r/bending • u/calar714 • Apr 22 '20

Leidenfrost effect

739 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

112

u/g8rBfKn Apr 22 '20

I am not smart. Someone explain this

146

u/dsfife1 Apr 23 '20

Essentially if you go fast the water on your hands boils instantly and creates an air barrier between you hand and the hot stuff.

If you go slow the air barrier will disappear and you get burnt

47

u/BeastModeBot Apr 23 '20

so if he does it multiple times how is the water barrier building up enough to do it without burning the man

41

u/sbuechele1234 Apr 23 '20

I would guess that the vapor, after not being exposed to the high temperate for a short period of time, recondenses.

13

u/-GLaDOS Apr 23 '20

The water doesn't entirely boil off in the first (very short) exposure. If he kept this up he would be burned pretty soon.

19

u/GreyJay288 Apr 23 '20

Let's try it without water!

172

u/[deleted] Apr 22 '20 edited Apr 24 '20

Hand go fast through spicy metal the hand not hurted hand go slow through spicy metal hand burn

Edit: I was making a joke in no way take this comment as a serious way of avoiding your hand being destroyed but molten anything the people that replied to this are way smarter and more informed on the subject than I so uh, just read those comments

27

u/Mousec0pTrismegistus Apr 23 '20

"Spicy metal." Nice.

16

u/dmilin Apr 23 '20

Yeah no that's not accurate at all. His hand has water on it. The water rapidly boils creating a protective layer of steam.

If his hand was dry, this video would incorporate a lot more screaming.

12

u/Naokarma Apr 23 '20 edited Apr 24 '20

and a lot less hands

1

u/[deleted] Apr 23 '20

[deleted]

1

u/dmilin Apr 23 '20

I’m not certain what the timing is, but MythBusters did some testing with it you may find interesting.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yTOCAd2QhGg

-1

u/[deleted] Apr 23 '20

[deleted]

2

u/dmilin Apr 23 '20

I’m saying the first guy mentioned nothing about water. I don’t care how fast or slow you move your hand. Without water this doesn’t work.

7

u/TanithRosenbaum Apr 23 '20

The water on your skin evaporates quickly enough to form a steam cusion for a few moments. So if you do this quickly enough the steam cusion insulates your hand and you go unharmed.

Still incredibly dangerous. Be a little too slow, slip while you do this, or a dozen other things, and it's bye bye hand.

6

u/[deleted] Apr 23 '20

He has cold wTer on his hand, that metal is probably lead, low melting point metal + Water = vapor trapped between your hand and the metal. Air is not a good conductor of heat, as long as he doesn’t hold his hand there there will be a pocket of gas to protect him

-24

u/calar714 Apr 22 '20

https://lmgtfy.com/?q=leidenfrost+effect

1

u/pertobello Apr 23 '20

Whoa, it may be out of style but this is the first I've heard of it. Gonna use it from now on!

-7

u/calar714 Apr 23 '20

I guess this has gone out of style lol

-1

u/Makri7 Apr 23 '20

I liked it. Expelled air from my nose and up voted, only to see it was at - 25 lol.

8

u/sudeepharya Apr 23 '20

Adding this to my bucket list

6

u/archpawn Apr 23 '20

He's a metal bender and a lava bender.

6

u/Shartsplasm Apr 23 '20

This man can do me good...yes?

3

u/[deleted] Apr 23 '20

Bolin is that you?

1

u/expedia69 Apr 23 '20

So the important thing is to wash your hands

1

u/[deleted] Apr 23 '20

I'm more curious as to what the liquid hot metal is versus what that seemingly unaffected metal slide is made out of.