How does levitation work?

[twinsetandpearls]

It is the only magic that reduces me to a child watching in wonderment. The time has come to grow up.

i seem to remember trying it at school

we had a girl sat in a chair, we all stood around her and put our hands firmly on her head whilst focussing our concentration then we lifted her , seemingly weightlessly with a finger of one hand each!

is this what u mean ?

the kind u see on stage , well that must be a trick

Yes what you see on stage. Forgive me for being thick cheery did your friend levitate.

Stage Magic Explained

Don't read if you want to keep the mystery though

Rubberduck - none of those explanations sound very achievable, though. I'll carry on believing.

Street levitation

Yeah... first link has some misdirection of its own - I've spotted a couple of downright fibs on the card section, notably the Mullica Wallet. Think the second is better.

Balducci Levitation

video of the Balducci Levitation

It's all misdirection basically

Cant open links as on my mobile. Will have to look later.

Cheeryface, I remember doing that to and have always wondered how it works - it's not "magic", but how does it work?

Re: finger lifts there's no "magic" to it - it's physically possible due to the even distribution of weight.

better explanation here

"Usually the trick is done where people try the lift, it doesn't work, they put their hands on top of each other to "increase their energy", and then they can do the lift.

Really it's nothing more than simple human nature. Find a chunk of lead, or something that is heavy for it's size. The first time you pick it up you don't, because you're not lifting hard enough. Once your brain gets the hint that it's heavier, you give it the proper amount of heft and poof, you lift it.

Same thing here. As has been pointed out you're not putting that much pressure per finger but it's still more than you would expect. If you have 5 people and only 2 don't realize what's needed, you won't be able to life the person. The second time every is on the same page and the person is lifted.

No chi. No amazing supernatural forces. No power given by god, no super-powered neurons, no electric monkeys flying out from your fingertips. Just physics."

forklift truck painted to disapear

right so that explains how people levitate just off the ground. BUt I watched something with my daughter where a woman was "levitating?" horizontally about waist height above the floor over knives ( am sure knives were not real) while two men supported her with their fingers.

So is Rubberduck saying two people can do that naturally with their fingertips?

I'm not saying that... physics says that

It's not usually done with two - the trick is normally done with 4 or 5. I would investigate how beefy the 2 people are if just done with two.

I meant to say is rubberduck's link saying...

It was on c bbc this morning, on the slammer.