Frozen Soap Bubbles Activity
By: Highlights Editorial
Looking for a fun activity you can do when it’s freezing outside? Blow bubbles! That’s right—a soap bubble is made of water and soap, and surprising things happen when the water freezes. The colder the air, the more interesting the results, so bundle up and head outside (for a few minutes at least)!
What You'll Need
What to Do
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Stir a drop of glycerin into a small dish of dishwashing soap.
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Use the bubble wand to blow a few bubbles indoors to make sure the bubble solution works.
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Dress warmly and take the bubble solution and wand outside into the freezing air.
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Use the bubble wand to blow bubbles.
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Let some bubbles fall to the ground.
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Break some bubbles as they fall.
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Watch what happens!
How It Works
If the temperature is low enough, the skin of the bubble freezes, becoming cloudy instead of clear. The rainbow swirls in the soap will still be there even when the bubble freezes, but they don’t swirl anymore. The bubble still floats in the air. It won’t fall to the ground any faster than it would on a warm summer day.
At 10 degrees below 0 Fahrenheit and colder, the frozen bubbles don’t break into droplets as summer bubbles do. Instead, they turn into sparkling rainbow confetti and flutter to the ground. Sometimes a frozen bubble will roll across the snow without breaking. If it breaks, it may leave a leathery bubble skin on the ground. If nothing disturbs the bubble, it may stay there for quite a long time.
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