Bubbles are really fascinating and cool to observe, but have you ever wondered how they work? In this experiment I not only learned about how bubbles work, but also what the best house hold tools to blow bubbles with were, and I was even able to answer a question I had as a child. Bubbles are made of dish wash soap, water, and glycerin. The soap and water molecules bond while the glycerin is used to make the walls of the bubble stronger. Here's more about how bubbles are made, and my experience with them.
Looking Back:
While experimenting with bubbles, I think I achieved my goal, to explore more about bubbles. I got to learn about what bubbles are made of and how to make my own bubble solution. As a younger child, I LOVED BUBBLES. So naturally when I ran out of store bought bubbles, I tried to make my own.I used dish wash soap and water and was able to blow bubbles, but they were weaker than the ones I usually bought from the store. I also tested out tools from my house that had holes in them to see if I could blow bubbles with them. I used a skewer, 2 cup rims, one thimble, a beer cap opener, one modified plastic cup, and a modified plastic water bottle. I tested each object out and arranged them into 3 piles, one for tools that worked very well, one for the tools that kind of worked, and finally one for the tools that didn't work at all. The skewer was the only one that didn't work because at the circular tip, there was a gap, so the soapy water couldn't form. The pile that kind of worked consisted of the cup rims, an the modified plastic cup. I believe the cup rims didn't work as well because they were too wide and I believe the same goes for the modified water cup. The tools that worked the best were the beer cap opener, the thimble, and the modified water bottle. The beer cap opener worked well because it had a nice round hole that wasn't too big. The thimble worked out well because it had many small defined holes and I believe the modified water bottle worked out well because I cut a hole at the bottom that was just the right size and the side that you usually drink out of is purposely shaped for your lips so it made it easier to blow into. Intro:
Looking Beyond:
Until now I didn't know what I was missing, but now I know that I was missing glycerin which is used to strengthen the walls of the bubble. As for the dish wash soap and water, dish wash soap is a long chain of carbon hydrogen, and oxygen atoms. One end of the chain has lots of hydrophilic atoms which means the atoms like to be in water. The other end of the chain has lots of hydrophobic atoms which are atoms that don't like to be in water. When the dish wash soap is put in water, the hydrophilic end attaches to water molecules while the hydrophobic end grabs onto soap molecules. The soap then produces its own film which holds the soap bubbles together. Since I just made my bubbles out of soap and water, the film of the soap held the bubbles together, but since I had no glycerin to make them stronger they were weak and popped in mid-air a lot.
Looking Inward:
I got desirable results during this experiment and it was mainly because the steps for making bubbles were very clear to follow. I also tested different instruments to blow bubbles with, and the best part was that I didn't have to pay for them because they were household items. I successfully determined which instruments worked the best, which ones were okay, and which ones didn't work.
Looking Inward:
I believe I performed very well during this project. I made sure to follow all the steps required to make the bubbles and stayed focused during the project. But I also made sure to enjoy my experiment.
Looking Forward:
If I could do this again I'd probably experiment with the amount of glycerin because I want to know if the bubble blowing tools that kind of worked would work if the bubbles were stronger. Other than that, I wouldn't change anything about this experiment.
Take Away:
During this project, I got to solve a problem of my childhood and learn more about my focus question: what's the science behind bubbles? Also instead of buying bubble blowing utensils, I figured that I could use my own utensils so I believe I learned how to improvise as well. I went back to my younger days to figure out why my homemade solution wasn't as strong as store bought bubbles and found out that the only ingredient I was missing was glycerin. So I think it's really cool that I got to not only learn about the science behind bubbles, but revisit a question from my childhood.