Bend in two an ordinary large match, thus partly breaking it, in such a manner that the two parts hold together by a few fibers of wood.
Place it, thus broken, on the neck of a bottle, and then on the match place a dime or any other small coin.
Having done this ask a friend if he can make the coin fall into the bottle without touching the coin, the bottle, or the match. You will find that he will search in vain for a solution to this seemingly impossible task, which however may be overcome in a very simple manner, as may now be seen.
Dip your finger in a glass of water, and placing it above the angle formed by the match, allow one or two drops of the liquid to fall on this angle ([Fig. 2]).
Immediately the fibers of wood, swollen by the moisture, try to straighten themselves, and you will see the angle of the match increase little by little until the match no longer supports the coin, which then drops into the bottle ([Fig. 3]).
The Tricolor Glass
Most of us, if not all, know that if wine is carefully poured on water, it floats on the surface, but not every one knows how to place the wine at the bottom of the glass with the water above it, and this without mixing the two liquids. For this experiment make use of the different densities of hot and cold water.
Take an ordinary glass (moistened first with hot water to prevent its cracking) and pour some boiling water into it.
Then by means of a funnel placed almost to the bottom of the glass, pour in some wine which has previously been cooled by ice. By working carefully you will see the wine form in a red layer at the bottom of the glass ([Fig. 4]).
