Ok, I did the frozen bubble experiment with my kids this morning. If you’re wondering “what experiment is he talking about?” It’s is basically where you take a bubble solution (homemade or actual bubbles from the store works too) out into the FREEZING cold, blow bubbles, and they freeze. Now, when I say FREEZING cold, it really only works when it’s 12 degrees or lower outside. Last night, at our house, it got down to 12…but my kids had already crashed out before it reached that temperature, so I didn’t wake them to do the experiment. This morning, however, I rousted them awake and hurried them along so that I could do the experiment with them AND get to work on time.
9 degrees. That’s what it was this morning. Well, you have to blow bubbles to do this experiment, right? So, big thick gloves are kind of out. So, bare-handed, armed with a bubble-blowing wand, I blew the bubbles. Most of the dastardly things flew away. Many of the few that stuck close by popped when I tried to catch them on the wand. All of this equals more gloveless time in the 9 degree freezing cold. Once your elusive bubbly prey has finally been caught, you can watch the bubbles freeze. Depending on HOW cold it is, I assume it happens faster and maybe more visibly. But, in 9 degrees, it takes about 30 seconds, and you don’t see ice extremely well like in the video I posted from youtube of someone doing the experiment. Instead, you see hints of ice. Squiggly lines crawl around the bubble, and reflective spots appear that could be reflection on the water OR could be ice forming. You’ll know once the bubble pops from the ice coverage. When that happens, the ice covering breaks and falls like an outer skin on the bubble.
I did this about 4 times for my boys. With all the failed attempts to capture the bubbles, a lot of the liquid solution found its way onto my hands. So, yes, in 9 degrees, my hands were wet. Yet I persisted so that my boys could get the full experience. When they grow up, I hope they’ll remember how hard I tried and cared…and not just wonder why “Daddy” was dumb enough to hang out in 9 degrees weather with wet hands…