Why is it that no matter what color bubble bath you use the bubbles are always white?

Answer 1

The bubble solution you pour into the tub is colored, but the color only shows up in the concentration in the bottle. Once you mix the bubble solution with the tub water, you've diluted the color with the water in the rest of the tub.

The bubbles are clear because the color has been diluted. If you added more of the coloring that is in the bubble solution to your tub water, eventually you would have colored bubbles (and probably a very hazardous bath!)

Answer 2

The bubble bath manufacturers have formed a great bubble conspiracy. They will only put white bubbles in the bottle of colored liquid. That way, people will continue buying different colored bubble bath to try to get colored bubbles. By the time I soak all the dirt off in the tub, my bubbles have turned a very sick shade of brown.

Answer 3

Any pigments in the bubble bath liquid become very dilute when you put the liquid into a large volume of water, so they have little effect on the bubbles. The pigments are mainly to make the product look attractive on the shelf.

The reason that bubble foam looks white (and also the reason snow looks white) is that it refracts the light dozens of times. Essentially, white light comes from your bathroom light, strikes the foam, is reflected and refracted dozens of times at unpredictable angles, and eventually emerges from the foam in a random direction. Since the process is highly randomized, the foam looks the same (white) from all angles.