Why do bubbles float in the air?

Answer 1

They actually don't float. The actual bubble is slightly heavier than the air around it, given the tiny added weight of the film of soap creating it. They are just so light that they easily respond to air currents, and if you have an area of rising warm air, e.g. above a football crowd, then it will fly upwards. Without any air currents or temperature variation it would slowly fall to the ground.

Answer 2

Bubbles are buoyed up partly because they displace a lot of air for their weight. The weight of the soap film and the difference in weight between the air inside the bubble and an equivalent volume of air outside the bubble is all that pulls the bubble to the ground. The air inside the bubble is also made slightly denser by minimal extra pressure the surrounding soap film applies to it. If the air filling the bubble is warmer than the surrounding air, it may be enough lighter that the bubble really will float upward for a little while until the air inside cools enough that it can no longer fully counterbalance the weight of the soap film. This is aside from any upward vertical air currents that may also be forcing the bubble upward.

Even when the bubble is heavier than air and no vertical currents are pushing the bubble upward, the bubble will fall very slowly because the air will tend to brake the bubble's fall. The technical term for this effect is viscous drag. The faster the bubble falls, the more intense this braking effect. The bubble will also cause a small amount of turbulence in the air as it falls, also increasing the braking effect, but for something as big and light as a bubble, the viscous drag predominates. A bubble need not fall very fast for viscous drag to counterbalance the pull of gravity and stop any further speeding toward the ground for the bubble.

Answer 3

I agree. The weight of a soap bubble is confined to the very thin soapy water layer, and is easily kept aloft by small air currents (as you will know from blowing gently at them), and the initial upward thrust when you blow gives them sufficient momentum to keep afloat for quite a while. If you blow bubbles inside a house, where there are less air currents, you will notice that they will start float back down, if they last long enough.

Answer 4

The skin created by the surface tension contains/imprisons air molecules which fly around in all directions. These molecules due to their friction cause the air inside the bubble to heat very slightly and expand becoming less dense than the outside air. Also because of their (the molecules) movement (pressure) the skin is stretched out slightly but remains spherical and whole due to the surface tension. This means that per volume there is actually less air inside than outside..........thus the density is lower.

Answer 5

The friction of the making of the bubble causes heat, and hot air raises.

Answer 6

Im not too sure, however I do know that they are very light and thus the air inside them helps them to float.

Answer 7

Bubbles are just air enclosed in thin films of substances.

Answer 8

Probably because they are so light and dense. Wind is blowing every single second no matter where you are, so because they are so light, they probably get blown around.