Climb inside a soap bubble

How does the exhibit work?

Stand in the middle of the exhibition. Pull the red handle on the string. This is how a bubble forms around you.

What is the science behind it?

If you spill water, you will see that the water does not spread out into a thin film but contracts into droplets. This is because water wants to make its surface as small as possible. We also call this a high surface tension.

If you add soap, you lower the surface tension. This way, you can stretch water into a thin film. With water and soap, you can make large bubbles, or even a large soap tube in which you can stand!

Surface tension for insects

Some insects have a fantastic superpower: they can walk on water! All thanks to the high surface tension of water.

Surface tension with detergent

By adding detergent to your washing machine, you lower the surface tension of water. This allows the water to penetrate deep into the fibres of your clothes. No more stains!

Soap bubbles... but used differently

Because there are fewer and fewer bees, scientists are looking for other ways to pollinate flowers. They found soap bubbles as an alternative! By mixing pollen in soapy water and blowing bubbles, they easily pollinated an entire orchard.