Page 12 - Verge eMag April 2018

ElectroFire! III

Barnabas

You can start fire with all kinds of wonderful items in everyday life.
This includes electricity, just think about all those forest fires that are
started by lightening! Electric current can produce a significant
amount of heat, very quickly, under the right conditions. Next time you
are looking to start a fire, don’t be so quick to grab the lighter.

Grab AA battery, a chewing gum wrapper (metal coated type) and
some tinder. After removing the gum, put a couple of twists in the
middle of the wrapper. Depending on the wrapper you may have
to fold it and cut some notches in the middle to make it the thinnest
point along the circuit. Get your tinder bundle ready because the
next step can go quick. Connect the two ends of the wrapper with
either end of the battery with metal touching metal. This will
complete the circuit with the battery and the wrapper will begin to
heat up significantly. A small flame will be produced near the middle of the wrapper so
that you can light your tinder bundle. Careful, if it does not light right away, then the
wrapper is going to get very hot where it is touching the two ends of the battery… you
will notice if you are holding them with your bare hands!

Also, you can use a 9 Volt battery and some steel wool. This is
the same concept as the method mentioned above. Lay the
battery onto the steel wool and you will see the wool wires get
orange hot and possibly small flames. You can mix your tinder
bundle with the wool and with a little bit of oxygen you can ignite
the tinder.

Don’t swallow the gum, it’s not good for your body!