Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 313, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 January 1918 — SOAP BUBBLES ARE DURABLE [ARTICLE]

SOAP BUBBLES ARE DURABLE

If Blown in Accordance With Scientist’s Directions They Can Be Mdde to Last for Months. The transient existence of the soap bubble is proverbial, but Prof. J. Dewer, in a discourse delivered at the Royal institution in London, explained how soap bubbles could be made to last for months, and exhibited several specimens. The first requisite is that the air used In blowing the bubble shall be free from dust ItNProfe'ssor Dewar’s process the air Is filtered through cotton wool, and the bubbles are blown by opening a stopcock in the air-supply tube. For the soap solution he prefers the purest oleic acid (tested by the iodine number) and ammonium (not potassium or sodium.) To make a bubble durable the sac of liquid must be removed from rtlf bottom by suction through tubes applied from outside., The lecturer showed bubbles more than half a yard in diameter, blown in glass vessels containing pure air at atmospheric pressure. A little water is kept at the bottom of the vessel. A uniform temperature of about 50 degrees Fahrenheit is favorable to longevity. Professor Dewar said some of the smaller bubbles were a year old.