Does the bursting of soap bubbles reveal the physics behind the explosions?

The swan song of a soap bubble is a silent “pfttt”. Put your ear next to a soap bubble and you may hear a high-pitched sound when it pops, now, scientists have characterized that sound using an array of microphones and have analyzed the physics behind the sound of popping bubbles, scientists report.

The bursting of a bubble begins with the separation of its soapy film, the rupture growing as the film shrinks, altering the forces of the film pushing air into the bubble, physicists report. The changing forces cause pressure (sound) changes that can be picked up by microphones, furthermore, as the film recedes, the soap molecules gather near the edge of the film, changing the surface tension in the area, which also alters forces in the air and affects the sound.

To study events like bursting bubbles, scientists often turn to high-speed video, but the new technique illustrates how acoustics can reveal the changing forces that produce certain sounds, potentially including the rumble inside a volcano or the hum of a bee, according to scientists; Pictures can’t tell the whole story.

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