What gives soap bubbles their rainbow colours?

As far as I can remember, I have always loved soap bubbles. We used to blow huge bubbles shiny with all the colours of the rainbow – or small ones, as many as we could possibly blow, until we were surrounded with a myriad of translucent, colourful, fragrant and moist soap bubbles. They would float around for a while until they suddenly burst.

Soap bubbles are wonderful and mysterious

What do you do when you’re stretching in a bathtub full of lovely warm water – do you reach for a good book or just relish lazing away? Do you use this time to cleanse your head of all unpleasant thoughts or do you contemplate the flickering flame of a candle or the soft froth of soap? If you’re a keen observer of the latter you would have noticed (half-submerged into the fragrant, soft froth) how the surface of the soap bubbles is fizzing and shining in rainbow-colour splendour.

What gives the bubbles their colours?

That’s another mystery that soap making is worth learning for. The key to the colours is saponified oil that brakes light down to millions of colours. It also makes the uneven surface of the bubbles refract light and reflect their surroundings.

You are now equipped with the spot-on answer in case a smart child came up with this tricky question J