How do these people actually bend spoons?

Question

I've seen some people who claim to have telekineses do this thing where they bend a spoon with their mind, as I'm sure most people have. What could be a scientific explanation for this? I've always wanted to know.

Answer 1

its all an optical illusion, but a good one~

Chris angel is the best at these optical illusions.. Its almost like a higher power sent him here to mess with us~ haha

walkin on water, hand though people, so on~

Answer 2

good question, I watch real closely but I can't tell if Geller is cheating or not.

Answer 3

They don't.  They use fakery and the fact that it is very easy to bend spoons with thumb-pressure while not appearing to bend it.

The original spoon-bender, Uri Geller, relied on cheating and using his own spoons.  But Johnny Carson was an ex-magician, so when he provided his own materials and put Uri Geller in front of a nation-wide audience on THE TONIGHT SHOW, Geller couldn't do his famous trick and they had to cut to commercial.   But the paranormalists, when disproved, get by by "flowing around" the nasty counter-evidence.  He still went right on claiming he had the power.

Answer 4

They are doing it with their hands.  If they don't seem to be touching it, then it's a trick of the angle you're looking at.  I've seen magicians do it, especially James Randi, and they will be the first to tell you - it's a trick.  No one actually has telekinesis.  Randi offers a million dollar prize to anyone who can prove they have it - 30 years and still no takers.

Answer 5

This is like that famous floating rope trick, where a boy climbs and disappears and then returns moments later.

It's an illusion, and it's not telekineses or psychic (Parapsychogical) 'super' powers, or gifts.

They are just tricks (just like magic tricks preformed by magicians), they are just really cleverly and well crafted tricks. (It depends on where the audience stands, and what they are and aren't able to see).

[Also, note that silverware can easily bend by hand - Uri Gellar was the guy who started the whole 'spoon bending' thing... but it's interesting how he rejected all other items that weren't silver...the spoon can be rubbed gently between your fingers, and pretty soon it will bend.]

Answer 6

It is only an illusion.

Answer 7

Telekinesis is always done through the art of illusion.

If you want to be a telekinetic, you have to know this, otherwise you will just be the person who sits there staring at a pencil hoping it will move.

The spoon trick is an old shamster trick, because they hand out spoons and convince people to concentrate and bend the spoons with thier hands. They then convince the people that this is telekinesis, and they are just using thier hands to help out because thier powers are underdeveloped.

Unlike psychic powers, there is a concreteness to telekinesis. Its effects can be measured and recorded. If someone could actually do telekinesis without illusionist tricks, they would be famous in the world of science, not just the world of the paranormal.

This would be huge, all they would have to do it move something microns in a controlled enviroment.

This person would probably win the nobel prize and open up new branches of science.

Why would someone with this ability waste it doing shows in vegas?

Answer 8

The video was likely done using magician's floss.  This is extremely thin, strong string that is frequently used in telekinesis demonstrations.  In the video you posted, he probably attached the string both ends of the spoon when he touched it, and had the other end of the string attached to his other hand.  

Notice how the bending of the spoon is in sync with the motion of his other hand.  That's the giveaway that it's fake.

Edit:  He probably had the string go around his neck and also used something to attach the middle of the spoon to his palm.  That way, when he pulled down on the string, it pulled up on both ends of the spoon, making it look like the spoon was bending.

Answer 9

You just bend it. DUH!

Answer 10

optical illusion or sleight of hand... hard to say without seeing the demonstration myself

Answer 11

if people could really bend spoons with their minds, then why do they always have to be the ones holding the spoons while doing this "ability"?

you will never see someone bend a spoon with their mind while someone else is holding the spoon the whole time