STEVE SPANGLER: Ever
notice there's bubbles that don't pop? Well, they do pop when
they touch your skin. Why don't they pop when
they're on the carpet? I think I've got some answers
and some really cool things to do with bubbles that you
can try at home. [MUSIC PLAYING] STEVE SPANGLER: I'm Steve
Spangler, and I'm all about making science fun. For the last 20 years, I've
been teaching ways to turn ordinary science experiments
into unforgettable learning experiences. I have an amazing team who will
do whatever it takes to affect the way people
think about science. And to do that, I live by
one motto, "Make it big. Do it right. Give it class." [MUSIC PLAYING] STEVE SPANGLER: Well, if we're
going to talk about bubbles, we need to start with
bubble solution. And contrary to popular belief,
it's not as easy as just taking soap and
adding it to water. It probably will give you
bubbles, but not the kind we're looking for. Well, if we're going to make
great bubble solution, you've got to start with the
right things. First of all, clean glassware. So I don't want to use something
that's dirty. I'm trying to keep this
as pure as possible. And clean water. Now what makes clean water? How about distilled water? Eight ounces of distilled
water, 240 milliliters. And of course, that's
just for the purist. The minerals, or sometimes the
things that are in regular tap water, they say, can hinder the formation of great bubbles. Take it for what it's worth. We're using distilled water
for these bubbles. Soap, dish soap. Now we're not looking for
anything other than the cheapest generic kind
of dish soap, Dawn, Lemon Joy, any of those. We just want stuff that doesn't
have apple, lemon, orchard scented, H1N1-killing. You just want just good,
generic soap. Into our eight ounces,
we're going to add a tablespoon of soap. For our metric people out there,
we're adding about 15 milliliters of our Dawn
dish soap to the 240 milliliters of water. And this is the basis of
our bubble solution. Well, now that you have
bubble solution, you need a bubble wand. Don't go to the store and
buy a bubble wand. I've got a better one for you. And they're made out of these
things here called, pipettes. If you've been in a chemistry
class, these are plastic eye droppers, so to speak. They're used to transfer a
little bit of liquid from one place to the next. You can see, when you squeeze,
that actually you can pull up some liquid and actually
transfer it to another place. But we don't want to transfer
the liquid. We actually want to use this
as the bubble wand. And for that, we're going to
need a pair of scissors. The trick here is simple. You're just going to cut the
very end of the pipette off. And that's what you need. This becomes our end for
the bubble solution. This becomes the end where
you put your mouth. This works so well because,
watch this. See the little pipette? This end goes in. And now there's just enough
bubble solution there. It doesn't matter how hard I
push the air through this, I get a great bubble. And I can shake the bubble
off like this. And I've got a perfect
little bubble. It's not strong, but I
got a great bubble. If you want a stronger bubble,
however, it means that we have to go back and add something to
this bubble solution that will help strengthen
the bubble. The secret is glycerine. Glycerine is this water soluble,
very viscous kind of material that is perfect for
the bubble solution. And the best bubble solution has
always had the recipe of water, soap and glycerine. I can tell you that, if I put
a tablespoon of the soap inside the cup of water here,
I'm only going to use about a half a tablespoon of this. It's pretty expensive stuff,
and I just don't need it. So about a half a tablespoon or
about 8 milliliters or so, that's perfect. This goes in here. You can actually see it's
kind of viscous here at the very bottom. See how it falls in? So it means you're going
to need to stir it up. You notice how it stirs
up a little bit? You can see it mixing. And while you might think
it's completely mixed right now, it's not. The secret here is time. Let this bubble solution
sit for 24 hours. And at the end of that, you're
going to have great bubbles. You just have to wait. [MUSIC PLAYING] STEVE SPANGLER: Or I guess I
should have noticed that this batch had been actually sitting
around for 24 hours. Thanks, Higginsworth. A little labeling would
have been nice. You can see, when you blow a
bubble, look at how much surface area you have
on that bubble. You could imagine all the
water here trying to evaporate, just like you
stepping out of the shower. And you're cold. And all that water
is evaporating. Same thing happens here. That's what really causes the
bubble to pop, when you're holding it like this. The glycerine chemically holds
the water in tighter so that it keeps it as a longer-lasting
bubble. Silly thing, though,
is it still pops. Remember how the bubble didn't
pop on the carpet? Well, I think I found
a way to bring the carpet to your hands. You just have to get one of
these silly looking gloves. It's just a kid's glove. It's a mixture of polyester
and cotton. It doesn't really matter. The key here is that
it's cloth. And the other key here is that
it's not touching my skin. See, what pops the bubble
is the oil and the dirt that's on my skin. If I could use this as the
barrier to help cushion it, I might be able to bounce
the bubble on my hand. All right, here's what
we've learned so far. Perfect bubble solution, a
combination of distilled water, Dawn dish soap and some
glycerine to keep the water from evaporating. We've got a great bubble wand. This is a pipette. And you've got the glove. Watch this. You have a recipe for the
perfect bouncing bubble. As soon as it touches my skin,
of course, it pops. This will keep you busy for
days upon days upon days. Ever notice that bubbles
are always round? It doesn't take a rocket
scientist to figure it out, right? You've got equal pressures
pushing and pulling in all directions. It's just a perfect sphere. But what if it wasn't
a perfect sphere? Could you actually change the
way that bubble looks and change the shape by using
some outside help? You can. That's where these building
toys come on. See, these building toys
are called Zometool. They're great. You could use anything
you want. I really like these, because it
just makes a perfect cube using these struts that are
right here and these great little spheres. Granted, it's not the least
expensive way to do it, but Zometool is the perfect
way to make the perfect cube for bubbles. Now, if you have a hard time
finding building structures like this, you always can use
pipe cleaners and straws. It's easy. You just put the pipe cleaner
through the straw like this, bend it, add another one. You get the idea. Ultimately, you'll come
up with this. Either one works well. A bigger container of bubble
solution, and you get this. Now watch. When you pull it up, you
get this surface structure of this film. And as you twist it, the film
does exactly what it's supposed to do. It tries to maximize the area
there using the least number of lines or connecting points. And you get this really
cool structure. Now watch. See the little trampoline
that's there? By simply shaking it,
you can make it go this way or this way. What's this cool shape called? I don't have a clue. You're going to have to find a
really smart math teacher, or ask the people over
at Numberphile. They know. When does a round bubble
turn into a square? When you do this. Bam! Oh, you see that bubble
inside the bubble? There's got to be a way to be
able to keep the bubble inside the bubble. I think I've got a way
to do that too. You see, for this, you use
the same bubble solution. We just need a different
bubble toy. And that's where
this comes in. So where do you get this
cool bubble wand? Probably the same place
you bought all of the other bubble junk. I don't know. It's just a toy. But you want this loop. You could just make
it at home. All you really want
is this loop. These things on the outside
really don't help me at all, other than it just holds the
bubble solution, because what we need is to hold that bubble
solution in place. See the film that's there? That film gives us the perfect
making for a bubble. This part just takes a little
bit of practice. But if you're like me, you'll
get it in no time. Ready? Oh, shoot. Sorry. HIGGINSWORTH: Spangler Effect,
Bubble Inside A Bubble, take two. You got this. STEVE SPANGLER: So if you're
like me, it'll take no time at all, just a little tiny
bit of practice. You pull like this, and
you'll get the bubble. Perfect. Oh. HIGGINSWORTH: Spangler Effect,
Bubble Inside A Bubble, take three. STEVE SPANGLER: If you're like
me, it takes no time at all, just a little bit of practice. Watch this. You get your bubble like this. God. HIGGINSWORTH: Bubble Inside
A Bubble, take seven. STEVE SPANGLER: In
no time at all, you'll have this mastered. You just pull the bubble
like this. HIGGINSWORTH: Bubble Inside
A Bubble, take 37. STEVE SPANGLER: In no time at
all, you will have a bubble inside of a bubble like this,
because you just pull it like this and it'll-- oh, god. HIGGINSWORTH: Take 48. STEVE SPANGLER: In no time at
all, you'll have a bubble inside of a bubble. You just simply pull-- HIGGINSWORTH: Take 49. STEVE SPANGLER: In no time at
all, you will be a bubble-- HIGGINSWORTH: Take 50. STEVE SPANGLER: You're going
to be a bubble master. With just a little bit of-- HIGGINSWORTH: Take 51. STEVE SPANGLER: In no time at
all, you will be a bubble master, because you're going to
get a bubble that is inside of a bubble that falls
on the table. HIGGINSWORTH: Take 52. STEVE SPANGLER: So if you're
like me, it'll take no time at all, just a little tiny
bit of practice. You pull like this. And you'll get the bubble. And now you've got to catch
the bubble upside down. So you see how we're catching
it this way? So it's inverted on
the bubble wand. And now you're going
to puff a bubble in the bubble like that. See, I've been teaching teachers
how to blow the bubble inside the bubble
for years. And all the kids are the same. They want to be the bubble
inside the bubble. So what would it take
for you to be the bubble inside the bubble? Bigger tools. Higginsworth, get the
swimming pool. Well, you saw a bubble
inside of a bubble. And now you want to be
inside the bubble? This is what you're
going to need. Take a look. This is a swimming pool
that has about five gallons of water. To that, we have our dish soap, and we have our glycerine. And again, we just played with
the quantities, until we got a good solution. The key here, 24 hours. Let it sit. And we've started playing with
this hula hoop that's here. And while that's OK, it's not
nearly as good as this little contraption we made just using
sprinkler irrigation pipe. So it didn't take much of it. A little trip to the hardware
store, and we're set. And this gives you, now, this
beautiful bubble film. Look at this. Now the object would be to put a
kid inside the bubble or put you inside the bubble. That just means that you've
got to find a kid. And I think I found one. Here's a kid. Here you go, kid. And if they're wearing safety
glasses, it's all the better. And if they're named
Ella, it's perfect. Is your name Ella? ELLA: Mm-hm. STEVE SPANGLER: See? This is perfect. All right, here we go. Nice! I know what you're thinking. Can you do it with two kids? Here's another kid. In you go, kid. All right, two kids. Here, just hug. Pretend like you're sisters. Are you sisters? ELLA: Mm-hm. FEMALE SPEAKER: Mm-hm. STEVE SPANGLER: Oh,
this is perfect. All right, stay there. Don't move. Ready? Go! You're in a bubble! That was awesome! All right, hey guys, sorry
about the mess. Can you get that all cleaned
up for me and everything? I've got lot to do. I've got to go. Bye. See you guys later. [MAKING MOTOR NOISES] Where did you come from? I'm bigger than you are. And I'm newer than you are. And I am-- oops. Oh, my god. Higginsworth?
