Hooked on science: Giant bubbles

Are you tired of that wimpy bubble solution you get at the store? If so, try making your own. It's easy, and the bubbles are a lot bigger.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of liquid dish soap
• 2 gallons of water
• 1/2 cup of corn syrup
• Wire coat hanger
• Pipe cleaners

Instructions

STEP 1: In a large bucket, mix the liquid dish soap, water and corn syrup.

STEP 2: Bend the wire coat hanger into a round shape, creating a bubble wand.

STEP 3: Starting near the bubble wand handle, loop pipe cleaners around the wire coat hanger.

STEP 4: Dip your bubble wand into the super bubble solution and move the wand through the air.

Explanation

The liquid dish soap weakens the surface tension allowing the water to be stretched into a thin film.

Jason Lindsey is a Science Outreach Educator for the Bootheel Youth Museum. Check out his Web site Hooked On Science at hookedonscience.org for webcasts and experiments that might get you hooked on science. Send him your science questions at jlindsey@bootheelyouthmuseum.org. More science experiments can be found at www.semissourian.com.