Bubbles are fun! Don’t have bubbles on hand?
You can make them at home easily and quickly with this fun science experiment!
Materials:
Dish soap, water, pipe cleaners, sugar, a spoon, a bowl
Time Estimated:
10 minutes
Directions:
In a bowl, pour about 1 cup of water.
Next, add in a tablespoon of sugar. Stir until all of the sugar dissolves.
Then, pour in 2 tablespoons of dish soap and stir.
Grab your pipe cleaners and start molding different shapes. Now is your time to be creative! Make sure you leave room on the end for a handle.
Finally, dip your pipe cleaners into the bubble solution and blow! Notice how the bubbles always come out as a circle, no matter what the shape the pipe cleaners are?
Think Like a Scientist:
Why are bubbles always round?
Why don’t they take on the shape of their wand?
How It Works:
In this experiment, you learned about the science of bubbles. No matter how old you are, bubbles are a foolproof way to bring a smile to your face. They are also a great source to learn about science!
Simply put, bubbles are just a thin film of soap and water with air encased inside of it. We can think of this soap film as a sandwich. If we zoom in really close, we are able to see two layers of soap molecules with one layer of water between them! But why are they always round when they are floating freely in the air?
When your bubbles leave the wand, the surface tension is what holds them together. Imagine all of the soap molecules holding hands to make a super strong bond between them. This is exactly what surface tension does! It helps the soap molecules stay together so that the surface of the film stays strong.
When tension is placed on the soap film, it wants to shrink into the smallest possible shape that can hold the air inside of it. Can you guess what shape that is?
You guessed it, a sphere (or circle)! That’s why bubbles float as circles, or spheres, because they have the smallest surface area for any shape. This also explains why the shape of the bubbles can look a bit goofy before they are closed off, because there is not much surface tension acting on the film!
Looking for more fun at home STEM activities for your young scientist? Check out our workbook full of exciting science experiments and empowering activities!
