Undeniable Friday: The Teleporting Cat Trick

It's Undeniable Friday! Every Friday, in addition to an odd little factoid, UndeniableFacts.com gives you a fun puzzle, illusion, or activity to enjoy and share.

Today: The Teleporting Cat Trick

This is a truly astounding illusion which you can use to bewilder your friends. To be honest, you can use any small animal or object for the trick, but I think a cat gives it an air of mystique. The video below shows the illusion performed by my cat Benjamin Franklin. (I was reluctant to name him after such a scoundrel, but I already had Crenshaw and Spartacus, and I had to complete the set).



This trick uses a technique first used by the ninjas of Japan, over a thousand years ago. The idea behind the trick is simply a matter of bending light around the cat. To achieve this you will need two concave mirrors, a convex mirror, and a normal mirror. The diagram below shows exactly what kind of mirrors you need, and how to position them.




Because I like to keep it scientific, I used plain wooden "teleportation gates", but you may want to decorate your setup to look more elaborate and "technological". A word of warning however: don't place any light sources too close to the mirror arrangement. Doing so may cause light echoes, which can be dangerous.

After setting the mirrors up as in the diagram, get your cat to walk through it. The cat will "disappear" for a moment, as if it were teleporting from one side to the other. Pretty neat!