Fire Doesnt Burn
Why FireWalking Doesn’t Burn: Science or Spirituality?
Throughout the world there are thousands of festivals in which people walk across a fire pit without getting burned. Often seen as a right of passage, a belief of faith.
Over the last 30 years Scientists have extensively studied FireWalking rituals, and the more recently established FireWalking movement in the U.S. As the interest in FireWalking has grown, scientists have attempted to demystify the phenomenon and tease apart the allure of the ritual. But no amount of debunking can take away from the empowerment a FireWalker can feel.
FireWalking Theories
People are able towalk across a bed of burning coals because “wood is a slow conductor.”
There are three ways heat can get transmitted:
Conduction, Convection, and Radiation.
- Conduction is the transfer of heat from one substance to another via direct contact.
- Convention heat is transferred through air or fluid circulation.
- Radiation it is transmitted as if spreading out in straight lines from a central source (think of the sun or a heat lamp).
Conduction is the main way heat is transmitted to a person’s feet during a FireWalk.
In FireWalking, a person’s feet, which are also poor conductors, touch the coals.
Since the FireWalker is indeed walking, the time of contact between feet and coals is minimal—too quick for the coals to burn or char the feet; this is based on the Liendenfrost effect.
A simple way of explaining it is by comparing it to putting your hand in an oven in which a cake is baking at 260 degrees Celsius “If you open the oven you first get a gush of heat escaping from the oven – this tells you the oven is hot, but you still reach in and touch the cake and the air around it.. You don’t get burned, because your hand is dense and heavy compared to the air, and so the air doesn’t heat up my hand. But if you touch the metal inside the stove, however, this would immediately lead to a burn, because metal, which is much denser than the air, is a good conductor of heat.
Even though the cake is hot, it can be touched for brief periods without causing a burn.
State of Mind
Tolly Burkan is the founder of the FireWalking Institute of Research and Education. He is often seen as the founder of the modern day U.S. FireWalking movement, which he
started in 1977. Burkan dismisses the idea that the low conductivity of coals is a reason that FireWalking is possible.
According to Burkan,the basic physical principle behind fire walking is all about keeping your mind positive and focused. Burkan says that circulating blood likewise keeps the flesh on a fire walker’s feet from reaching its burning point—as long as the walker is relaxed enough to allow strong blood flow and as long as the walker keeps walking.
“What controls [the ability to fire walk] is more than physics, it’s your state of mind,”
“You’ve got to believe you’re going to be OK, otherwise you wouldn’t do it,”
Scientific explanations can explain the theory but can never take into account the
individual walking the fire, FireWalking can have the power to affirm one’s life. It can change lives, give confidence, all kinds of things. Or just be a great night out that you will talk about for years to come.
We will show you how to walk the fire, without FEAR – the rest is up to you.