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Topic: how soap bubble form?  (Read 5104 times)

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Offline kenny1999

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how soap bubble form?
« on: April 29, 2011, 11:29:00 AM »
Having looked at several websites they only explain how soap bubble form in terms of several paragraphs with difficult terms like surface tension. Actually I understand what
surface tension is but I don't understand how it relates to the formation of "bubble", Can anyone explain it to me more details and in more easy words?

By the way, why soap can form bubble easily but not water? Thanks!

Offline SirRoderick

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Re: how soap bubble form?
« Reply #1 on: April 29, 2011, 11:35:51 AM »
In simple terms soap consists of two parts. One is hydrophobic and one is hydrophilic. So one is repulsed by water and the other isn't. The film that makes the bubble has three layers. A thin layer of water is sandwiched between two layers of soap molecules. Each soap molecule is oriented so that its hydrophilic side faces the water, while its hydrophobic side extends away from the water layer. Following this so far?

If so, then the reason if forms a spherical bubble, is because that has the lowest possible surface area. This means it needs less energy to be formed.

Water is actually part of the bubble. So it does form bubbles, it just can't on it's own.

Offline kenny1999

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Re: how soap bubble form?
« Reply #2 on: April 29, 2011, 01:19:33 PM »
In simple terms soap consists of two parts. One is hydrophobic and one is hydrophilic. So one is repulsed by water and the other isn't. The film that makes the bubble has three layers. A thin layer of water is sandwiched between two layers of soap molecules. Each soap molecule is oriented so that its hydrophilic side faces the water, while its hydrophobic side extends away from the water layer. Following this so far?

If so, then the reason if forms a spherical bubble, is because that has the lowest possible surface area. This means it needs less energy to be formed.

Water is actually part of the bubble. So it does form bubbles, it just can't on it's own.

i see people say that soap bubble is easier to form because it has lower surface tension, while water bubble is more difficult to form because it has higher surface tension, what I don't understand is about the surface tension.


Offline SirRoderick

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Re: how soap bubble form?
« Reply #3 on: April 29, 2011, 03:24:36 PM »
Again in basic terms.
It's due to the orientation of the water molecules. The molecule is most stable when it is surrounded on all sides by water. If it isn't, this forces the molecules to arrange themselves in a particular fashion. You can imagine this puts strain on the molecules, yes? If so, then the less molecules are NOT surrounded (i.e. on the surface) the less stress and therefore the more stable the surface is. This means that the lowest possible surface area is the most stable, which is a sphere.

Making any more sense like that?

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