Bubbles with Holes

I hope you were able to come to the science fair and try out all the really cool demonstrations.  Here is one that you can try at home. 

What you need:

Bubble solution (store bought or homemade, you choose)

Glycerin or corn syrup

Thin wire

Thread

Toothpick

Wide container

What to do:

Bend your thin wire around a small to medium sized pot to create a circle.  Make sure you have a handle so you can keep hold of your circle.  Tie about 6 inches worth of thread so you have a loop; then tie this to your circle of wire away from your handle.  Now you have a home-made bubble maker!  Next fill your wide container with bubble solution (make sure your container is wide enough to allow the whole of your wire circle in all at once).  Add about 1tsp of glycerin or corn syrup to your bubble solution and stir gently (stirring vigorously will make it hard to get the solution to coat your wire—too many bubbles!).  Dip your wire circle into the soap making sure the thread gets coated as well.  GENTLY remove the circle from the container making sure the film is suspended between your wire with the thread hanging inside the film.  Now using your toothpick gently poke a hole in just the thread.  Watch what happens. . .

What is going on:

Your thread probably wasn’t a circle before you poked your hole, but became one quickly.  Why did it do that?  Soap film likes to take up the smallest area possible.  Being in a circle means the forces pulling on the soap are minimized.  The soap will pull on the thread to create a circle, thereby reducing the force within the film and taking up the smallest area.

Think this is only child’s play?  Physicists are finding that soap films mimic behavior seen in black holes agreeing nicely with Einstein’s theories.  Not only that, but mathematicians are finding soap films can help them solve and understand complex problems.  What will you discover with this seemingly simple soap bubble?