Walter, a young African penguin at the New York Aquarium, loves soap bubbles. In fairness to Walter, so do most people I’ve met. There’s just something that feels a bit magical about these ephemeral rainbow spheres that pop at a (dry) touch.
Bubbles owe their colors to thin film interference–the colors actually indicate how thick the bubble film is–and their stability (and fast disintegration) to surface tension. With schlieren photography or flow visualization, watching bubbles gets even cooler. Do you suppose a penguin would appreciate bubbles popping at 50,000 fps? (Image credit: New York Aquarium; via PopSci)
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