Saturday, January 6, 2018

Frozen Bubbles!

Yesterday we tried a winter experiment, seeing if we could freeze bubbles.  You can find stories about this online, and we thought it would be fun to try.  We also couldn't get a better day at something below -20°C.

A bowlful of frozen bubbles!  It's actually the thin layer of water between two layers of soap that freezes.

We used a small measuring cup and took out a red placement for contrast so the bubbles would show up.

The mixture was one cup water, 1/3 cup Dawn soap detergent, and a couple of tablespoons of molasses.  It seemed to work, but that was a much bigger quantity than you really need.  A little blowing in the mixture with a straw and you had a bowlful of bubbles which quickly froze.  Then of course the bubbles started popping.

Another try.  Getting pictures in focus was the hardest part.

You can blow individual bubbles too, but we found that they broke as soon as they touched anything. 
Leaving you with the thin broken skin of the frozen bubble.

You could stir up the bits of icy film on the end of the straw.  We could only do this because it's been so cold, one good use for cold weather!  Tonight it's still -28°C with the windchill, but by tomorrow afternoon it's supposed to rise above -10 for the first time in nearly two weeks, and by Monday rise slightly above above freezing!  Mind you, by Wed. and Thurs. it's supposed to be above freezing and rain.  What rain will do on top of two feet of snow on all the rooftops I don't know!

16 comments:

  1. Not sure we get cold enough to give this a try but it looks like fun photography. - Margy

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  2. I’ve wanted to try this. It’s certainly been cold enough here too.

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  3. What a fun way to do sometime different on a cold wither day!

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  4. I want to try throwing the cup of hot water into the air. Might be a bit of a lark before I head to bed to toss and turn and worry about what is going to freeze up tonight.

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  5. Thanks for providing good information,Thanks for your sharing.

    soy'vvow]oN

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  6. Always wondered what people got up to in the long northern winters. So much more healthy than drinking copious amounts of vodka.

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  7. I had heard of this before, but I've never tried it. Molasses? I had no idea! :-)

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  8. Very interesting. There must be some real trick to getting the big bubbles to work if you couldn't do it in those temps!

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  9. Cool captures of the bubbles. I am getting cabin fever and looking forward to some warm weather.
    Happy Sunday, enjoy your day and new week!

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  10. Interesting experiment. Rain on two feet of snow on a roof is not good -- of course it depends on how much rain falls, but if it's a lot some weak roofs may go down.

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  11. oh how fun!!! when was the last time you got out of the house??!!?? hehehehe

    this sounds like something i would do!!!

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  12. I've never tried that!

    As far as I'm concerned, a weather forecast is really only any good for the next three hours, then starts getting less accurate by the hour.

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  13. Frozen bubbles, never tried that before. A pretty clever idea.

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  14. Oh, my, how cool. I would never have thought of trying this.

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  15. I bought a container of bubbles to try this...I still have time! I enjoyed your photos:)

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