The temperature was -8°F (that’s -22°C for those of you living almost anywhere other than the USA) this morning, so it was time to brave the cold to blow some soap bubbles. In previous winters I found that the critical threshold for getting bubbles to freeze in mid-air seems to be around -3 or -5°F, and it’s cloudy but bright and still today, so the conditions were excellent. Many bubbles froze before hitting the ground, and a few small ones stayed intact for a minute or two after landing. I managed to blow one about the size of a large orange which stayed airborne for maybe 30 seconds, buoyed up by the faint thermal draft coming from a window. I could see it turning from an irridescent film to grey-white ice as the subdued rays of the sun hit it when it rose above the house. Finally it drifted back down to the ground and tumbled a few times as it crumbled on the snow.
I took a number of photos, but not of that large one, unfortunately. Capturing images of something as transient as a soap bubble isn’t easy in the first place, and thick gloves and the hazard of drips of soap solution don’t help any. This one was easily the best:
Click it to go to my flickr page to see a larger version. If you zoom in on it a bit you can see ice crystals suspended on the bubble.
I always wanted to do that. It’s so cool!