🫧 Bubbleology: Engineering the Perfect Bubble
This is a story-led, interactive science show that uses bubbles as a powerful context for exploring key concepts in chemistry and physics. Through live demonstrations, audience participation, and theatrical moments, pupils discover that bubbles are not magic — they are carefully engineered systems.
The show takes learners on a journey from the earliest use of soap through to modern scientific understanding of materials, gases, and chemical reactions, culminating in dramatic visual effects and a memorable finale.
A dazzling science show bursting with colour, chemistry, and botanical brilliance!
Step into a world where plants become potions, bath bombs fizz into life, and bubbles float, bounce, stretch, and soar!
In this interactive, laughter-filled science show, Scientific Sue invites young volunteers to become Junior Bubbleologists, helping to uncover the magical science hiding inside everyday materials.
Blending chemistry, forces, gases, and the wonders of the natural world, Bubbleology transforms scientific ideas into playful, memorable experiences for audiences of all ages.
✨ What to Expect
Bubbleology is packed with spectacular demonstrations designed to ignite curiosity and bring Science2Life. Each performance is tailored to KS1, KS2, or KS3, with language, explanations, and content adjusted for age and curriculum level.
The sections below are just a taste of the bubbling science adventures in the show. Along the way we explore foams, fizzing reactions, floating gases, colour-changing chemistry, and of course some truly enormous bubbles.
Together, we might explore:
🫧 Bubbles vs Balloons
Scientific Sue demonstrates a stunning bubble trick by blowing smaller bubbles inside one giant shimmering bubble.
Investigate how these two familiar favourites compare.
Explore air pressure, forces, gas behaviour, buoyancy, and elasticity as we discover why some bubbles float, some sink, and some even bounce!
What is the secret to making giant bubbles?
🧪 Fizzing Colour-Changing Potions
Watch a mysterious colour-changing liquids transform before your eyes! Using special bubble baths containing the chemical indicator bromocresol green, we explore how scientists detect acids and bases.
First, we test the potion with baking soda (a base) and citric acid (an acid) to see how the colours magically change. Then the real excitement begins — the ingredients are combined to create a fizzing, colour-changing bath bomb, where chemistry bubbles, fizzes, and transforms in a spectacular reaction.
Discover how chemical indicators help scientists reveal hidden clues about the substances around us — turning everyday ingredients into a laboratory of colour, fizz, and fun.
🚀 Fizz-Powered Rocket Science
Discover how chemical reactions create gases with very different properties.
Watch carbon dioxide rockets launch and foaming oxygen bubbles burst into action as we explore how fuel, force, and thrust send real rockets skyward.
❄️ The Power of Carbon Dioxide
After creating carbon dioxide through fizzing bath bombs and a rocket-powered reaction, we explore what happens when this gas is captured and engineered on an industrial scale.
In the real world, carbon dioxide can be compressed into a liquid and then cooled further to form a solid known as dry ice. This opens the door to a spectacular series of demonstrations that reveal the fascinating behaviour of this unusual substance.
Watch as dry ice creates a mysterious flowing “river” of carbon dioxide and water vapour that cascades down a channel and even extinguishes a flame along its path. Then the science takes a playful turn as a ghostly snowman appears before our eyes, leading into a fun Ghostbuster-style sketch exploring the spooky side of science.
These dramatic demonstrations reveal how gases behave under pressure, how states of matter change, and why carbon dioxide is so useful in science and industry.
🫧 The Secret of Super Bubble Solutions
What makes some bubbles stronger than others?
In this spectacular finale, we explore the science behind super bubble mixtures and discover why some bubbles last longer, stretch further, and grow far bigger than ordinary ones.
Watch as bubbles bounce on magic gloves, test special bubble recipes, and help create giant sky-hugging bubbles using enormous custom wands.
It’s a breathtaking way to reveal the science of surface tension, elasticity, and the hidden chemistry that gives bubbles their strength.
🎓 Curriculum Connections
Scientific Sue’s Bubble Laboratory
Bubbleology links directly to key science concepts including:
Chemistry
- Properties and uses of soap
- Molecular structure of surfactants
- Polar and non-polar substances
- Acids and alkalis
- pH indicators (synthetic and natural)
- Chemical reactions and gas production
Physics
- Properties of gases
- Gas pressure and expansion
- Density and buoyancy (carbon dioxide vs helium)
- Forces acting on thin films
- Evaporation and material behaviour
Scientific Thinking
- Observing and describing changes
- Comparing materials and outcomes
- Understanding cause and effect
- Seeing how scientists and engineers improve designs
Perfect for school events, family festivals, and STEM celebrations.
🌈 Why Choose Bubbleology?
✔ Highly interactive — volunteers help throughout
✔ Tailored for primary or secondary audiences
✔ Ideal for science weeks, festivals & curriculum enrichment
✔ Combines spectacle, storytelling, and solid science
✔ Memorable, meaningful learning that sticks
Whether you’re a budding botanist, a curious chemist, or a bubble-blowing enthusiast, this STEAM-powered adventure is guaranteed to POP with possibility!
Bring your learners on an unforgettable journey where nature meets science — with a fizz, a pop, and a splash of colour.