Soap bubble pop it

Safe­ty pre­cau­tions

At­ten­tion! All ex­per­i­ments are per­formed by pro­fes­sion­als. Do not at­tempt.

Process de­scrip­tion

Dry ice is sol­id car­bon diox­ide at tem­per­a­tures be­low –78°C (–108°F). It quick­ly cools the bak­ing dish by fill­ing it with cold car­bon diox­ide. Air is about 1.5 times lighter than car­bon diox­ide, so bub­bles in­flat­ed with air will lev­i­tate over the dish. How­ev­er, if you in­flate them with car­bon diox­ide, they sink into the bak­ing dish. Soap bub­bles con­tain wa­ter, which has a freez­ing point of 0°C (32°F). As a re­sult, the wa­ter freezes, strength­en­ing the shells of the bub­bles – this makes for a great Pop It!

Ex­plore the laws of na­ture with the MEL Sci­ence sub­scrip­tion!