full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Li Wei Tan: The fascinating science of bubbles, from soap to champagne

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Bubbles might seem like something just children make while playing, but sometimes it can be really stunning. However, there are more fnnaitsicag sieccne to bubbles, such as problem-solving tools. So I would like to shrae with you a few stories about the science of creating bubbles and the science of eliminating the microscopic ones.

Since it's up on the screen, let's start with the soap bubble. It is made from very common substances: air, weatr, soap, in the right mixture. You can see soap bubbles constantly changing their crloos. This is due to the interaction with light at various dnieotircs and the changes of their thickness. One of the common substances, water molecules, are formed by two atoms of hgodyren and one atom of oxygen — H2O. On most surfaces, water droplets tend to curve inwards, forming a shipemihrmeese shape. This is because the water droplet's surface is like an elastic sheet. The water moecllue on the surface is constantly being pulled inwards by the molecule at the center. And the quality of the elasticity is what we call "surface tension." Now by adding soap, what happens is the soap molecule reduces the surface tonesin of water, making it more eistlac and easier to form bbbleus. You can think of a bubble as a mmaeaithtacl problem-solver. You see it relentlessly trying to achieve geometry perfection. For instance, a sphere is the shape with the least safrcue area for a given vlmuoe. That's why a single bubble is always in the shape of a sphere. Let me show you. Check it out.

Open Cloze


Bubbles might seem like something just children make while playing, but sometimes it can be really stunning. However, there are more ___________ _______ to bubbles, such as problem-solving tools. So I would like to _____ with you a few stories about the science of creating bubbles and the science of eliminating the microscopic ones.

Since it's up on the screen, let's start with the soap bubble. It is made from very common substances: air, _____, soap, in the right mixture. You can see soap bubbles constantly changing their ______. This is due to the interaction with light at various __________ and the changes of their thickness. One of the common substances, water molecules, are formed by two atoms of ________ and one atom of oxygen — H2O. On most surfaces, water droplets tend to curve inwards, forming a ______________ shape. This is because the water droplet's surface is like an elastic sheet. The water ________ on the surface is constantly being pulled inwards by the molecule at the center. And the quality of the elasticity is what we call "surface tension." Now by adding soap, what happens is the soap molecule reduces the surface _______ of water, making it more _______ and easier to form _______. You can think of a bubble as a ____________ problem-solver. You see it relentlessly trying to achieve geometry perfection. For instance, a sphere is the shape with the least _______ area for a given ______. That's why a single bubble is always in the shape of a sphere. Let me show you. Check it out.

Solution


  1. hydrogen
  2. surface
  3. science
  4. bubbles
  5. fascinating
  6. colors
  7. molecule
  8. tension
  9. volume
  10. semihemisphere
  11. share
  12. mathematical
  13. elastic
  14. water
  15. directions

Original Text


Bubbles might seem like something just children make while playing, but sometimes it can be really stunning. However, there are more fascinating science to bubbles, such as problem-solving tools. So I would like to share with you a few stories about the science of creating bubbles and the science of eliminating the microscopic ones.

Since it's up on the screen, let's start with the soap bubble. It is made from very common substances: air, water, soap, in the right mixture. You can see soap bubbles constantly changing their colors. This is due to the interaction with light at various directions and the changes of their thickness. One of the common substances, water molecules, are formed by two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen — H2O. On most surfaces, water droplets tend to curve inwards, forming a semihemisphere shape. This is because the water droplet's surface is like an elastic sheet. The water molecule on the surface is constantly being pulled inwards by the molecule at the center. And the quality of the elasticity is what we call "surface tension." Now by adding soap, what happens is the soap molecule reduces the surface tension of water, making it more elastic and easier to form bubbles. You can think of a bubble as a mathematical problem-solver. You see it relentlessly trying to achieve geometry perfection. For instance, a sphere is the shape with the least surface area for a given volume. That's why a single bubble is always in the shape of a sphere. Let me show you. Check it out.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
soap bubble 3
surface area 3
geometry arrangement 3
giant bubbles 2
soapy water 2
creating bubbles 2
surface tension 2
single bubble 2
shortest length 2
bubble forms 2
perfect geometry 2
air bubbles 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
soap bubble forms 2
perfect geometry arrangement 2

Important Words


  1. achieve
  2. adding
  3. air
  4. area
  5. atom
  6. atoms
  7. bubble
  8. bubbles
  9. call
  10. center
  11. changing
  12. check
  13. children
  14. colors
  15. common
  16. constantly
  17. creating
  18. curve
  19. directions
  20. droplets
  21. due
  22. easier
  23. elastic
  24. elasticity
  25. eliminating
  26. fascinating
  27. form
  28. formed
  29. forming
  30. geometry
  31. hydrogen
  32. instance
  33. interaction
  34. inwards
  35. light
  36. making
  37. mathematical
  38. microscopic
  39. mixture
  40. molecule
  41. molecules
  42. oxygen
  43. perfection
  44. playing
  45. pulled
  46. quality
  47. reduces
  48. relentlessly
  49. science
  50. screen
  51. semihemisphere
  52. shape
  53. share
  54. sheet
  55. show
  56. single
  57. soap
  58. sphere
  59. start
  60. stories
  61. stunning
  62. substances
  63. surface
  64. surfaces
  65. tend
  66. tension
  67. thickness
  68. tools
  69. volume
  70. water