PENNY ON A HANGER TRICK

Hangers used to be of better quality, made of thick, solid, black wire, and cut even at the tip. It’s almost impossible to find a hanger like that anymore. Most are plastic, and metal ones are made of skimpier wire and snipped unevenly at the tip. Often the skimpy wire is coated with plastic, making the tip look hollow. But with some searching, you can find even a thin wire hanger with an evenly cut tip, and this is what I used in the video. It’s not as easy as it used to be, but still possible. As you see, I had a bit of difficulty balancing the penny on the tiny tip.

First bend the hanger by pulling it oblong like this, so your spinning finger won’t slide out of position. Then bend in the hook some, so the tip of the hanger is level.

To keep from dropping the penny several times while trying to balance it on the tip, hold the penny on two fingers like this.

Then slide the tip of the hanger up between your two fingers to the penny. The penny now has support while you find good balance to rest it on the hanger’s tip.

If you’re right-handed, hang the hanger on your right forefinger. The tip of the hanger should be toward your left. Begin spinning the hanger clockwise and with speed enough for centrifugal force to hold the penny against the tip. (Of course if you’re left-handed, do the opposite, and spin the hanger counter-clockwise.) If the penny is level on the flat tip of the hanger, you should be able to spin the hanger indefinitely without it falling off.

To stop, open up the spin into a larger circle and bring the hanger to a stop as gently as possible. If you stop the spin “naturally” in one smooth motion, using one larger-circled spin, the penny should remain in place.

One day in the Army, I needed some extra change, so I made some nickel and dime bets with several guys that I could do this trick. After they all paid up, a drunk G.I. came into the barracks and I offered the bet to him. He laughed and said, “I’ll bet five dollars you can’t do that.” So I did the trick again. He congratulated me and began to walk off, but the other guys standing around, who had lost small change to me, took hold of the fellow, brought him back, and made him pay me the five dollars.


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