Physical Science: Bubble Prints Introduction: It's time for fun -- exploring soap bubbles and making bubble prints. A soap bubble is a thin film of soap and water stretch by the air inside. The soap film is stretchable. Remember what happens when you blow into a bubble wand?
If you blow quickly and hard, nothing much happens. However, if you blow slowly and gently, the soap film that is stretch across the surface of the wand will start to stretch more until a bubble is formed. Why does it form a sphere? Well, a sphere is the shape that provides the most space of the air with the least stretching of the soap film. Soap film always contracts to make the smallest possible surface that can contain the air inside it. In this activity you will be adding some paint to the soap bubble mixture to make bubble prints. If time allows you will also get the chance to play with a variety of bubble toys to see if you can make any special bubbles. Let's get started!
Bubble Prints: Teacher Notes Download: (Abobe Acrobat Reader required--download free reader) Print the "Bubble Prints" Worksheets.
Part A: Making Bubble Prints To make the bubble/paint solution, each group needs the following supplies: 1 Jar 1/4 cup tempera paint 1/2 cup soap bubble solution pie tin newspapers Making the bubble/paint solution: Working in your group, mix 1/2 cup of bubble solution and 1/4 cup tempera paint into a jar. Shake the paint and bubble solution until it is well mixed Pour 1/2 inch of mixture into a clean pie tin Place the pie tin on a sheet of newspaper Bubble prints: To make the actual bubble prints, everyone will share the six colors of bubble/paint solution just made. Everyone should have their own straw and a piece of white construction paper to do the rest of the activity. Choose the first color you would like on your bubble print Put one end of a straw into your mouth and the other end into the deepest part of the bubble/paint solution Blow a big mound of bubbles Remove the straw and carefully lower a sheet of construction paper onto the bubble mound. Leave it for just a second, then lift it off. Let the paper dry, wet side up. If you would like to add a second color, just make another bubble print on the same piece of paper using a different color bubble/paint solution. Discussion: What shapes did the bubble make? Circles? Squares? Triangles? Part B: Having Fun with Bubbles For this part of the activity, each group of 6 needs: bubble tray bubble solution bubble toy set paper towels Let's have fun: Pour some of the bubble solution (w/o paint) into the large bubble trays Try blowing some bubbles using the various bubble toys provided. Play around, explore, and see what you can discover about soap bubbles.