ENERGETIC COINS

Line up six or more pennies on a table or desk as in the illustration. All the pennies except the first should be just touching. Ask anyone if coin number 8 can be moved away from the group without touching it or pushing it with the adjacent coin. When no one can do it, you show them how. Put one finger on coin number 2 just enough to steady it. Rapidly slide coin number 1 to hit coin number 2. Coin number 8 will then slide away all by itself.

TOWER OF DISCS

Another trick is done with a stack of checkers. Ask anyone to remove the bottom checker without disturbing the rest of the pile. It's easy. Slide a table knife rapidly along the table to knock out the bottom checker. The rest will settle down on the table without falling over.

SPEARING A POTATO

You will need a raw potato and several plastic soda straws.

Ask anyone in your audience to push the straw through the potato. Let them try. As they push, the straw will only bend. Everyone will fail.

Then you do it.

Thrust the straw very quickly with one fast strong thrust right into and through the potato.

LAZY JAR

Place a jar of jam, or any such heavy object near the edge of a sheet of paper, and ask someone to remove the paper without moving the jar. It's easy. Grasp the paper tightly and yank it out with one strong sudden pull.

If anyone is able to do any of these tricks before you demonstrate how, don't be flustered. Just congratulate him or her. Tell them they must be fellow witches to have the magic touch, and go rapidly on to your next trick.

COIN ON A CARD

This is a neat, fast trick. You will need a coin and a small piece of stiff paper. A half of a 3-x-5 file card will do fine.

Balance the card on your fingertip with a coin in the middle. Ask your audience if anyone can remove the card without moving the coin. If no one knows how, you tell them.

Tell them that you have a great attraction for money and that the coin will stick to your finger. Then with the fingers of your other hand, flick the edge of the card. It will fly away, and the coin will remain balanced on your finger. Practice this.

These tricks work because things at rest—not moving—like to stay at rest. They resist being put into motion. This is called inertia. So when you pull the paper from under the heavy jar, the paper is out and away before the jar can be put into motion. The same situation exists with the coin on your fingertip, and the pile of checkers. The plastic straw is relatively sharp and moves so rapidly it cuts through the potato before it bends.

The sliding penny trick is a bit different. The energy of the first moving penny is transmitted through all the other pennies. The last penny stands alone so the energy it receives is used to move it away from the others.

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