2A15.01 - Soap Bubble Recipes

Code Number:
2A15.01
Demo Title:
Soap Bubble Recipes
Condition:
Excellent
Principle:
Surface Tension & Thin Films
Area of Study:
Heat & Fluids

Disclaimer

Equipment:
Glycerin, Dish Washing Soap, Water, Commercial Bubble Mixture.
Procedure:

Pick a recipe and try it out.

These are some good solutions:

1.  My Stock Solution:

  • 70 mL Joy
  • 20 mL Glycerine
  • 230 mL H20
  • 115 mL Miracle Bubble

2.  Charles Windsor Solution:

  • 70 mL Joy or Ivory
  • 230 mL Distilled H20
  • 20 mL Glycerine

3.  Recipe Three:

  • 1 Part Glycerine
  • 2 Parts Soap
  • 3 Parts Water
  • 3 Parts Wonder Bubble

4.  Recipe Four:

  • Use 8 oz of Wonder Bubble
  • Add 1 to 2 oz of Joy
  • Add 1 to 2 oz of Glycerine

5.  Recipe Five:

  • Equal Parts - Joy, Glycerine, & Water

6.  Recipe Six:

  • 1 Part Glycerine
  • 2 Parts Soap
  • 3 Parts Water

7.  Recipe Seven:

  • 2.5 oz Joy Liquid Detergent
  • 8 oz Distilled Water
  • 6.5 oz Glycerine

8.  Recipe Eight:  -  To Make Long Lasting or Permanent Bubbles

  • 60cc H2O                                          40 ml dishwashing liquid  
  • 1 Tablespoon Knox Gelatin    OR     100 ml glycerol
  • Heat to 900 C                                   1 gram, guar gum or HEC (hydroxyethylcellulose)
  • 9cc Glycerine                                   1 liter water
  • 3cc Joy

9.  Recipe Nine:  -  Gerald Zani's Solution

  • 5 Drops of Liquid Soap
  • No More Than 1 Drop of Glycerine
  • 1/2 Gallon of Distilled Water

10.  Recipe Ten:  -  Karen Bouffard's Solution

  • 1:10 Dilution of Dawn to Water
  • 2-3 Drops of Glycerine

11.  Recipe Eleven:  -  Brad Shue's Solution

  • 17 Parts Water
  • 2 Parts Kids Bubble Stuff
  • 1.5 Parts Glycerine
  • 1.5 Parts Dawn (BLUE! NOT YELLOW!!)

12.  Recipe Twelve:  -  Zig's Soap Solution

  • 300 gm of H2O
  • 200 gm of Glycerin
  • 200 gm of Ivory Liquid (The Dark Colored Stuff)

13.  Recipe Thirteen:  -  Fun Zone Bubble Stuff - Basic Bubbles

  • 1 oz Dawn Dish Soap
  • 2 Cups Distilled Water
  • 1/2 oz Glycerin

14. Recipe Fourteen:  -  Fun Zone Bubble Stuff - Long Life Bubbles

  • 1 oz Dawn Dish Soap
  • 1 Cup Distilled Water
  • 1 oz Glycerin
  • (Let Mix Stand for 24 Hours)

15. Recipe Fifteen:  -  Fun Zone Bubble Stuff - Bubbles for One

  • 1 oz Joy Dishwashing Liquid
  • 6 oz Distilled Water
  • 2 oz Karo Syrup

16. Recipe Sixteen:  -  Fun Zone Bubble Stuff - Karo Bubbles

  • 2 Cups Joy Dishwashing Liquid
  • 3/4 Cup Karo Syrup
  • 6 Cups Water

17. Recipe Seventeen:

  • 1/4 Part liquid dish soap
  • 3/4 Part water
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons glycerin

18. Recipe Eighteen:  -  To Make Long Lasting or Permanent Bubbles

  • 75 g  Liquid Dish Soap
  • 500 mL Water
  • 50 g Sugar
  • 3 g Wallpaper Paste

19. Recipe Nineteen:  -  Described in Physical Review Fluids 5 by Authors Stephen Frazier, Xinyi Jiang, and Justin C. Burton

  • 1 L of Water (About 2 Pints)
  • 50 mL Dawn Professional Detergent (A Little Over 3 TBSP)
  • 2 to 3 g Guar Powder, A Food Thickener (About 1/2 Heaping TSP)
  • 50 mL Rubbing Alcohol (A Little More Than 3 TBSP)
  • 2 g Baking Powder (About 1/2 TSP)
  • Directions for Mixing:
    • Mix the Guar Powder with the alcohol and stir until there are no clumps.
    • Combine the alcohol/Guar slurry with the water and mix gently for 10 minutes.  Let it sit for a bit so the Guar hydrates.  Then mix again.  The water should thicken slightly, like thin soup or unset Gelatin.
    • Add the baking powder and stir.
    • Add the Dawn Professional Detergent and stir gently, to avoid causing the mixture to foam.
    • Dip a giant bubble wand with a fibrous string into the mixture until it is fully immersed and slowly pull the string out.  Wave the wand slowly or blow on it to create giant soap bubbles.

20. Recipe Twenty:  -  Tom Senior Recipe for Large Bubbles

  • 1/3 Cup Dawn Ultra Dishwashing Soap
  • 1000 mL Water
  • 1 g Baking Soda
  • 2 g HEC (Hydroxyethylcellulose, Available From Lotioncrafter.com)
  • 1/2 g Citric Acid
  • Stir the HEC, Citric Acid, and Baking Soda into the water until fairly clear (about 5 min.).  Add the Dawn, mix without making foam, and let stand over night.

21. Recipe Twenty One: from TPT, Vol. 43, #5, May 2005, p. 338.

  • 60 ml of Ultra Joy
  • 15 ml of glycerin
  • 925 ml of water
References:
  • Daniela Rapava, "This Month's Cover...", TPT, Vol. 54, #9, Dec. 2016. 
  • L. M. Gratton, S. Oss, "Soap, Colors, Holes, and Much More", TPT, Vol. 43, #5, May 2005, p. 338.
  • Paul A. Smith, "Long Lasting Soap-Gelatin Films", TPT , Vol. 5, #2, Feb. 1967, p. 87.
  • Bernard Sharkey, "Soap Films", TPT, Vol. 3, #6, Sept. 1965, p. 285.
  • F. Behroozi and P. S. Behroozi, "Determination of Surface Tension From the Measurement of Internal Pressure of Mini Soap Bubbles", AJP, Vol. 79, #11, Nov. 2011, p. 1089.
  • F. Behroozi, "Soap Bubbles in Paintings: Art and Science", AJP, Vol. 76, #12, Dec. 2008, p. 1087.
  • F. L. Román, J. Faro, and S. Velasco, "A Simple Experiment for Measuring the Surface Tension of Soap Bubbles", AJP, Vol. 69, #8, Aug. 2001, p. 920.
  • "Arresting Soap-Bubble Flows", Physics Today, Vol. 69, #11, Nov. 2016, p. 88.
  • Pascal Panizza and Laurent Courbin, "Bubble Blowing by the Numbers", Physics Today, Vol. 79, #7, July 2016, p. 78. 
  • Yves Pomeau and Emmanuel Villermaux, "Two Hundred Years of Capillarity Research", Physics Today, Vol. 59, #3, Mar. 2006, p. 39.
  • '"Soap Film Mixture", PIRA Newsletter, Vol. 3, #17, Jan. 1990, p. 9.
  • Stephen Frazier, Xinyi Jiang, and Justin C. Burton, "How to Make a Giant Bubble", Physical Review Fluids 5, 013304, Jan. 2020.
  • "Four Ways of Looking at a Bubble", Reader's Digest, June 2009, p. 152.
  • Jearl Walker, "2.77, Soap Bubbles and Beer Foams", The Flying Circus of Physics Ed. 2, p. 115.
  • Jearl Walker, "2.78, Bursting Bubbles", The Flying Circus of Physics Ed. 2, p. 116.
  • Jearl Walker, "2.123, Bubble Paths", The Flying Circus of Physics Ed. 2, p. 136.
  • Jearl Walker, "2.124, Antibubbles", The Flying Circus of Physics Ed. 2, p. 136.
  • Ed Sobey and Woody Sobey, "Bubble Gun", The Way Toys Work, p. 28.
  • Raymond Bruman, "Soap Bubbles", Exploratorium Cookbook I, p. 10.1-10.2.
  • Don Herbert and Roy McKie, "Giant Bubbles", Mr. Wizard's Supermarket Science, p. 48.
  • Janice VanCleave, "Soap Bubbles", 200 Gooey, Slippery, Slimy, Weird, & Fun Experiments, p. 51.
  • Curt Suplee, "Pascal's Liquid Assets", Everyday Science Explained, National Geographic, p. 48 - 49.
Professor Bubbles
The Bubbles Page, Bizzarre Labs
Bubble Tray, Exploratorium Teacher Institute
Soap Bubble Wiki
Physicists Determine the Optimal Soap Recipe for Blowing Gigantic Bubbles
PDF icon Bizzar Stuff: Bubbles PDF
PDF icon Bubble Tray: Creating Giant Bubbles PDF
PDF icon Soap Bubbles Wiki PDF

Disclaimer: These demonstrations are provided only for illustrative use by persons affiliated with The University of Iowa and only under the direction of a trained instructor or physicist.  The University of Iowa is not responsible for demonstrations performed by those using their own equipment or who choose to use this reference material for their own purpose.  The demonstrations included here are within the public domain and can be found in materials contained in libraries, bookstores, and through electronic sources.  Performing all or any portion of any of these demonstrations, with or without revisions not depicted here entails inherent risks.  These risks include, without limitation, bodily injury (and possibly death), including risks to health that may be temporary or permanent and that may exacerbate a pre-existing medical condition; and property loss or damage.  Anyone performing any part of these demonstrations, even with revisions, knowingly and voluntarily assumes all risks associated with them.