That’s a lot of bubbles!
Bubble blowers come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. This one blows thousands of tiny bubbles that you can play with. It makes a foam that lasts, so you can even shape the bubbles into towers!
Safety: Ask an adult to help, as this activity uses a scalpel or box cutter. Use clean hands and equipment, as the bubble blower will touch your mouth. Create a bubble blower for each person that wants to blow bubbles, so that you don’t share germs.
That’s a lot of bubbles! But how does it work?
A regular bubble wand has one hole. When you dip the wand, a film of bubble mix covers the hole, and when you blow through the hole, the film bows outwards. Eventually, the film bends so far that it closes behind itself and forms a bubble.
This foam blower is similar, only with more holes. If you look closely at your sock, you’ll see that it’s made of threads, all looped together. And in between the threads, there are tiny gaps, which act as tiny bubble wands!
Our foam lasted for many minutes or even hours – much longer than a single bubble. There’s a good reason why this foam sticks around for so long.
If left untouched, individual bubbles usually pop because the bubble mix flows down to the bottom of the bubble, and the top ends up too thin. Inside a foam, the top of one bubble is the bottom of another. As bubble mix flows down, more comes from above to replace it. The bubbles on top of the foam pop, but inside they are more stable. And there are a lot of layers of bubbles to pop before the whole foam goes away!
If you want to learn more about popping bubbles, check out how scientists found shock waves travelling though bursting bubbles.
If you’re after more science activities for kids, subscribe to Double Helix magazine!
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