THESE images reveal for the first time what happens when an 鈥渁ntibubble鈥� bursts.
An antibubble is a thin, spherical shell of air in a liquid 鈥� the exact opposite of a soap bubble, which is a thin, spherical shell of liquid in air. They were first described in the 1930s but have never been well studied. 鈥淢ost scientists are surprised that they exist,鈥� says St茅phane Dorbolo, at the University of Li猫ge in Belgium.
Dorbolo and colleagues used high-speed photography to study how antibubbles are born and die. To make their antibubbles, they poured blue water into a beaker of soapy water. As the thin stream of coloured water plunges in, it drags air with it, which separates into blue antibubbles.
Advertisement
The antibubbles can live as long as 7 minutes, Dorbolo says. But they are beautiful when they burst. Bursting bubbles simply vanish, but antibubbles go through complex death throes. This sequence shows a sinking antibubble, which popped due to water pressure. As it collapses, a small bubble of air escapes upwards and the liquid fans out in a spiralling vortex ().