Incredible slow motion footage of a soap bubble FREEZING reveals the physics behind the 'snow globe effect'
- A soap bubble freezing over was recorded in a cold room and in a warmer room
- When the bubble is the same temperature as the environment it freezes over
- Swirling ice crystals are formed which give the 'snow globe effect' its name
- These eventually come together and the entire bubble freezes over
Incredible slow-motion footage of a soap bubble freezing has helped shed light on the beautiful phenomena known as the 'snow globe effect'.
This remarkable quirk of physics sees tiny crystals swarm around the surface of the bubble before eventually sticking together and freezing over.
The science behind the beautiful event has never been studied and a team from Virginia Tech in the US looked to understand the mechanism behind it.
Incredible footage of a soap bubble freezing has helped shed light on the beautiful phenomena known as the 'snow globe effect'. This remarkable quirk of physics sees tiny crystals swarm around the surface of the bubble before eventually sticking together
Jonathan Boreyko and colleagues investigated the heat transfer processes that govern the dynamics of freezing soap bubbles.
The authors write in their study, published in the journal Nature Communications: 'Droplets or puddles tend to freeze from the propagation of a single freeze front.
'In contrast, videographers have shown that as soap bubbles freeze, a plethora of growing ice crystals can swirl around in a beautiful effect visually reminiscent of a snow globe.
'However, the underlying physics of how bubbles freeze has not been studied.'
The authors placed bubbles on a icy surface with the room at different temperatures and filmed the freezing process.
It is a result of a phenomena known as a Marangoni flow, which sees a liquid flow from areas of low surface tension to areas of high surface tension and causing ice crystals to detach and swirl independently. Eventually the entire bubble freezes over as the crystal aggregate
They observed that two different freezing mechanisms take place depending on the temperature.
When the surrounding air is the same temperature as the bubble itself the snow globe effect can be seen.
It is a result of a phenomena known as a Marangoni flow, which sees a liquid flow from areas of low surface tension to areas of high surface tension and causing ice crystals to detach and swirl independently.
Eventually the entire bubble freezes over as the crystal aggregate.
But a frozen surface and a soap bubble placed in a room temperature environment sees the bubble freeze from the coldest point - where the bubble is in contact with the frozen surface - and slowly rises upwards.
This process is halted halfway up the bubble due to poor conduction and eventually collapses as it can no longer sustain itself.
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