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Bubbles in the rain

We understand that the mechanism that causes a bubble to pop is that the water that is contained between the inside and outside layer of surfactant drops to the bottom due to gravity.

The hypothesis is that a bubble that is sprayed with mist (and thus "refueled" with water) will last longer than one that isn’t.

A granite table top was covered in a soupy film. Bubbles were blown onto it until a half bubble stuck to the table top. Bubbles smaller than a golf ball were destroyed in order to limit size variation.

Odd numbered bubbles were left to pop by themselves.

Even numbered bubbles were sprayed with a fine mist of water.

In total 22 bubbles were measured. 11 dry and 11 wet.

The surface was sponged of excess water when it get too wet.

Bubbles that popped before stabilising were ignored.

Dry bubble lasted an average of 11.9 sec

Wet lasted 32.4 sec