GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — It's finally October and that means Halloween is not far away as spooky season is upon us.
Today we are going to watch a bubble snake appear before our eyes with our West Michigan Chevy Dealer Weather Kid of the Month and Candace Monacelli’s science experiment.
A bubble snake….sounds spooky right?? Its an easy fun way to learn with the whole family while getting into the holiday spirit.
This experiment will teach us about air science and chemistry. Let’s get started and figure how we can create a bubble snake. Here’s what you need.
- Food coloring
- Dawn dish soap
- Water
- Scissors or a box cutter
- Empty water bottle
- Thin cloth
- Rubber band
Step 1 – make the bubble solution! Pour 2 to 3 tablespoons of dawn dish soap into a bowl then add about 9oz of water to the same bowl and mix together. Let this mixture stand undisturbed for up to 24 hours
Step 2 – make the snake! Take your empty 16 or 20 ounce water bottle and using scissors or a box cutter cut off the bottom of the plastic bottle
Step 3 – cover the freshly cut hole with a thin cloth of washcloth or cotton sock material then use a rubber band to secure it in place
Step 4 – add a few drops of food coloring to the outside of the cloth on the bottom of the bottle
Step 5 – dip the cloth covered bottle into the bowl of bubble solution
Step 6 – blow into the top of the bottle and watch your bubble snake in action!
Bubble snakes… how cool is this!! Bubbles are super simple and we see them everyday when we wash our hands but they show off chemistry really well. Bubbles form because of surface tension of water. The hydrogen atoms in one water molecule are attracted to oxygen atoms in other water molecules. Since they like each other so much they stick together! Why are these bubbles round though?? Bubbles hold the maximum volume of air in the minimum amount of bubble solution which is why they are always round.
So when we blow air through our bubble snake we are creating hundreds even thousands of tiny little bubbles. As our air shakes through the fabric bubbles are continuously being made attaching to each other all thanks to that hydrogen bond making bubbles possible! You can even try this experiment more with different sized bottles or different bubble solutions. See what works best or how different changes affects the bubble snake.