04 Jan, 2012
What happens when you blow bubbles in the dead of an Ottawa winter?
Posted by andrea tomkins in: Easy ways to make kids happy
Well, we decided to find out.
Yesterday I fashioned a wand out of a wire twist tie and mixed up a batch of bubble juice using water, Ivory dish soap, and a spoonful of glycerin (this is available at the pharmacy and makes the bubbles a little stronger). It’s recommended you let the mixture sit for 24 hours before using.
This is what happened. We discovered that you had to blow fast or it froze:
And the bubbles popped differently than we expected:
See this crumpled stuff that looks like cellophane? That was the bubble. (!)
If we were lucky we saw them freeze up in mid-air:
We observed a few interesting things:
- It might have been our bubble mixture, but only one out of every 10 or so attempts turned into a bubble. It pays to be patient. Making bubbles in the winter is not the same as in the summer.
- The bubbles seemed to move a little slower than they would in the summer
- They popped slower too
- They needed some time in the air in order to freeze
- When they popped it was more of a collapse, and they left behind a cellophane type substance (as shown above). Methinks it’s dehydrated dish soap and glycerin.
- Also, we should have worn mittens. :)
Tip: the bubble solution seemed to work better when it was really cold. I really recommend you try this!
Our second experiment was something I saw Dr. Yoni Freedhoff from Weighty Matters do last year.
Have you ever wondered what happens to boiling water when you throw it up in the air? We did! And here’s the answer:
Cool eh?
