Playing with bubbles can be a bit of fun. But what if you could make it so that the bubbles didn’t pop when you caught them?
What you need:
- water
- dishwashing liquid
- glycerine
- a straw
What to do:
- Mix approximately 200 mL of water with a teaspoon of glycerine. Stir well.
- Add approximately 2 tablespoons of dishwashing liquid. Mix gently.
- Put the end of the straw into the mixture, take it out and gently blow through the other end to make bubbles.
- Try to catch one of the bubbles. It will pop in your hand. NOTE: if the bubbles keep popping before they leave the straw, try adding more dishwashing liquid to the mixture.
- Submerge your hand into the bubble mixture, and then take it out. Now blow bubbles using the straw and catch them with your hand. They will land on your hand and stay there.
What happens
Bubbles are big balls of air surrounded by layers of water and soap, so the surface of bubbles have surface tension. When you catch a bubble in a dry hand, the surface tension is broken and the bubble pops. But if your hands are covered in bubble mixture, or even if they are wet enough, the surface tension isn’t broken and the bubble just sticks to your hands, or to other bubbles.
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