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Bubbles

srossi14

Entry posted by srossi14

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The other day, my seven year old cousin asked me, “how do bubbles work?” and I didn’t really know how to answer. So, I decided to answer her question in a blog post, or at least try to (even though she’ll never see it). It turns out the science behind soap bubbles is a bit complicated and there’s a lot that can be talked about but I think I’ll just focus on one part for now. Did you ever wonder why bubbles are always spherical? Laplace’s law states the larger the vessel radius, the larger the wall tension required to withstand a given internal fluid pressure. In the case of soap bubbles, the soap film minimizes its surface area, and by doing so, minimizes the surface tension of the film. The shape that allows for this minimal surface area is a sphere. I know this is a bit convoluted, but who knew bubbles were so complicated?

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