(TFT) Re: Firewalking

[Pasha and or Rick Smith <pnrsmith@istar.ca>]

Hi Stan,
	I once attended a lecture by a physics prof.
who looked into fire walking.  He said that the trick
was to make sure the coals were hot enough.  Basically
the sweat on your feet instantly vaporizes, making a
thin barrier that protected your feet from the coals.

	The first time he did this for his class (I want
to go to HIS lectures!) he did it no problem.  The second
time he was cocky, ("this is no problem, I've done it
before, no sweat!") and (I quote) "...burnt the HELL out
of my feet!".

	The third time he did it (?!?) he jogged for
2 miles with his feet inside a plastic bag with 3 heavy
socks on outside the bag, so his feet were dripping 
when he tried it.  No problem.

	The thing is if you do this on coals that are
NOT hot enough, the sweat does not actually vaporize
before your foot sets down and you get heat 
conduction by directly touching the coals.

	Rick

	
>Isn't this the 'secret' of these firewalking guys?  It's
>the fact that they're walking on light, pumice-y rocks
>that saves them.  No way they'd be able to walk across a
>slab of red-hot iron, or lava, even if it's nominal
>temperature was the same as their pumice. 

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