How to make a giant bubble

Abstract

The world's largest free-floating soap bubbles can encompass a small automobile and span nearly 100 square meters, despite being only microns thick. Experiments show that long, polydisperse polymer chains provide extensional properties during bubble formation and reduce gravitational drainage at high concentrations. However, too many polymers inhibit bubble formation, leading to an ideal concentration well below the characteristic overlap concentration for polymers in solution.

Topics & Concepts