Bubble Burst

By Rachel and Dyesha

The topic of this science research article is bubbles and how long each kind lasts. We became interested in this topic because we like playing with bubbles and we like bubbles that last a long time. We don't know of any prior research on this topic.

During our research we attempted to answer the following question: using different liquid soaps, when mixed with water and maybe glycerin, how long did the bubbles last?

People who have already researched this topic have found bubbles will usually pop when they touch a solid object, but they will also pop after a certain amount of time. We read that glycerin makes a thicker solution and better bubbles. Bubbles are also very popular with young children, but the solutions in the store seem to be more expensive than homemade solutions.

Our hypothesis was that Joy, glycerin, and water would be the best bubble solution.

In order to conduct our research, we used the following materials: water, glycerin, Surf laundry detergent, Joy, Dawn, measuring cups, a fan, a bubble wand, black trash bags, and cups.

First we made the bubble solutions. We mixed 1/4 cup of each soap with 1/2 cup of water. Then we mixed 1/4 cup of each soap, 1/2 cup of water, and 1/3 cup of glycerin. Then we mixed together all of the solutions without glycerin into a cup, and all of the solutions in a cup. We had eight solutions all together.

We tested these bubble solutions by dipping a bubble wand into the solution and holding it up to a fan set on low speed. The bubbles were blown onto a black trash bag. We timed how long the bubbles lasted. If they popped on the bubble wand we repeated the test. We did two tests for each bubble solution and totaled the amount of time the bubbles lasted.

Some problems we encountered during our research included bubbles popping before they landed on the plastic, disagreements between the partners as to how to conduct the experiment, bubbles flying away (we were working outside), and the clean up was sticky and messy.

From our research we found that of the mixtures without glycerin the Joy and water lasted the longest (50 sec total). Of the mixtures with glycerin, the Dawn and the "All Mixture" lasted the longest. They lasted 60 seconds and 63 seconds. Surf did not work well. The bubbles only lasted 10 seconds each time.

We found that the glycerin helped the bubbles last longer (140 seconds compared to 125 total seconds) but this is not a significant difference. We do not recommend using Surf laundry detergent for bubble making. However, both Dawn and Joy can be cheaper alternatives to store bought solutions.

In the future, researchers may want to do more trials of each test. We did not do enough trials. Researchers may also want to try different soaps, such as hand soaps, and test different store solutions.