How to Start a Fire Using Carrots

Steps

1. Cut a 2 inch section from a carrot.
2. Slice the carrot into 4-6 lengths.
3. Form a tee-pee shape on a microwaveable dish.
4. Take a 1/8th of a cotton ball and and stretch it over the top of the tee-pee.
5. Put the plate in the microwave on high for 10-15 seconds.
6. The carrots will arc and cause the cotton to catch fire.

Tips

• If after 15 seconds the carrots do not catch fire, stop and retry. Make sure the carrots are cold and fresh. If the initial arc (spark) does not ignite the cotton, retry with new carrots and cotton. More time in the microwave will not improve the result.
• If unable to form a tee-pee, chopping up the carrots into little pieces works a whole lot better.

Warnings

• You are playing with fire (albeit a small one). Make sure that you have some baking soda nearby to put the fire out, or even better, a fire extinguisher. Don't burn up mom's microwave. Start small and keep the flame small. Do this only with parental supervision.

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