Bubble Snake

Materials

· Sand bucket and scoop

· Felt square

· Rubber band

· Petri dish (half)

· Water (not included)

· Dish soap

· Food coloring

· Magnifying glass

· Straw

· Sugar

Procedure

1. Place the felt square on top of the sand bucket  –  secure with rubber band and ensure that there are no holes between the felt and the bucket.

2. Fill the petri dish with water. Add the vial of dish soap and food coloring.

3. Open the pre-packaged straw. Use the straw to thoroughly mix the dish soap, water, and food coloring in the petri dish.

4. Place one end of the straw in the soap mixture. Gently blow through the straw until the petri dish fills with bubbles. You may want to practice blowing through the straw very slowly when it is not placed in the liquid—then you can make sure you aren’t breathing in through the straw. Do not inhale through the straw when it is placed in the mixture—you will get soap in your mouth. Yuck!

5. What happens when you blow air through the straw very fast versus very slow? How can you make the most bubbles? Try to make a tower of bubbles! If you shine a light on the bubbles and look at them using the magnifying glass, what do you see? Is it easier to see through the magnifying glass if you hold it close to your face, or close to the bubbles? Do you see any shapes or colors?

6. Now it’s time to make a bubble snake! Pick up the bucket and dip the cloth end into the petri dish, then gently blow into the hole on the bottom of the bucket. Hold the felt and press it to the bucket to ensure that there are no holes. If you are doing this correctly, a long snake of bubble foam will come out of the felt!

7. Do you think that mixing the sugar with the bubble mixture will change the bubbles? Scoop sugar into the mixture and repeat steps 4-6. What happens?

Science Behind it!

White light is a combination of all colors of light, and light travels like a wave, but different colors of light have different sizes of waves.  When white light travels through bubbles—which are made of layers of soap and water—the light waves interfere or crash into the molecules in each layer, depending on the size (color) of the waves. This breaks them down into the beautiful rainbow that you see!

Bubbles are round because water molecules are attracted to each other, and when air is trapped in between them, they want to be as close together as possible! The best way for them to do this is to make the shape of a ball around the trapped air.

Adding sugar to the mixture causes it to evaporate slower, making bubbles last longer! This is why you see more bubbles after dissolving the sugar in the mixture.