Man Slaps Molten Metal With Bare Hand. Old Video Baffles Twitter

Have you ever thought about touching the molten lava-like metal with your bare hands? This is exactly what is seen in an old video, which is against gaining traction on social media.

The video shows a man - who looks like a factory worker - sitting next to a stream of molten lava-like hot liquid metal without his safety glove. He soon starts slapping the liquid metal twice, baffling the netizens. But the man remains unharmed and even shows his palm which doesn't have any injury marks. The video has been viewed more than 3.5 million times.

Surprised? Well, this happened because of Leidenfrost effect.

A really dramatic example of the Leidenfrost effect

the moisture on his skin boils instantly, forming a layer of steam that insulates for a very short time, a temporary barrier between this person and the molten metal pic.twitter.com/USwGCRlj5Q

— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) March 29, 2022

The video, which went viral on internet a few years ago, was shared again by a Twitter user Science Girl who explained the principle.

“A really dramatic example of the Leidenfrost effect. The moisture on his skin boils instantly, forming a layer of steam that insulates for a very short time, a temporary barrier between this person and the molten metal,” the accompanying tweet said.

The same Twitter handle has other videos to help users understand what the Leidenfrost effect is.

“A more traditional way for it to be understood. The water hits the hot pan, which is hotter than the waters boiling point, a vapour layer is created that repels the water from even making contact with the metal so it kind of hovers,” according to another tweet from the user.

It shows water droplets shape-shifting into starfish-like structure and then spinning around what appears to be a hot pan.

The video has baffled the internet, with billionaire Elon Musk reacting to it. “Don't try this at home,” he said in a tweet.

“Don't try this at home”

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 29, 2022

The video showing the man slapping hot molten liquid first surfaced in 2018. In articles which talked about the video that time, the man was identified as an Armenian steel worker named Arkady Mgdsyan. The liquid metal was described to be molten steel, which was around 1,370 degrees Celsius (2,500 degrees Fahrenheit).

An article said that Mgdsyan learned of this effect from his co-workers, who have almost all pulled off this feat, their steel mill's tradition. The trick is kind of a professional rite of passage.