We had some extra dry ice here today that was being used for a lab where we needed something really really cold. But the other interesting thing about dry ice is that it turns into a gas. I let it sit at the bottom of this glass tank for a few minutes, and then I removed a lid and blew a few bubbles so that they went into the tank:
Later, I set things up to be just a little fancier:
I dropped by the offices of scientists around my building here at Weber State University and asked them to blow bubbles and tell me about the things they notice and wonder. At the same time, I recorded video of these episodes on my phone. Here’s a quick 10-minute compilation of the things they did, noticed, and wondered.
My guess is that the things you’ve observed and wondered are really similar to these scientists.
Special thanks to (in order of appearance):
It’s no secret that I enjoy blowing bubbles and I’ve made good use of them in classes, workshops, and informal learning settings, as I describe here. In all of these, I’ve made the case that: