Footage of a man in Armenia slapping a stream of molten metal with his bare hand has gone viral this week.
He swings his hand through the stream multiple times before showing his uninjured palm to the camera.
In the full video, he removes his hat and coat, but then replaces his gloves. The video then cuts and he’s standing in roughly the same spot, still wearing the gloves.
Some viewers speculate that he may have wet his hand or filled the glove with water between these shots.
Mythbusters fans will remember the season 7, episode 23 “Lead Plunge” which explored this trick. A phenomenon known as the leidenfrost effect creates a steam barrier which insulates and protects any wet surface passed briefly through a substance heated over 850 °F.
See how it works in the video below.