Science Smarts: An old science favourite to cure any summer boredom

By Patty Rooks on June 29, 2024.

We did it, the end of the school year is officially here. I am so excited for the summer to begin as there is so much I want to do (as always). Of course, I love to kick off the summer by sharing an old time favourite of mine – you will need to keep this handy as you can use this all summer long and it is guaranteed fun for all ages. It will also come in handy on those days when the young scientists in your household may be getting bored. Yes, I am sure those words will appear! Let’s get started.

*Remember to ask an adult before doing this experiment.

Materials

– Liquid dishwashing detergent (I prefer the blue Ultra Ivory Dawn®)

– Water

– Large pail

– Glycerine (purchase at the pharmacy OR substitute corn syrup)

– Large wooden spoon

– Measuring cups

– Hands/fingers

– Straws

– Bubble wand

– Science helper

Procedure

1. The first thing you need to do is make my “famous” bubble solution – trust me it is failsafe and works like a dream. I have been using it for years!

2. Measure approximately 1.5 L (6 cups) of water. Pour the water into the pail.

3. Slowly add 500 mL (2 cups) liquid dish soap.

4. Add 125 mL (1/2 cup) of glycerine. NOTE if you use corn syrup instead of glycerine it will attract bugs/bees much easier.

5. Using the wooden spoon, gently mix all of this together. You do not want to shake it up too vigorously as it will start to foam up all over.

6. Try making bubbles just with your hands. Make a circle with your index finger and thumb. Slowly dunk this into the bubble mixture. GENTLY blow a bubble. How big can you blow one?

7. A bubble caterpillar is amazing BUT a bit tricky to do. Dip the one straw and the bubble wand into the bubble mixture. Make sure they are coated very well. Hold the straw just on the underside of the wand and gently blow until you have a bubble. Wet the straw again. Blow a bubble just underneath the first one. Continue until your caterpillar is as long as you want it. The key here is to keep wetting your straw. As long as the straw is wet, the bubble above should not break when you poke it in and you can continue on.

8. This is the hardest one yet (at least I think so). A bubble inside a bubble. Have your science helper wet their hands with bubble solution. Make a very large bubble as big as you can get it into the hands of your science helper. Wet the straw with bubble solution once again. GENTLY poke the straw into the first bubble. Slowly blow another bubble inside of the first. WOW! If you can get this to work it is so amazing to see!!

What is going on?

Well, if you did not already know this, I absolutely LOVE bubbles! There are so many things that you can do with a simple inexpensive solution of soap and water. Try some other variations and send me a note to share your success – I am always looking for some new “tricks” with bubbles.

How do bubbles work though? The science behind bubbles involves surface tension. Surface tension is basically an invisible bond that holds the hydrogen and oxygen atoms together in the water (H20). Unfortunately, the surface tension of water is too strong just by itself to blow bubbles – go ahead and try it…likely not a great deal happened. Add a little bit of soap to the water and WOW the surface tension is broken. This detergent allows for the surface tension of the water to “relax” or make it “stretchy” allowing bubbles to form.

Patty Rooks, senior scientific consultant PRAXIS, “Connecting Science To The Community.” Contact Praxis at praxis@praxismh.ca, http://www.praxismh.ca, Tweet or follow us @PraxisMedHat, or friend us on Facebook. Address: 12 826 11th Street SE, Medicine Hat, AB, T1A 1T7 Phone: 403-527-5365, email: praxis@praxismh.ca.

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