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A soap bubble is a very thin film of Soap water that forms a Sphere with an Iridescent Surface . Soap bubbles usually last for only a few moments and then burst either on their own or on contact with another object. They are often used as a children's plaything, but their usage in artistic Performance s shows that they can be fascinating for adults too. Soap bubbles can help to solve complex Mathematical problems of Space , as they will always find the smallest surface area between Points or Edge s. STRUCTURE The bubble's 'skin' consists of a thin layer of water trapped between two layers of molecules, often soap. The Surfactant possesses Hydrophilic heads and Hydrophobic tails. The hydrophilic heads are attracted to the thin water layer and keep the bubble intact. When the hydrophobic tails are disturbed, the bubble pops. It may also burst when it hits a surface. PHYSICS Surface tension and shape , 2nd third of 18th century.]] A bubble can exist because the surface layer of a liquid (usually water) has a certain Surface Tension , which causes the layer to behave somewhat like an Elastic sheet. However, a bubble made with a pure liquid alone is not stable and a dissolved Surfactant such as soap is needed to stabilize a bubble. A common misconception is that soap increases the water's surface tension. Actually soap does the exact opposite, decreasing it to approximately one third the surface tension of pure water. Soap does not ''strengthen'' bubbles, it ''stabilizes'' them, via an action known as the Marangoni Effect . As the soap film stretches, the surface concentration of soap decreases, which causes the surface tension to increase. Thus, soap selectively strengthens the weakest parts of the bubble and tends to prevent them from stretching further. In addition, the soap reduces Evaporation so the bubbles last longer, although this effect is relatively small. Their Spherical shape is also caused by surface tension. The tension causes the bubble to form a sphere, as a sphere has the smallest possible Surface Area for a given Volume . This shape can be visibly distorted by air currents, and hence by blowing. If a bubble is left to sink in still Air , however, it remains very nearly spherical, more so for example than the typical cartoon depiction of a Raindrop . When a sinking body has reached its Terminal Velocity , the Drag Force acting on it is equal to its weight, and since a bubble's weight is much smaller in relation to its size than a raindrop's, its shape is distorted much less. (The surface tension opposing the distortion is similar in the two cases: The soap reduces the water's surface tension to approximately one third, but it is effectively doubled since the film has an inner and an outer surface.) Freezing Soap bubbles blown into air that is below a Temperature of −15 °C (5 °F ) will freeze when they Touch A Surface . The air inside will gradually Diffuse out, causing the bubble to crumple under its own weight. At temperatures below about −25 °C (−13 °F), bubbles will freeze in the air and may shatter when hitting the ground. When, at this low temperature, a bubble is blown with warm breath, the bubble will freeze to an almost perfect sphere at first, but when the warm air cools and thus is reduced in volume there will be a partial collapse of the bubble. A bubble, blown successfully at this low temperature, will always be rather small in size: it will freeze quickly and continuing to blow will shatter the bubble. Merging When two bubbles merge, the same physical principles apply, and the bubbles will adopt the shape with the smallest possible surface area. Their common wall will bulge into the larger bubble, as smaller bubbles have a higher internal Pressure (also know as Ostwald Ripening which is caused by pressure differences in bubbles of different radii as predicted by Laplace's Equation ). If the bubbles are of equal size, the wall will be flat. At a point where two or more bubbles meet, they sort themselves out so that only three bubble walls meet along a line. Since the surface tension is the same in each of the three surfaces, the three angles between them must be equal angles of 120°. This is the most efficient choice, again, which is also the reason why the cells of a Beehive use the same 120° angle, thus forming Hexagon s. Only four bubble walls can meet at a point, with the lines where triplets of bubble walls meet separated by cos−1(−1/3) ≈ 109.47°. Interference and reflection The iridescent colours of soap bubbles are caused by Interfering light waves and are determined by the thickness of the film. They are not the same as rainbow colours but are the same as the colours in an oil slick on a wet road. As light impinges on the film, some of it is Reflected off the outer surface while some of it enters the film and reemerges after being reflected back and forth between the two surfaces. The total reflection observed is determined by the interference of all these reflections. Since each traversal of the film incurs a Phase Shift proportional to the thickness of the film and inversely proportional to the wavelength, the result of the interference depends on these two quantities. Thus, at a given thickness, interference is constructive for some wavelengths and destructive for others, so that White Light impinging on the film is reflected with a Hue that changes with thickness. A change in colour can be observed while the bubble is thinning due to evaporation. Thicker walls cancel out red (longer) wavelengths, thus causing a blue-green reflection. Later, thinner walls will cancel out yellow (leaving blue light), then green (leaving Magenta ), then blue (leaving a golden yellow). Finally, when the bubble's wall becomes much thinner than the wavelength of visible light, all the waves in the visible region cancel each other out and no reflection is visible at all. When this state is observed, the wall is thinner than about 25 Nanometre s, and is probably about to pop. This phenomenon is very useful when making or manipulating bubbles as it gives an indication of the bubble's fragility. Interference effects also depend upon the angle at which the light strikes the film, an effect called '' Iridescence ''. So, even if the wall of the bubble were of uniform thickness, one would still see variations of colour due to curvature and/or movement. However, the thickness of the wall is continuously changing as gravity pulls the liquid downwards, so bands of colours that move downwards can usually also be observed. |
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