Sunday, January 23, 2022

French physicists create bubble that takes more than a year to pop

A team of physicists from France's University of Lille said they used glycerol to create a gas bubble that lasted for 465 days before popping. 
Photo courtesy of Aymeric Roux, Alexis Duchesne and Michael Baudoin/University of Lille

Jan. 21 (UPI) -- A team of French physicists announced they blew a bubble that lasted for 465 days before popping.

The University of Lille team, whose findings were published in the journal Physical Review Fluids, said their research into soap bubbles found they tend to pop after just a few moments due to the "gravity-induced drainage and/or the evaporation of the liquid" inside the soap sphere.

The team, Aymeric Roux, Alexis Duchesne and Michael Baudoin, studied typical "fragile and ephemeral" soap bubbles and gas marbles, a type of bubble made from a liquid solution that contains plastic beads.

The researchers said they analyzed water-based gas marbles and gas marbles made with a solution of water and glycerol, a compound commonly used in various foods and medicines.

The gas marbles containing glycerol displayed particular longevity, with one of the bubbles lasting for a total 465 days before bursting. The team said the gas marble's lifespan is believed to be a new world record.

The researchers said the long-lasting bubbles they created during their project could be used to create stable foams.

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