Red Hot Nickel Ball Sends Foam Block Into Color Chaos

That red hot nickel ball is still burning its way through all sorts of substances — except for hockey pucks, that is — and the latest item subjected to its hellish super-heated self is a block of craft foam...the kind you might find poked full of fake flowers. While the steam and sparks and other things we've seen from past burning sessions were intriguing, this latest one is downright fascinating, and a bit unexpected — the hot nickel ball sends the foam block into chaotic colors.

The foam block is a big cube of floral foam, and it is the color green per typical. If you're unfamiliar with this type of foam, it is course and tightly compacted, without the flexibility and sponginess of packing foam. You can break a piece off or crush it, but not bend it.

When the nickel ball is placed on the foam, it doesn't burn straight through as you might expect — all is relatively still and unexciting for a few moments. A purple ring appears around the metal ball, and a darker green ring inside of it. The video speeds up, then, and we see the entire process happen in a fast, beautiful way.

As the ball cools, the purple ring works its way down the block, with shade of gold and yellowish-green following. The uppermost portions turn dark, then the block dries out and begins to crack. This process keeps happening as the heat works its way further down until, finally, there's a blackened, shrunken corpse of floral foam left behind.

Think that's interesting? Watch it burn and ooze its way through a giant jawbreaker.