  Igniting cornstarch powder is a classic physics demonstration that showcases
the rapid conduction of heat for a material in which the surface area is
greater than the volume of its constituent particles. Including such a
demonstration in a physics "magic show" for the general public presents certain
challenges such as reproducibility and consistent crowd appeal. A simple but
effective design for widely scattering cornstarch dust over a flame breaches
these challenges and always results in consistently large, crowd-pleasing
fireballs; so much so that the resulting demonstration has been dubbed the
"cornstarch flamethrower." A small-scale version may also be used effectively
for classroom instruction.
