The silent partner of the magic duo Penn and Teller has written an article that reveals some of the ways that magicians fool you.

In this video clip, Teller demonstrates the elements of successful sleight-of-hand.

But below is my favorite illusion by Teller, the famous Shadows. I like it because of the way that it plays with physics. A light source, an object, and the object’s shadow form a trio in which only the first two can be independently adjusted. The shadow always passively follows along. In this video, Teller seems to defy this ironclad law of physics by making the shadow one of the active elements and the object the passive one. Amazing.