Fear manifests itself in many ways, some people choose to face that fear some people choose to dismiss the challenges they face as worthless and unnecessary. Science has and always will play a major part in peoples' attempts to explain how FireWalking works. Here we shall examine some of the many reasons and sciences that people have examined in relation to Fire Walking.

There are three distinct ways that heat energy moves around: Convection, Conduction and Radiation. Each of these has been comprehensively examined to determine which might be a major player in FireWalking.

Convection transfers heat through the wholesale movement of a fluid such as water or air. As the fluid is heated, it expands, causing it to move away from its source of heat and taking energy with it. The familiar phrase "hot air rises" is an example of this phenomenon. As you might have guessed, since convection involves the movement of fluids it does not significantly impact FireWalking.

Radiation transfers heat, by and large, through the transmission of infrared electromagnetic waves. Electromagnetism moves energy at the speed of light and manifests itself as radio waves, x-rays, microwaves etc. These waves are not composed of heat themselves but certain frequencies do cause atomic motions to increase which, by definition, increases the temperature. Like convection however, the amount of heat transferred to the feet by radiation is negligible during firewalks. The walk itself is too short and the ash covering the coals can also inhibit the transmission of heat through radiation.

Conduction transfers heat not through the motion of the medium itself, but the constituents of the medium, its atoms and molecules. As the molecules vibrate faster and faster, they transfer some of their energy to their slower moving neighbors. As these neighbor molecules start to vibrate faster they, in turn, pass some of their energy to other molecules, and so on. Heat is, after all, caused by this movement of atoms and molecules. Conduction also occurs through the movement of electrons, which greatly aid in the transfer of heat throughout the material. In this way the medium, and anything touching it, gets hotter and hotter as heat is conducted through it. If you hold a long metal rod over a hot flame, even though your hand may be many feet away from the source of heat, they can nevertheless get burned through the conduction of the heat energy through the metal and into your hand. This is the primary mechanism by which FireWalking transfers heat from the coals to the firewalker's feet.

There is one phenomenon that for years was declared the primary factor that prevents burns during FireWalking, the Leidenfrost Effect. This occurs when a vaporizing liquid acts as an insulator or barrier to heat conduction. Have you ever seen a drop of water in a hot pan? The drop skitters around for quite a while, much longer than you would think it should given the hot surface it is on. The same sized drop will, counter intuitively, survive less time over a colder pan. This is due the vaporized water between the drop and the source of heat. Gases are poor conductors, therefore the steam under the drop insulates against the heat, greatly reducing the conduction of thermal energy through it. Another common example is wetting your finger before touching a hot iron. This sounds like a reasonable explanation for the firewalkerÕs immunity. Many FireWalking rituals include spraying water near the embers to isolate and contain the heat. Walkers then inevitably pick up some of this water on their feet. It is also easy to imagine sweaty feet due to nervousness and proximity to the heat. This effect, however, is now widely regarded as insignificant at best for firewalkers. Many people, in fear of sticking embers, scrupulously dry their feet with no harmful side effects. This would not be possible if the Leidenfrost Effect played a significant role.