What is one of the first things that you put in your survival pack? More than likely, you think about a flashlight or another method of having light in the event of an emergency. That’s a great idea, but maybe not for the only reason you think.
The fact of the matter is, a flashlight can be used for a wide variety of purposes. We might think about having light when it is dark outside but it can also signal people and alert them to our presence. In some cases, we may even use it to communicate with others.
Something else that we can use a flashlight for is to start a fire. I’m sure that you are surprised at this, and I’m not talking about a specialty flashlight that has a fire starting option. No, I’m talking about any standard flashlight that has batteries.
In fact, after you learn this simple tip, you will be able to start a fire with nothing more than a battery and a gum wrapper. It may seem surprising, but you can see it being done in real-time in the following video. I’m sure that you will be trying this for yourself tonight!
A battery is more than something that can power a flashlight or a small radio, it can also start a fire because it carries a charge. The real key is being able to get the charge from negative to positive so that it connects together. That is where the gum wrapper comes in.
Admittedly, not every type of gum wrapper is going to work for this so you need to choose one that is a foil wrapper. As long as it will conduct the electricity from one side of the battery to another, it can be used for that purpose. In fact, many gum wrappers also have a paper lining that can be used as fuel.
After removing the battery from the flashlight and chewing your first piece of gum, you would take the wrapper and cut it into a small strip. You can then place the wrapper so that it is touching, foil side down, to both the negative and positive sides of the battery at the same time.
This is something that is relatively easy to do with a 9V battery because both are side-by-side but you can also do it with other batteries, including AA and AAA. After connecting the two sides using the wrapper, the power that is running between them will begin to start the fire.
Just make sure that you have the fuel available to keep the fire going and then you can put the battery back in the flashlight for use as originally intended.
Watch it happen for yourself in the following video:
