![]() (The National Science Foundation partially funded this article to serve as a complement to the Pulse of the Planet radio program.) Today on the radio program Pulse of the Planet, Danforth explains the physics of fire walking by comparing it to putting your hand in an oven in which a cake is baking at 500 degrees Fahrenheit (260 degrees Celsius). Since the fire walker is indeed walking, the time of contact between feet and coals is minimal-too quick for the coals to burn or char the feet, Willey said. In fire walking, a person's feet, which Willey said are also poor conductors, touch ash-covered coals. In radiation it is transmitted as if spreading out in straight lines from a central source (think of the sun or a heat lamp).Ĭonduction is the main way heat is transmitted to a person's feet during a fire walk. In convection heat is transferred through air or fluid circulation. ![]() "There're three ways heat can get transmitted: conduction, convection, and radiation," he said.Ĭonduction is the transfer of heat from one substance to another via direct contact. He said people are able to walk across a bed of burning coals because "wood is a lousy conductor." Fire-Walking Theoriesĭavid Willey is a physics instructor and an expert on the science of fire walking at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. But no amount of debunking can take away from the empowerment a fire walker can feel, Danforth says. ![]() ![]() The festival is just one of the many events around the world in which people walk across a fire pit without getting burned.ĭanforth has extensively studied fire-walking rituals, including the event in northern Greece and the more recently established fire-walking movement in the U.S.Īs interest in fire walking has grown, he said, scientists have attempted to demystify the phenomenon and tease apart the allure of the ritual. "They believe that the power of Saint Constantine-the religious power-allows them to do it and that that is a miracle," said Loring Danforth, an anthropologist at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. Each May in some northern Greek villages revelers walk barefoot across a bed of burning wood coals as part of a three-day celebration in honor of Saint Constantine and Saint Helen. ![]()
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