated Magic! Suspending Water Without the Cup

Wow, I'm excited. This one left me giddy. Fill a glass with water, give it a whirl, and voilà... let the debate begin. CGI or physics? Comment below.

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48 Comments

Water by nature is a sticky substance. It clings very well. That combined with centrifugal force might make this possible. Its kinda like when you fill a cup to the brim and the water bubbles just slightly over the edge. Probably why distilled water works best, it has a better consistency to remain in that shape.

BUT this is just what i know.

this IS a good argument... but there would have to be a TON of centrifugal force in that one twist of the wrist to get it to hold for just a few seconds before dissipating...

Yeah, but that much force would force it outward making this impossible. Mystery solved.

Ok, cuz you're clearly the physics professor and have tried this. Give us a rundown.

I just talked to a physics professor that uses this in his class room. I was pretty astonished to hear this after getting raged on pretty hard here.
He claims it is physically possible, though he has never actually succeeded.

This is obviously fake if you take time to look when the water actually falls his hand actually never touches it.

Theres no way! Water by nature is a flowing substance... it takes the shape of the container its in... after the cup is removed it would try to fill the shape of its NEW container (a.k.a the room) so it would just spill on the counter like later on in the video... theres NO way it could make enough surface tension to hold a shape like that... especially one as unstable and rigid as an upside down cup... it would round at the edges and tear itself apart as the water spinning upward had nowhere else to go... cause when it reaches the top of that retained shape... it wouldnt just spin there or go back to the bottom! it would just fall apart instantly like the two examples... I think its a ruse in my opinion....

also... notice in the two attempts that fail... that there is a little water around the rim of the cup before he lifts it just as he said there would be... but in the attempt that DOES succeed... there is absolutely NOTHING around it... no spill... no liquid... just absolutely dry perfection... that strikes as a bit odd...

two words: clear jelly.
And a whole lot of trolling :D

This is bs. Anyone who believes this is real needs a head-check. This is a neat "trick" and nothing more. Just like the cell phones popping the popcorn kernels.

Im going to try this myself and see if it really is possible.

I tried multiple times, either im not doing it correctly or its just impossible. Still a pretty convincing video.

thanks for trying.. i'm curious, i've seen a variety of accounts of attempts that go either way (faux/real)

Its a good trick. One thing though, he rotates his hand one direction but the water appears to be rotating the opposite direction.

Centripetal force from the rotation would act as an expanding movement. Like a vortex, with nothing to contain the water. But without a vortex, as i see there is none, the water will naturally stop in a mater of milliseconds. Not even to hold the shape of the cup.

Close. You are at least the first one to get the name of the force correct: CENTRIPETAL. However, centripetal acceleration in Uniform Circular Motion (which is essentially what this is in three dimensions) is an INWARD force. The acceleration vector in this case is always perpindicular to the velocity vector and always toward the center.Therefore, in theory, if given just the right amount of rotational motion, the centripetal force can be compensated by the surface tension of distilled water because the shape of the container changes through height uniformely. But, anyone can crunch Calculus all day. The only way to find out whether or not it is possible is to conduct the experiment yourself. Observation of experimentation is the closest thing to 'truth' at any given moment. 'Truth' is directly proportional to the amount of information one has up until now.... Live. Learn. Love...

Oh, and you have to take into account the vacuum created at the top of the cup...

Physics major? Or you just pay attention in school?
I think you just schooled everyone here.

Definitely a Physics major. There are obviously MANY other forces that must be taken into account here including the tangential acceleration of the water molecules as well as the rotation of the Earth itself undergoing a very large centripetal acceleration. This is what causes the water in your toilet or other drains to spin a certain way. Anyway, my point in posting is this: Whether or not this is physically possible should be irrelevant; for, you can never fully determine the possibility unless this experiment is rigorously tested in every possible atmospheric condition, on every possible surface, with all different sizes of cups, so on and so forth. I find it amazing the level of ignorance in regards to Natural processes. Everyone seems to be a self-proclaimed PhD on every single topic--which is where you get the many preconceived notions such as 'That is impossible' or 'Nice editing'.

Here is a great example from Roxanne Meadows and Jacque Fresco:
"In the early 20th Century, scientists were publishing books on 'Why Humans Cannot Fly'. The Wright Brothers apparently didn't read those books and so went on and built a flying machine."

The hardest thing for us to do SEEMS to be dropping the 'ego' and saying one, little three-word phrase: "I Don't Know..." Instead, we feel that 'Everyone is entitled to their own opinion"--WHICH IS AN OPINION... Live. Learn. Love...

Cant wait to see how flooded eshian(261) kitchen gets before he twigs its a fake lol

Out of the Million+ viewers of this video, I would love to know how many people tried this 10 times before giving up...

Not possible! Even in outer space the water would go into a ball shape!

Mark Dave is right, he twists to his left (our right) and it spins the other way. VictorGallardo is also right. Suface tension would never allow the water to stay in that shape.

After the last weird science video I'm reluctant to comment...but this is bull.

real or not its one bad a_ _ trick!!

Laughable. A version of this trick that would at least be physically possible would be to get the water swirling fast enough that it doesn't fall out when you lift the glass. That's what physics actually demands from this scenario.

this works!!!...after many tries i think its d air just above the water that holds it together... :))..trick is ..do not full glass to the brim.. good luck!!!!!!!!!

his pinky finger never touches the suspended water!!

Im sad to see some of the comments here. Everyone is so quick to debunk this. Its like everyones inner child was murdered by some fake youtube video.

haha.. I agree entirely... I wish that the first place we went to nowadays wasnt "Well that cant be possible... I bet that's fake"... cause I did try it... OHHH GOODNESS did I try it... I think I wasted like 10 bucks on distilled water... (maybe the point of saying distilled works better? To doop people into spending money on water? I'VE BEEN HAD!) but anyway... I wish that it was real... soooooo badly... cause thats just plain awesome...

A cyber "Idiot-Test" - This can't be done. It would be cool though!

What is awesome is the 3D compostiting and lighting to get the refractions through the water to look right. And the motion tracking. Even if the trick is bogus (which it is), its pretty cool from a production standpoint. Very cool.

Thanks for giving the mythbusters something to do in their spare time, I appreciate it.

That would be cool if it wasn't fake. It looks like ice was in the cup, and they simply started spinning it and recorded it almost.

Did you all see how fast it was spinning after he pulled the cup off? There is no way that is possible just by twisting the cup. The water probably would not even twist with the cup, and even if it did, it would not gain nearly enough energy to maintain such a spin. This is clearly a fake. I really can't believe there is any debate.

My god!is this really true!?.....I try it a hundred times,still no good result!

for every action there is an equal, and OPPOSITE reaction. If he spins one way, the water will spin the other way. DUH!!
...Haha, just kiddin'. I'm not really that dumb! ^_^

Hey, sounded good to me...LOL

I studied magic for 35 years but i never seen or heard of this until now, i thought he was going to put a coin in the glass then turn it over and leave it for a waitress to come over and figure out how she's going to get the coin out without spilling the water on the table. I'v done that but this just doesen't look real.

what if it was partially frozen...

The illusion is pulled off very well, the timing, slight misdirection. He has probably fooled many people to attempt it but I will tell you right now it's impossible. Yes in applying physics to understand if this illusion would work. Not a chance. Won't need to go into depth with that. Its a clever trick which involves a a powder like substance that you will put the bottom of the glass, there are a few ways to keep it at the bottom of the glass when its put upside down. Anyways The Amount you put in is very critical for either it will turn into a gel like substance or the water will flow right out as soon as the glass is lifted. You pour the water in the glass quickly. Then follow everything he does. As soon as the water is poured into the glass the powdered chemical will react fast, so when the card board or other various flat surface is used it keeps everything together and as soon as the card board or other flat surface is put on top then flipped over, followed by quickly removing the cardboard,... it gives the water just enough time to mix slightly with the powder and the water will spill a little out of the bottom when flipped upside down. Here is the final technique if thats what you want to call it. The twist of the glass mixes the powder somewhat equally with the water and when the glass is lifted the water is in a very weak state of a solid form. It takes seconds for the weight of the water and so on to collapse. Iv'e been a magician for 12 years and have pulled off variations of the illusion. Check out an online magic store and either look for this substance, and in this case i completely forgot what its called. Best thing do is call the shop or number off the website and inquire about it. One last thing the distilled water is a must for this illusion to look very real.

What about a transparent "sleeve" inside the cup that stays there when the outer cup is removed?

pretty cool but i have a feeling this guy worships the devil or something

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