Bubble Bump Singapore Blog

The Science Behind Bubbles [2024]

The Science Behind Bubbles
The Science Behind Bubbles

Bubbles. Who doesn’t know about bubbles? It’s such a fascinating sight to see bubbles floating in the air. Bubbles can be found nearly everywhere with soap. But how do bubbles actually form? You might have thought about it in the shower, but the question slips off your mind once you are out of the toilet. How do bubbles form? Why do bubbles pop?

 

Bubbles are air enclosed in soap film, which is made from soap and water. The soap film has 2 layers: the soap layer and the water layer. There is a thin layer of water between the soap molecules to hold them together to form the soap film, to allow the bubbles to stay intact.

 

Have you ever wondered why bubbles are round? It all boils back down to physics. Bubbles aims to be in the smallest possible shape for the amount of air that is trapped inside the soap film, and sphere has the minimise the surface area the most compared to other shapes. When you blow a bubble, it might start off in all sorts of shapes, but once the soap film joins back together and the bubble starts to float, it will automatically return to its spherical shape!

 

Sadly, every bubble has their own mini life span. Either they get popped by someone, or they somehow pop on their own. But why do bubbles pop on their own? Is there an unseen force that pops them? Nope. When the surface of the soap film evaporates, the water molecules decreases, and once there are not enough water to hold the soap molecules together, the bubble pops. Bubbles actually take a longer time to pop in cold weather as the water does not evaporate as fast, and it might even freeze over if its cold enough! Not only so, the colder the temperature, the higher the bubble will float due to the air inside the bubble. Your breath has a higher temperature than the outside temperature, and since hot air rises, the bubble will naturally float up higher.

 

You’ve probably learnt a thing or two about how bubbles form, so why not be inside a bubble this time for a change? You’ll definitely have tons of fun with wearing a bubble suit and bumping into each other! Book now!