Tiny Bubbles

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Bubbles! We all know how fascinating they are, evoking happy memories of blowing and chasing the mystical orbs with our friends. A bubble’s fragile nature, beautiful rainbow colors, and ability to soar through the sky make them universally fascinating among kids.

What is the science behind (or inside) a bubble? Bubbles can provide a fun way to study science concepts such as elasticity, surface tension, chemistry, light, and even geometry. Your students can engage in processes such as observation, experimentation, investigation, and discovery, simply by studying bubbles.

For starters, here is a fun demonstration that you can perform as you explain some of the science of bubbles. Follow the recipe at the end of this article to make some super strong bubbles for your act. Wearing a clown suit is optional.

Blow a bubble, get a few laughs. Then talk about what makes a bubble.

Bubbles are just air wrapped in soap film. Soap film is made from soap and water (or other liquid). The outside and inside surfaces of a bubble consist of soap molecules. A thin layer of water lies between the two layers of soap molecules, sort of like a water sandwich with soap molecules for bread. They work together to hold air inside.

Create a bubble that stretches out using a large wand (that you can make from a piece of wire). Whoosh it through the air so the bubble follows and grows behind it. Then, with great drama, let the bubble go. Give the students a chance to note what happens to it before it pops.

Why is a bubble round? Bubbles can stretch and become all kinds of crazy looking shapes. But if you seal a bubble by flipping it off your wand, the tension in the bubble skin shrinks to the smallest possible shape for the volume of air it contains...

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...n poke your straw back inside the bubble and blow another bubble. By now you should be super awesome in their minds.

Why didn’t the bubble pop? The bubble just wraps itself around anything that is wet, filling in the hole that would have been made.

There is a lot more to know about bubbles. Hopefully your amazing demonstration will get your students interested in learning more about the science of bubbles!

The formula for awesome bubbles:
1 cup liquid dish soap like Joy or Dawn (not "ultra")
6 cups distilled water inside a clean container that has a lid
1 tablespoon glycerin OR 1/4 cup light corn syrup

Pour the dish soap into the water and mix it without letting bubbles form (that's for later!). Put the glycerin or corn syrup into the mix and stir. You can use it right away, but some bubble-lovers recommend covering and letting the bubble mix sit overnight.

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