Hey it's Tadd Truscott in the BYU Splash Lab, and today we're gonna pop
some bottles and break some balloons
to show how everyday life can be beautiful in super slow motion.
These simple three-dimensional objects can teach us a lot about
fluid dynamics.
When you blow a bubble, it forms a sphere. This is because you blow pressure on the inside and then
the molecules on the surface group together as tightly as possible,
and that grouping causes it to be equally distributed, which forms a sphere.
When the soap film is punctured, notice how surface tension ruptures it symmetrically,
and you get this beautiful spray of water droplets.
When we filled this bubble with CO2, it can help us visualize the air movement.
The soap film moves away very rapidly and the CO2 cloud remains.
You can see the surface to the CO2 has these little waves where
the soap film retracted.
Wait no, go back, I want to see that in slow mo.
We've also been using light to measure the thickness of soap film.
Bubbles have reflective surfaces, and the surface colors actually correlate to
the thickness of the soap film.
Here, as the metal marble breaks the soap film,
the fluid bunches up, and you can see the color changes
as the fluid is thicker in one spot and thinner in another.
The refracted light changes with thickness and alters its perceived color.
That's awesome.
When we fill the bubble with gas, there isn't much air inside, so it only
ignites when it's exposed to oxygen. Here you can see the bubble rupturing and then the gas igniting.
It's like there's droplets of flame.
Look at that. That is incredible.
We wanted to see how an electrical charge
or static electricity would fit into the equation. So watch how this soap bubble
is attracted to the electrical charge.
When the surface tension is small compared to the charge,
the top on the bubble is pulled away from the surface causing it to rupture.
The bubble bursts without making any contact with the object at all.
Unlike bubbles, balloons
aren't typically spherical. They have different shapes, varying thicknesses, and plasticity.
Oh my gosh I'm going to pass out.
Where as the soap film ruptures evenly, a balloon will tear into oblong or
crescent shapes.
This balloon is tested beyond its limit, forcing it to tear at multiple stress points.
Here's a common experiment in every chemistry class,
igniting a gas-filled balloon. Of course never ever try anything like this at home.
This balloon actually has some tiny water droplets on the surface so you can see
when it ignites, the droplets initially maintain their shape and then fall
downward by the force of gravity.
You can see the heat waves at the top of the explosion
which changes the index of refraction of the air and causes the background to become distorted.
So am I going right here?
When punctured, this balloon rips all the way up
and then retracts towards her hands, leaving this beautiful globe of
water which holds its shape momentarily until gravity
causes it to fall. The wavelengths here are very small
and cause ripples on the water and spraylets as the elastic surface
peels away.
I think that was good. Bubbles and balloons can be a part of your
home mini laboratory
where you explore fluid dynamics through experimentation.
I am Tadd Truscott from the BYU Splash Lab
reminding you that science can be exciting, useful,
and fun all at the same time.
Help me out here.
Yeah, OK wait, go back, go back. That looks so cool!