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Why does God allow...
- Thread starter peilthetraveler
- Start date
Quote from Free Thinker:
science has the answer to that one dumbass. jezus, if you have an open mind let something in it.
Firewalking Events
First of all, there is no gimmick to firewalking. It is not like a firewalker soaks his feet in water before going across the coals. And it is not like some extreme sweat reaction happens and his feet are suddenly soaked in sweat. His bare feet really do touch the red-hot coals.
What makes this possible is a combination of factors that play on certain qualities of the coals themselves...
Think about this. Let's say you took a 10-foot long iron plate and heated it up red-hot with blow torches. Now you walk across that. What would happen?
Walking across a red-hot metal plate would be insane. Think about a hamburger when it hits a hot iron skillet. Bare feet on red-hot metal would give you third-degree burns in milliseconds.
There are a couple of things to notice about any firewalking event:
â¢Firewalkers are not actually firewalkers. They are really coalwalkers. The fire is lit well ahead of time to allow the wood to burn down to non-flaming coals.
â¢The event is always held at night. If it were done during daylight, the bed of coals would look instead like a bed of ashes. There is always a layer of ash covering the coals. By doing it at night, the glowing red light is still visible through this layer of ash. Photo courtesy The Florida Pagan Gathering The hot coals are covered with a layer of ash.
â¢The firewalker never dawdles. Now, no self-respecting firewalker would run across the coals -- that would be undignified. But firewalkers certainly are walking briskly. You never see firewalkers standing on the coals.
So what is going on here? Firewalking depends on a combination of poor conduction, insulation and a short time span.
Why is it possible for bare feet to touch red-hot coals without getting burned? The coals start out as pieces of wood. The wood consists of lots of carbon, some "volatile organic molecules," and water.
A volatile organic molecule is a carbon-based molecule that evaporates when you heat it. Gasoline is a volatile organic chemical. We see these volatile organic molecules from wood as smoke rising from the fire. The heat of the fire evaporates all the volatile organics, as well as all the water. Because they've been burning for a while before the stunt, the coals have burned down to nearly pure carbon.
If you were to pick up one of these pure-carbon coals, you would notice that it is extremely light. Carbon is a lightweight element -- that's why carbon-fiber bike frames and tennis rackets don't weigh very much. A coal is mostly lightweight carbon atoms and air spaces (it does contain a few other elements, like potassium and calcium -- that's what left behind in the ash).
This lightweight carbon structure is a poor conductor of heat. It takes a relatively long time for heat to transfer from the glowing coal to your skin. If the coal were made of red-hot metal, heat transfer through conduction would be almost instantaneous -- you would get a severe burn.
Now, add to that the fact that ash is a very good insulator. People used to use ash to insulate ice boxes and such. The red-hot coals covered with ash transfer their heat even more slowly because the ash acts as a layer of insulation.
Then there is the short time span. Heat transfer from a red-hot coal is slow, but it still happens. If you were to stand still on the coals for several seconds, you would definitely get a burn. By walking briskly, you limit your contact with individual coals to a very short time span. You also get across the bed of coals very quickly, and that limits your total amount of coal time. So, your foot never gets hot enough to burn.
That's the whole story! For more information on firewalking and related topics, check out the links on the next page.
I figured I'd make this one easier for you because you seemed to be getting upset. Science has "an" answer, but perhaps not "the answer". I read the Wikipedia page I provided you and science attempts to explain the phenomenon. Science always attempts to explain the phenomenon. In the case of the yogi there is no current explanation. Your explanation was "it's a scam" but you can't prove that now can you? Further, while the scientific assertions made regarding fire walking are likely true in many cases, I doubt it explains the entirety of fire walking. IOW, it does not prove that mind over matter is not the reason some people are able to do this, but rather, suggests it.
How do you know that each and every time someone walks over coals they are covered with ash? how do you know they are only on the coals for a very short time? How does wikpedia?
Can YOU imagine your own ignorance and STUpidity? Obviously not.
Proving a negative or negative proof may refer to:
* Evidence of absence in general, such as evidence that there is no milk in a certain bowl
* Modus tollens, a logical proof
* Proof of impossibility, mathematics
* Sometimes it is mistaken for an argument from ignorance, which is non-proof and a logical fallacy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proving_a_negative
Go back to school and stop making an ass of yourself on ET.
Proving a negative or negative proof may refer to:
* Evidence of absence in general, such as evidence that there is no milk in a certain bowl
* Modus tollens, a logical proof
* Proof of impossibility, mathematics
* Sometimes it is mistaken for an argument from ignorance, which is non-proof and a logical fallacy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proving_a_negative
Go back to school and stop making an ass of yourself on ET.
Quote from stu:
That example is a proof of an impossibility, not proof of a negative (evidence of absence) logical fallacy.
Can YOU imagine your own ignorance?
oh man this is just getting silly now. you are one gullible dude.Quote from DAS Trader:
How do you know that each and every time someone walks over coals they are covered with ash? how do you know they are only on the coals for a very short time? How does wikpedia? [/B]
i have walked on hot coals. am i supernatural too?
Quote from Free Thinker:
ever been to hawaii? there are places there where you can walk on hot molten lava a few inches under your feet and not burn your feet. same principle.
I've been to the big island but I fail to see how this question proves you walked over hot coals. Pics or it didn't happen.