Bubbles! We all know how fascinating they are, evoking happy memories of blowing and chasing the mystical orbs with our friends. The fragile nature of bubbles, beautiful rainbow colors and ability to soar in the sky make them universally fascinating among children. What's the science behind (or inside) a bubble? Bubbles can provide a fun way to study scientific concepts such as elasticity, surface tension, chemistry, light, and even geometry. Your students can engage in processes such as observation, experimentation, investigation, and discovery simply by studying bubbles. To get you started, here's a fun demonstration you can perform while explaining some of the science of bubbles. Follow the recipe at the end of this article to create super strong bubbles for your show. Wearing a clown costume is optional. Blow a bubble, have a few laughs. Then talk about what constitutes a bubble. Bubbles are simply air wrapped in a film of soap. Soap film is made of soap and water (or other liquid). The outer and inner surfaces of a bubble are made up of soap molecules. Between the two layers of soap molecules lies a thin layer of water, a sort of sandwich of water with soap molecules for bread. They work together to keep air inside. Create a stretching bubble using a large wand (which you can make from a piece of wire). Throw it into the air so that the bubble follows it and grows behind it. Then, with great drama, he lets go of the bubble. Give students a chance to notice what happens to the bubble before it pops. Why is a bubble round? Bubbles can stretch and become all kinds of crazy looking shapes. But if you seal a bubble by detaching it from the wand, the tension in the skin of the bubble shrinks to the smallest possible shape for the volume of air it contains... in the center of the paper... and you poke the bubble, put the straw back in the bubble and blow another bubble. At this point you should be pretty awesome in their minds. Why didn't the bubble burst? The bubble wraps around anything wet, filling the hole that would have been created. There is much more to know about bubbles. We hope your amazing demonstration sparks your students' interest in learning more about the science of bubbles! The formula for amazing bubbles: 1 cup liquid dish soap such as Joy or Dawn (not "ultra") 6 cups distilled water inside a clean container with a lid 1 tablespoon glycerin OR 1/4 cup corn syrup light Pour the dish soap into the water and mix without letting bubbles form (this will be for later!). Place glycerin or corn syrup into the mixture and stir. You can use it right away, but some bubble lovers recommend covering and letting the bubble mixture sit overnight.