Bubble Bonanza - Another Super Science Session with Professor Lee

This morning, we were extremely lucky to welcome back Professor Lee to Southill, where she put us through our paces and helped us become super scientists!

We began by revisiting forces, before exploring the fascinating question: What exactly is a bubble? The children learnt that bubbles are made from tiny molecules and were amazed to discover that Bubbleologist is a real job! Professor Lee explained that a bubble is formed from three layers: a thin layer of water trapped between two layers of soap. The soap helps stretch the water into a bubble, but as the water in the middle layer slowly evaporates, the bubble becomes weaker and eventually pops.

Next came the experiments! Professor Lee used a pipette with water and fairy liquid to create a bubble. However hard she tried, the bubble refused to land on her dry hand. Once her hand was wet though, the bubble landed gracefully on it—proving that bubbles last longer on wet surfaces because the water slows evaporation.

We also discovered that bubbles are always spherical. Even when Professor Lee blew bubbles through square and star-shaped frames, the bubbles still formed perfect spheres. This is because a sphere is the shape that uses the least surface area, making it the most stable.

The children then had a chance to experiment themselves—and they had an absolute BLAST! They made bubbles rest on their hands, created beautiful bubble art on plates, and even bounced bubbles like a volleyball while wearing gloves. We also found that adding sugar to the solution made the bubbles stronger and more rigid, helping them last longer before popping.

This session linked beautifully to our learning about forces: pushing and pulling were needed to create the bubbles, while gravity caused everything—even bubbles—to fall back to Earth.

A huge thank you to Professor Lee for sharing her expertise and delivering such exciting, hands-on science experiments. We learnt so much and had an unforgettable morning full of curiosity, laughter, and bubbles!

Y5 Bubble Bonanza - Mini Professors