Richard Wiseman - 101 Bets You Will Always Win: The Science of the Seemingly Impossible

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To Quirkology fans everywhere

Lets try something right now.

Please place your hand flat on a table.

Next, bend your middle finger under your hand, so that the knuckle rests on the table like this. Perfect.

I bet that you cant lift your third finger up and down, and tap it on the table.

Sounds simple? No matter how hard you try, you wont be able to do it!

Congratulations, you have just carried out your very first bet, and now you can use it to amuse and amaze others.

But hold on. I can hear the more curious among you thinking, Thats great, but why does it work? Its an excellent question and I am glad you asked.

Your forearm muscles are connected to the bones in your fingers via tough cords of tissue called tendons. When you contract your forearm muscles the tendons tighten and your fingers move.

Your thumb, first finger and little finger each have their own tendon, but your middle and third fingers share a tendon. When you tuck your middle finger under your hand this tendon is stretched, and so cant move your third finger.

And why do these two fingers share a tendon? Because you use them to grasp large objects, and they are more effective if they work together. In fact, scientists think that this mechanism evolved to allow our primate ancestors to hold heavy stone tools.

So now you know. A moment ago it was a fun bet. Now it illustrates a vital stage in human evolution and has changed the entire course of history.

* * *

Oh, and you can take your hand off the table now.

This book is about how to perform the impossible. For years I travelled the globe in search of the worlds greatest bets and challenges. Leaving no stone unturned, I have tracked down 101 bets that appear totally impossible, yet are easy to win once you know the secret.

But there is more to these bets than impressing and entertaining your friends. They are also a gateway into serious science and fascinating facts, enabling you to impress others with your new-found knowledge of life, the universe and everything.

Its almost time to set off. Fasten your seat belt, because you are about to enter a weird world where nothing is quite as it seems. A world full of jaw-dropping stunts, scintillating science, and cunning conundrums. A world of 101 amazing bets you will always win.

Enjoy.

Richard Wiseman

Some of the bets involve everyday objects, such as glasses, knives and matches, that could potentially be dangerous in the wrong hands. We are not responsible for any physical or financial harm that you may suffer as a result of performing the bets, so read on at your own risk! If you turn the page well understand youre intrepid and thats all fine with you. Oh, and if youre young of mind, make sure you are supervised by an adult whenever you carry out a bet that involves fire or sharp objects. Many thanks.

AMAZING FACTS ABOUT YOUR BODY

Each day your heart will beat over 100,000 times.

About 60 per cent of your body is made up of water.

Every month your body completely replaces its outer skin.

A quarter of all the bones in your body are in your feet.

A matchbox-sized block of your bone can support four times more weight than concrete.

YOU NEED HANDS

For this bet, all you need to do is hold out your two hands and say, Counting my thumbs as fingers, how many fingers am I holding up?

The correct answer is ten. Then say, So if this is ten fingers, how many fingers are there on ten hands? Almost everyone will say 100. In fact, the correct answer is fifty!

BREAK POINT

Ask your friend to hold out their hand. Next, place a matchstick across the top of their middle finger, like this.

Finally, tell them that they have to break the matchstick simply by pushing down on it with their first and third fingers. It sounds simple and so they will accept the challenge. However, they wont be able to break the matchstick and youll win the bet!

If you push the matchstick further down their middle finger, and have them bend the tops of their first and third fingers, they will easily be able to break the matchstick. Why? Because you are using your friends fingers as levers. The key to any good lever is the distance between the object that you want to lift (or, in this case, break) and the point on which the lever tips (known as the fulcrum). In this bet, the fulcrum is the knuckles at the base of your friends fingers. Placing the match close to the fulcrum gives you a greater mechanical advantage, whereas placing it towards the fingertips results in a smaller mechanical advantage and its almost impossible to break the match.

The famous Ancient Greek mathematician and engineer Archimedes described the laws of the lever in his 250 BCE bestseller On the Equilibrium of Planes , and was so certain of the power of his discovery that he famously announced, Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world. At the time no one was willing to take Archimedes up on his bold assertion, which is perhaps unfortunate because modern-day mathematicians have figured out that to win the bet, Archimedes would have required a lever with a long arm that was 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times longer than the short arm!

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN

Ask your friend to hold their thumb and first finger about an inch apart, like this.

Now place a banknote in the gap between their thumb and finger.

Explain that in a moment you are going to drop the banknote and they can keep the money if they can catch it. Amazingly, they will miss the banknote every time.

You can use the same method to find out whether you have fast reactions.

1) Hold your thumb and first finger about an inch apart.

2) Ask a friend to hold a twelve-inch ruler at the top (the end nearest the twelve-inch mark) and to place the bottom of the ruler between your finger and thumb.