DIY ghost candle

The simple way to make a ghostly candle!

Safe­ty pre­cau­tions

Warn­ing! Ob­serve safe­ty rules when work­ing with fire.

Equip­ment

  • sealant;
  • can­dles;
  • clear glass;
  • lighter or match.

Step-by-step in­struc­tions

Fix a small pane of glass ver­ti­cal­ly on a flat sur­face and place two can­dles equidis­tant on ei­ther side. By ig­nit­ing one can­dle and align­ing the wick of the can­dle be­hind the glass with the re­flec­tion of the flame, you “light” the sec­ond can­dle as well. Sur­pris­ing­ly, you’ll see two can­dles burn­ing!

Process de­scrip­tion

Glass is trans­par­ent be­cause light pass­es through it. How­ev­er, not all light pass­es through the glass: a small amount is re­flect­ed. As glass re­flects so lit­tle light, you can only see the re­flec­tion of a bright light source. In this prank, only the re­flec­tion of the flame is vis­i­ble. There­fore, by plac­ing a can­dle on the oth­er side of the glass aligned with the re­flec­tion of the flame, you cre­ate the il­lu­sion that it is burn­ing. A sim­i­lar ex­per­i­ment can be found in the Re­flec­tions set from the MEL Physics sub­scrip­tion!

Get more cool ex­per­i­ments with a MEL Physics sub­scrip­tion!

Try it