How to Perform the Attaching Paper Clips Trick

Male: I’m going to give you one more chance to win a buck, okay?

Female: Yeah.

Male: Here’s what you’ve got to do, I want you to link these clips together like so. However, you’ve got to link them without touching them, give it a try, without touching them.

Female: Help.

Male: I’ll give you the answer, this is one case where you should have kept your eye in the bottom-line, and the answer is topological. I won’t touch those clips, only the bill.

Female: Amazing.

Male: As you probably know by now the answer to a linking pins is topological, and let me give you that a bit more detail, come close, look closely. You take the bill you bend it in that position that kind of figure S, clip the center and one end together on the side opposite yourself, see that? Take the other clip, and clip the center and the end of the bill towards yourself, like that. With both hands, grab the opposite ends of the bill and slowly pull them away from each other and the clips automatically link.