Every year, our school holds a Macmillan Coffee Morning. Each year group sings a song for the guests. We, the Lab_13 Irchester Committee, do some busking in between the acts and drop around all the tables amazing people with science. Busking can be quite difficult as you need to be able to carry all your equipment with you, be able to squeeze around lots of chairs and people and start talking to people of all ages. This was good experience for the new Year5s on the committee to practice their communication skills. At Macmillan coffee morning we asked people to try the Bubble Bursting Challenge and we explained the science of bubbles.
Molecules of water like to be very close to each other all the time and stay in contact as much as they can. When we add soap or bubble mixture, the bonds between the water molecules become stretchier so that when we blow air into it it can expand into a bubble without bursting. Bubbles only burst when the water molecules lose their bonds and break apart. Then we showed that you can put your hand inside a bubble without bursting it by using a very simple trick! If your arm and hand is covered in bubble mixture too then the wate molecules of the bubble join to the molecules on your wet skin and the bonds dont break! See if you can try it at home.
The Lab_13 Network 