What's new at The Loft - Episode 75

Macro 3.6.5. Challenge

 Soap Bubble

ISO 1600, f/4.0, 1/60th Second

A soap bubble is a very thin film of soapy water that forms a sphere with an iridescent surface. Soap bubbles usually last for only a few seconds before bursting, either on their own or on contact with another object. They are often used for children's enjoyment, but they are also used in artistic performances.

A soap bubble can exist because the surface layer of a liquid (usually water) has a certain surface tension, which causes the layer to behave somewhat like an elastic sheet. Soap film is extremely flexible and can produce waves based on the force exerted. However, a bubble made with a pure liquid alone is not stable and a dissolved surfactant such as soap is needed to stabilize a bubble. A common misconception is that soap increases the water's surface tension, soap actually does the opposite, decreasing it to approximately one third the surface tension of pure water. Soap does not strengthen bubbles, it stabilizes them, via an action known as the Marangoni effect. As the soap film stretches, the surface concentration of soap decreases, which in turn causes the surface tension to increase. Thus soap works by selectively strengthening the weakest parts of the bubble, preventing any one part of the bubble from stretching excessively. In addition, soap reduces evaporation, making the bubbles last longer; but this effect is relatively small.

The spherical shape of a bubble is also due to surface tension. The sphere has the smallest possible surface area for a given volume, thus taking up a spherical shape minimises the free surface of a bubble. This shape can be visibly distorted by air currents. However, if a bubble is left to sink in still air, it remains rather spherical.  

Freezing soap bubbles blown into air that is below a temperature of −15 °C (5 °F) will freeze when they touch a surface. The air inside will gradually diffuse out, causing the bubble to crumble under its own weight.

At temperatures below about −25 °C (−13 °F), bubbles will freeze in the air and may shatter when hitting the ground. When a bubble is blown with warm air, the bubble will freeze to an almost perfect sphere at first, but when the warm air cools, and a reduction in volume occurs, there will be a partial collapse of the bubble. A bubble, created successfully at this low temperature, will always be rather small; it will freeze quickly and will shatter if increased further.

When two bubbles merge, the bubbles will adopt the shape with the smallest possible surface area. Their common wall will bulge into the larger bubble, as smaller bubbles have a higher internal pressure.  If the bubbles are of equal size, the wall will be flat.  At a point where three or more bubbles meet, they sort themselves out so that only three bubble walls meet along a line. Since the surface tension is the same in each of the three surfaces, the three angles between them must be equal to 120°. This is the most efficient choice, again, which is also the reason why the cells of a beehive have the same 120° angle and form hexagons.

17th century Flemish paintings show children blowing bubbles with clay pipes. This means that bubbles as playthings are at least 400 years old. Bubbles can also be effectively used to teach and explore a wide variety of concepts to even young children. Flexibility, color formation, reflective or mirrored surfaces, concave and convex surfaces, transparency, a variety of shapes (circle, square, triangle, sphere, cube, tetrahedron, hexagon), elastic properties, comparative sizing... as well as the more esoteric properties of bubbles listed on this page. Bubbles are useful in teaching concepts starting from 2 years old and into college years. A Swiss university professor, Dr. Natalie Hartzell, has theorized that usage of artificial bubbles for entertainment purposes of young children has shown a positive effect in the region of the child's brain that controls motor skills and is responsible for coordination with children exposed to bubbles at a young age showing measurably better motion skills that those who were not. 


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