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Hi,

This is my first post and I hope it's not a silly one.

In the comic X-Men, a character called Gambit was able to throw a playing card which would explode upon impact.

I have been pondering the possibility of recreating this effect... and would like the opinions of magicians as to how this might be accomplished.

All I have come up with so far is to place a layer of flash paper over the playing card, and flints on each corner. The idea being that upon impact the flint ignites the flash paper. However I think the flint would need to be heated in order to be volatile enough to explode upon impact, and doing this prior to scaling the card would cause it to prematurely combust. Not to mention the effect of the flints on the aerodynamics of the playing card...

Please give me your ideas but please don't laugh at my ignorance...

Thanks,
Donald

I seem to remember a type of cap or something that would explode if you threw it at the ground (hard). Maybe something using that idea?

search around for things called Sprite Bombs, you could have them select a card, stick in the deck (then control to bottom) and hide a Sprite Bomb underneat, throw deck at the ground and explain how (i dunno use some patter) the explosion came from their card, pick their card up, which should have a burtn mark and voila Just a quick idea though i suppose you'd have to stick elastic bands around the deck, then when you pick the deck up cut it so their card gets lost again.

buy a box of those bangers which are like tissue paper twists with stuff in the middle. Also get small amount magicians wax under/on nail. Put a few bangers loose in your pocket. when you take the deck out, get one in finger clip or palm.

After spectator chooses card, control it to bottom and stick banger onto it using wax. Or control it to the top and wipe the wax on back of card while turning over deck to show all the cards are different. wrap in elastic band and throw to ground. viola!

Im going to try sticking a ball of flash paper to the wax to see if that works. In theory, im thinking the banger would ignite it. Maybe if i wrapped the banger in flash paper.....

Split the card, punch holes in the face side of the card on the white bits. Put flash paper in between layers, then stick the card back together. Now hide a lighter behind the deck. Now throw the card (spinning of course!) over teh flame. The flash paper will ignite and you will have a flying burning card!

Or put some petrol or alcohol on the corners, but i wouldnt recommend this.

Hi, thankyou all for your responses. I specifically wish to be able to throw a single card, horizontally and have it explode (of sorts). Thankyou Mahoney for your input your idea is a good one. I have no doubt that in this incredible physical world we live in there is some way to have the card spontaneously combust upon impact with a wall, however without the luxury of space-age materials/rocket scientists etc I am at a loss as to how to accomplish this...

Please keep posting your ideas...

I think the main barrier behind using some sort of explosive cap on the card is weight, specifically the card is not heavy enough to cause an impact which will ignite the cap. Also caps would need to be placed in several locations, as the card would of course be spinnning. To overcome the weight barrier, the card could be split as Mahoney suggested and a thin sheet of metal (aluminium etc) could be sandwiched between. Although I am unsure how this would affect the playing card's flight.

Are there any chemistry students on the forum? Another idea I had was using some sort of chemical reaction to ignite the card?

Obviously a chemical which reacts with air could ignite the card midflight however delaying this reaction for a couple of seconds (to allow the card to leave the hand) would be the key.

Does anybody know of two chemicals/substances which when combined will (after a short delay) cause a tiny explosion/spark (enough to ignite the flash paper layer on card). Or perhaps there is some way to add a chemical to one half of the card, and another chemical to the other half and have capillary action do the rest while the card is in flight?

Again please do not laugh at my blind ignorance

Thanks,
Donald

P.S. Anybody on the forum live in Brisbane, Austrlalia or anywhere nearby?

We had similar posts to this a while back which became rather dangerous in terms of revealing methods of DIY pyrotechnics. Can I suggest that any future information is via PM or e-mail - just to be on the safe side?

Cheers,

Mandrake wrote:We had similar posts to this a while back which became rather dangerous in terms of revealing methods of DIY pyrotechnics. Can I suggest that any future information is via PM or e-mail - just to be on the safe side?

Cheers,

er..yeah.. sorry about that.

i've resorting to having a bit of wick secured to the back of a few cards. soak the wick in parraffin, fan the cards, and light! it will destroy the cards but it looks nice. allows you to keep a card fan on fire for a while and you can throw the fan and they should all separate. that's a nice effect.
damn my jugglers mentality!

You should have seen the recipies for home made Flash paper - using details straight from a DIY Terrorism Manual by the look of it !