How To Make Bubbles | Super Soap Solution
You
can blow bubbles with any mixture of soap and water, but add a "secret"
ingredient and you'll get bigger and stronger bubbles! Just follow this
recipe.
What You Need:
- Liquid dish soap (Joy or Dawn brands work best. Try to find one that doesn't say 'Ultra')
- Distilled water (tap water is okay, but distilled water makes the best bubbles)
- Clean container with lid
- Glycerin or light corn syrup
What You Do:
- Measure 6 cups of water into one container, then pour 1 cup of dish soap into the water and slowly stir it until the soap is mixed in. Try not to let foam or bubbles form while you stir.
- Measure 1 tablespoon of glycerin or 1/4 cup of corn syrup and add it to the container. Stir the solution until it is mixed together.
- You can use the solution right away, but to make even better bubbles, put the lid on the container and let your super bubble solution sit overnight. (Note: If you used "Ultra" dish soap, double the amount of glycerin or corn syrup.)
- Dip a bubble wand* or straw into the mixture, slowly pull it out, wait a few seconds, and then blow. How big of a bubble can you make? How many bubbles can you make in one breath?
What Happened:
The soap mixture on the outside of a bubble is actually made of three very thin layers: soap, water, and another layer of soap. This "sandwich" that is on the outside of a bubble is called a soap film. A bubble pops when the water that is trapped between the layers of soap evaporates. The glycerin or corn syrup mixes with the soap to make it thicker. The thicker skin of the glycerin bubbles keeps the water from evaporating as quickly, so they last longer. It also makes them stronger, so you can blow bigger bubbles.
Bubbles That Don't Pop!
After you make the super bubble solution and let it set for at least one day, try doing this cool bubble trick!
- Set the lid of your bubble container on the table so that the part with the lip is facing up. Fill the lid with bubble solution.
- Dip a straw into the bubble solution container so that it is wet half way up the straw. Touch the straw to the lid and blow a bubble on the lid. Slowly pull the straw all the way out of the bubble.
- Now dip the pointed end of a pair of scissors into the container of bubble solution. Make sure they are completely wet. Poke the scissors through the wall of your bubble. Watch what happens. Try it again with other pointed objects (pencils, etc.), just make sure anything you touch to the bubble is wet. Can you stick your finger through the bubble?
What Happened:
You should have been able to push the scissors through the wall of the
bubble without popping it. When something wet touches a bubble, it
doesn't poke a hole in the wall of the bubble, it just slides through
and the bubble forms right around it. The bubble solution on the
scissors filled in the hole that would have been made. If you try poking
dry scissors through your bubble, you will see it pop instantly! (If it
popped when you put the wet scissors in, something was probably too
dry. Try it again and make sure anything that touches the bubble is
completely wet with bubble solution.)
Try a couple more tricks:
- Make a big dome bubble on the lid like you did above, then get the straw wet again, insert it into the bubble, and see if you can blow a smaller bubble inside the bigger one!
- Get one hand completely wet in the bubble solution then use the other hand to hold your bubble blower and blow a big bubble in the palm of your wet hand.
