Behold, I have not even the slightest clue as to why bubbles are round/spherical shaped. While they aren’t perfectly shaped every try, they do look smooth as glass and glossy. Now that my curiosity is piqued, here is the reasoning behind the perfectly chiseled, yet light as air shape of the enigmatic bubble. Bubbles are composed of firmly packed layers of thin liquid that form a fancy scientific cohesion. Which basically means the molecules of the liquid are really attracted to themselves, packing tightly together. Thus, surface tension or the “cohesive molecules between liquid molecules” is formed to trap the air molecules used to blow the bubble in the first place. Comparable to balloons, the air trapped within the liquid surface tension paired with the air surrounding the bubble, mesh together to provide the enjoyable outdoor soap bubbles.

     While bubbles were particularly fun to our childhood selves, scientists can now manipulate bubble shapes to study “geometry of surfaces.” Who knew that something as playful as the soap bubble would benefit the world of science? 

Photo courtesy of cnx.org