Monday, May 6, 2013

Week #16 (4/28-5/4/13):

This week, the class and I were informed that all our chicken embryos for our final lab were dead from being frozen overnight. That's Minnesota spring weather for you! After morning our losses, we played with bubbles to brighten the mood. No not really. There is actually a scientific aspect to soap bubbles!

Bubbles actually have similar attributes as cells. One of their main aspects is maximizing their free contact to minimize free energy in their system. In fact, numerous books have been written about the art and science of bubble making. It has been know that soap bubbles solve complex mathematical problems concerning their spatial orientation because bubbles will always find ways to make the smallest surface area between a set of contact points.

In our lab, we set out to create bubble patterns to display just that! To solve the dilemma of our bubbles popping within seconds, Professor Myers provided us with a general recipe containing Dawn dish soap, glycerin, and water. We tweaked it, more or less, to the desired proportions we wanted to maximize each bubble's lifespan. So this meant using as much glycerin as possible. Listed below are just a few of the patterns I manged to create.

Trial 1: Two large bubbles


Trial 2: Tres bubbles


Trial 3: Mas bubbles