A soap bubble is an extremely thin film of soapy water enclosing air that forms a hollow 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. Assembling several bubbles results in a foam.
When light shines onto a bubble it appears to change colour. Unlike those seen in a rainbow, which
arise from differential refraction, the colours seen in a soap bubble arise from interference of light
reflecting off the front and back surfaces of the thin soap film. Depending on the thickness of the film,
different colours interfere constructively and destructively.
Contents
[hide]
1 Mathematics
2 Physics
o 2.1 Merging
o 2.2 Stability
3 Bubbles in education
4 Fun
o 4.1 Use in play
o 4.2 Coloured bubbles
o 4.3 Freezing
5 Art
6 See also
7 References
8 Further reading
9 External links
Mathematics[edit]
Soap bubbles are physical examples of the complex mathematical problem of minimal surface. They
will assume the shape of least surface area possible containing a given volume. A true minimal
surface is more properly illustrated by a soap film, which has equal pressure on inside as outside,
hence is a surface with zero mean curvature. A soap bubble is a closed soap film: due to the
difference in outside and inside pressure, it is a surface of constant mean curvature.
While it has been known since 1884 that a spherical soap bubble is the least-area way of enclosing
a given volume of air (a theorem of H. A. Schwarz), it was not until 2000 that it was proven that two
merged soap bubbles provide the optimum way of enclosing two given volumes of air of different
size with the least surface area. This has been dubbed thedouble bubble conjecture.
[1]

Due to these qualities soap bubbles films have been used with practical problem
solving application. Structural engineer Frei Otto used soap bubble films to determine
thegeometry of a sheet of least surface area that spreads between several points, and translated
this geometry into revolutionary tensile roof structures.
[2]
A famous example is his West German
Pavilion at Expo 67 in Montreal.
Physics[edit]
Merging[edit]


Soap bubbles can easily merge.
When two bubbles merge, they adopt a shape which makes the sum of their surface areas as small
as possible, compatible with the volume of air each bubble encloses. If the bubbles are of equal size,
their common wall is flat. If they aren't the same size, their common wall bulges into the larger
bubble, since the smaller one has a higher internal pressure than the larger one, as predicted by
the YoungLaplace equation.
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. Only four bubble walls can meet at a point, with
the lines where triplets of bubble walls meet separated by cos
1
(1/3) 109.47. All these rules,
known as Plateau's laws, determine how a foam is built from bubbles.
Stability[edit]
The longevity of a soap bubble is limited by the ease of rupture of the very thin layer of water which
constitutes its surface, namely amicrometer-thick soap film. It is thus sensitive to :
Drainage within the soap film: water falls down due to gravity. This can be slowed down by
increasing the water viscosity, for instance by adding glycerol. Still, there is an ultimate height
limit, which is the capillary length, very high for soap bubbles: around 13 feet (4 meters). In
principle, there is no limit in the length it can reach.
Evaporation: This can be slowed down by blowing bubbles in a wet atmosphere, or by adding
some sugar to the water.
Dirt and fat: When the bubble touches the ground, a wall, or our skin, it usually ruptures the soap
film. This can be prevented by wetting these surfaces with water (preferably containing some
soap).
Bubbles in education[edit]
Bubbles can be effectively used to teach and explore a wide variety of concepts to even young
children. Flexibility, colour formation, reflective or mirrored surfaces, concave and convex surfaces,
transparency, a variety of shapes (circle, square, triangle, sphere, cube, tetrahedron, hexagon),
elastic properties, and 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.
[3]

Fun[edit]
Use in play[edit]


[[Adriaen Hanneman]] Two Boys Blowing Bubbles (ca. 1630)


Soap bubbles, Jean-Baptiste-Simon Chardin, mid-18th century
17th-century Flemish paintings show children blowing bubbles with clay pipes verifying soap bubbles
being used as entertainment for at least 400 years. The London based firm of A. & F. Pears created
a famous advertisement campaign for its soaps in 1886 using a painting by [[John Everett
Millais|Millais]] of a child playing with bubbles. A Chicago company called Chemtoy began selling
bubble solution in the 1940s, and they have been popular with children ever since. According to one
industry estimate, retailers sell around 200 million bottles annually.
[citation needed]

Coloured bubbles[edit]
A bubble is made of transparent water enclosing transparent air. However the soap film is as thin as
the visible light wavelength, resulting ininterferences. This creates iridescence which, together with
the bubble's spherical shape and fragility, contributes to its magical effect on children and adults
alike. Each colour is the result of varying thicknesses of soap bubble film. Tom Noddy (who featured
in the second episode of Marcus du Sautoy's The Code) gave the analogy of looking at
a contour map of the bubbles' surface. However, it has become a challenge to produce artificially
coloured bubbles.
Byron, Melody & Enoch Swetland invented a patented non-toxic bubble (Tekno Bubbles)
[4]
that glow
under UV lighting. These bubbles look like ordinary high quality "clear" bubbles under normal
lighting, but glow when exposed to true UV light. The brighter the UV lighting, the brighter they glow.
The family sold them world-wide, but has since sold their company.
Adding coloured dye to bubble mixtures fails to produce coloured bubbles, because the dye attaches
to the water molecules as opposed to the surfactant. Therefore, a colourless bubble forms with the
dye falling to a point at the base. Dye chemist Dr. Ram Sabnis has developed a lactonedye that
sticks to the surfactants, enabling brightly coloured bubbles to be formed. Crystal violet lactone is an
example. Another man named Tim Kehoe invented a coloured bubble which loses its colour when
exposed to pressure or oxygen, which he is now marketing online as Zubbles, which are non-toxic
and non-staining. In 2010, Japanese astronaut Naoko Yamazaki demonstrated that it is possible to
create coloured bubbles in microgravity. The reason is that the water molecules are spread evenly
around the bubble in the low-gravity environment.
Freezing[edit]


Frozen soap bubble on asphalt at 17 C (1 F).


Professional 'bubbleologist' at the 2009 Strawberry Fair in Cambridge, UK.
If soap bubbles are blown into air that is below a temperature of 15 C (5 F), they will freeze when
theytouch 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.
[citation needed]

Art[edit]
Soap bubble performances combine entertainment with artistic achievement. They require a high
degree of skill
[citation needed]
. Some performers use common commercially available bubble liquids
while others compose their own solutions. Some artists create giant bubbles or tubes, often
enveloping objects or even humans. Others manage to create bubbles forming cubes, tetrahedra
and other shapes and forms. Bubbles are sometimes handled with bare hands. To add to the visual
experience, they are sometimes filled with smoke, vapour orhelium and combined with laser lights or
fire. Soap bubbles can be filled with a flammable gas such as natural gas and then ignited.