Lexie and Xavier, from Orlando, FL want to know:
"What's going on in this video? Our science teacher claims that the pain comes from a small electrical shock, but we believe that this is due to the absorption of light. Please help us resolve this dispute!"Well, I guess this is the kind of mischief that kids are getting up to these days. Still, it's better than half the stupid "tricks" I remember hearing about in my student days. (Yeah guys, let's play the "choking game". That sounds like a blast.)
For those of you not in a position to watch the clip, the "trick" goes something like this: the person colors a black square on his arm using a permanent marker. Then, the flash "bulb" LED of a phone is held against the square as a picture is taken with the phone. The bright flash is accompanied by a sharp, stinging pain on the victim's skin, they jump a little, and laughs are had by all. (Note: if you elect to try this at home, you will probably hurt yourself, seeing as it is a process literally designed to induce pain.)
Right off the bat, I'm immediately inclined to agree with Lexie and Xavier's assessment—that it's a light-based phenomenon. The phone's flash LED is designed to put out a large amount of energy as light in a very short time. Since black-colored objects absorb visible light of any wavelength, it's not surprising that coloring your skin black and mashing it against a high-power light source might transfer a good bit of that energy to your skin, resulting in a minor burn.
BUT, in the interest of fairness to the teacher, it'd be best to settle this like true scientists—with an experiment!
First, it's important to figure out the details of your hypothesis vs. your teacher's. From your point view, it's obvious why the black ink is necessary for the trick to work on a lighter-skinned person—to absorb the light of the phone's flash and convert it to heat. What role does your teacher think the ink plays? If he thinks it's electrically conductive, perhaps using a silver sharpie—which ought to conduct electricity just as well, but which would reflect the light rather than turning it into heat—would settle the matter.
What other experiments could you design that would conclusively rule out one hypothesis or the other?
We'd have to try it out on bare skin, without drawing anything.
ReplyDeletei just did it.It hurt more on my bare skin.probably because im black tho
Deletethis stuff hurts bad
ReplyDeleteNo duh Sherlock
DeleteOf course lol
DeleteI tried the silver sharpie;it hurts just as bad, if not worse.
ReplyDeleteOrange to but not as bad
ReplyDeletedoes this leave a permanent mark or damage to the hand i did this and its worrying me
ReplyDeleteYes it does. You will also find other serious symptoms. Very serious
DeleteYes it does. You will also find other serious symptoms. Very serious
Delete������
DeleteWhat are some of the side effects???
Deletedeath
Deletesymptoms you may expierience: death
DeleteYo they were joking I did this and I am fine.
DeleteI did this earlier and died :(
ReplyDeletelol hate to hear that :(
DeleteWe used black sharpie and phone flash - got the shock. We then used a very bright (more power than a simple laser pointer) green (532) laser and got same result, THOUGH it it took several seconds for it (the pain) to occur -suggesting heat vs an electric chock
ReplyDeleteWe used black sharpie and phone flash - got the shock. We then used a very bright (more power than a simple laser pointer) green (532) laser and got same result, THOUGH it it took several seconds for it (the pain) to occur -suggesting heat vs an electric chock
ReplyDeleteThis does not work. I tried it on myself and maybe felt the tiniest sensation of heat but that is it.
ReplyDeleteYou can't have your phone case on and it has to be over the vain on your wrist
DeletePhone case isn't allowed to be on and the black sharpie has to be over the wrist
DeleteI did it on the back of my hand and it had the same affect as the wrist
DeleteIt depends on how strong your phone's LED light is.
DeleteIt shocked me and my don used green Sharpie
ReplyDeleteis it okay to do that? doesn't it effect the skin?
ReplyDeleteafter being shocked my hand smelled like pork.
Deletenope its fine to do it
DeleteUsed a black sharpie and my flash delayed - which resulted in sooo much pain eek. Not same as when the flash fires immediately.
ReplyDeleteDid this with a black sharpie. Flash delayed on one try & hurt soooo much more than when the flash fired first go.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't work with other black markers. So it must be electric shock.
ReplyDeleteFun science experiment for kids! Lol. It works!
ReplyDeleteHow about having someone else hold the phone - can't complete the circuit in that case.
DeleteIt still works
DeleteNo not one bit
DeleteYou feel the pain be cause the circuit doesn’t complete and it is transferred into your skin and nerves
ReplyDeleteMy daughter wants to do this...should I let her? Will she be safe? She is 11...will it hurt?
ReplyDelete"if you elect to try this at home, you will probably hurt yourself, seeing as it is a process literally designed to induce pain"
Delete"probably hurt"
"process literally designed to induce pain"
Yeah, i'd say it probably hurts.
heck no! it's dangerous
Deleteyes.She would be fine.
DeleteOne thing that occurs to me- different wavelengths can stimulate different molecules, just like a microwave oven has a wavelength tuned to excite water molecules. It seems likely the phone is radiating a wavelength that is tuned to a solvent in the sharpie ink. Especially since some people have said the sharpie doesn't have to be black. If someone has the appropriate equipment to analyze the spectrum coming off their iphone when they take a picture, it might answer the question. The cell phone radio and the wifi radio are both close to the frequency of a microwave oven.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't work and is psychosomatic. Have them do it blindfold and randomize whether the flash goes off or not. They'll be able to tell no better than chance whether there was a flash
ReplyDeleteIt’s not psychosomatic in the least. Did it to my brother with a blindfold and didn’t tell him what I was doing. He definitely felt it.
DeleteThe phone flash will push out more light / power if it sees a dark subject so using black will amplify the effect. However, with the phone hard up against the skin, even lighter colours are going to be shaded from the ambient light.
ReplyDeleteMy son's friend done this and is trying to get him to do it he came home to tell me about it and wants to do it he's only 10 what can you compare the shock to and on a scale of 1to 10 how was the pain does it burn the skin I told him no but as a dumb parent lol have become so curious about it I wanted to try it myself haha. I stuck my doing a on a large battery like 12 volt and is it a shock like that or like a wire. Or like a new sting
ReplyDeleteIt’s not really a shock, it’s burning. Did it to myself and wound up with a tiny burn wound in that spot I was doing it on. You could do it on a ten year old. As long as you don’t keep pressing the button to take a picture a bunch of times, he won’t end up with a burn wound or anything (I did it quite a few times to test if the shock would increase over multiple times, which it did, and which is why it burned my skin). The shock/burn is barely anything, it wouldn’t even compare to the shock you feel from an exposed wire or 12 volt battery, it’s nothing near that. You may need to do it 2 or 3 times in a row though since you the first time you take the picture, you don’t feel anything, it takes a couple times to actually feel it.
DeleteDifferent phones seem to change the amount of pain you get from it too. I hear iPhones hurt the worst.
ReplyDeletelgs that overheat already hurt the worst
DeleteI am black, african, like blacker than Wesly Snipes black, and i got shocked....
ReplyDeleteThe same thing had happened to me when I was sipmly taking a photo against my skin. I was shocked and I was very surpised. Maybe it works without sharpie when you have a darker complexion.
DeleteBlack sharpie with a Google Pixel yelds no result. Haven't tried it with just the light remaining on yet.
ReplyDeleteIve tried it with a sharpie it works,i tried it with bare skin it did not work, i then tried it on a 12 year old slightly faded black tattoo and it worked it got me good so im inclined to think that it is not chemical feel free to to email me your thoughts at Anthonypope369@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteThis does nothing, it's all in your mind. The LED in a smartphone flash has nowhere near the luminance to transfer enough energy to heat a black square. A cell phone 'flash' is simply a lower powered LED, output around 40 lumens. Flash durations are around 50 ms. Thats about 1/40th watt-seconds of light, with almost none of it in the infrared wavelength. Only a fraction of that energy is absorbed by the black mark. TLDR it can't 'shock' you.
ReplyDeleteAn ya, I tried it, it does nothing. And ya, I tried on other people in a blind experiment, and nothing happened. Now if you want to cause some damage, do it with a real camera flash, which has a typical output of 100 watt-seconds in a 50 uS pulse. You'll end up with a nice burn (just kidding, don't do it, you'll also get a massive dose of UV radiation).
Sorry to tell you but you are wrong. It may not have worked for you because of s ok me other variable. It most definitely works.
DeleteYou obviously did something wrong then because I've done it to a darker skinned friend whilst they weren't looking and they felt the "shock"
DeleteAlso I tried doing it with a DSLR flash gun and ended up melting a few layers of skin with an accompanied smell of cooked meat C:
I have a Moto Z Play and it worked on me, and I had no idea what was happening.
ReplyDeleteMy classmate tried this on me, I got burned and later turned into a scar. I dont recommend this doing to other people.
ReplyDeleteWill it work with a highlighter
ReplyDeleteDoes this damage your phone at all?
ReplyDeleteOkay, so... did this with my DSLR, flash compensation on 1.5 and took a shot. The only thing I see is a bang, and for a second I thought that the camera's flash just exploded, but what happened was my skin vaporized within a second and got a first degree burn. Do not be as dumb as I was and please, do not do it with a DLSR's flash, just with your phone's flash.
ReplyDeleteP.S It has been around 11 hours and it still hurts, without even tuching it and I'm 99% sure that I have to wear a bandage on it for a week. Please do not try this! (not with a DSLR like my stupid a** did)
Works as well with black inked tattoos
ReplyDeleteI did this it didnt hurt that much with a sharpie and my LG K10 phone as it did with a Mr Sketch marker and my phone. They were both black markers. They were both like new for this test. So... Mr Sketch hurts more but it takes longer to hurt at all. Im 11...
ReplyDeleteyah yeet
ReplyDelete*Meme pops up*
DeleteOk i havn't done thislololol
ReplyDeleteCould it be that the ink of the markers is making the hair follicle nerves in the dermis layer of skin sensitive to light? Perhaps then trying different dyes like food coloring could rule out this possibility. My beginning thought was that menthol is used to relieve superficial pain, and it follows with a cold sensation when a breeze blows on the applied area.
ReplyDeleteIt works and it brunt omhgggggg
ReplyDeleteIt still works, I did it yesterday to another person with me holder the phone.
ReplyDeleteI had my flashlight on my phone on in my pocket and I was wearing a pair of those dry-quick shorts that were black. After a minute in my pocket my leg started burning like crazy. It's insane how hot the flash can make things. I had no idea.
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ReplyDelete