BREAKING OUT THE BUBBLY : The Exhibit at the La Habra Museum Is Awash in Soap, Water--and Science

The latest exhibit at the Children’s Museum at La Habra would even make Madge run the risk of dishpan hands.

Inside the “Soap and Water Science” exhibit are buckets, basins, trays and even a plastic wading pool chock-full of sudsy water, all of it specially formulated for maximum bubbling action.

The exhibit--offering bubble-making tools from Hula-Hoops to open-ended tin cans--lets visitors dabble in the physical sciences while having good, clean, if occasionally sticky, fun. The show continues through Sept. 10 at the museum, a converted 1920s railroad station that also offers hands-on exhibits on the arts and sciences, a craft-making room, miniature carousel and a modified OCTA bus for make-believe travel.

With total materials costing just more than $300, “Soap and Water Science” is one of the least expensive exhibits the museum has put together, but if a recent weekday crowd is any proof, its play value is way off the charts. The exhibit’s eight stations were consistently busy, with toddlers gleefully chasing bubbles blown aloft by adults, older children and--wonder of wonders--even the occasional teen-ager.

“This exhibit probably covers the widest range of any that we’ve done,” said curator Carrie Wictor, bending to show a youngster how to use a plastic straw to blow a “half dome” bubble in a pool. “Little kids just go gonzo over them, but bubbles are great for any age group that has a sense of play in them.”

Wictor estimated that each day, visitors go through four gallons of bubble solution she makes from dishwashing soap, water and glycerin. Copies of the museum’s recipe, plus several other bubble combinations are free at the museum’s front desk.

The strength of a bubble is determined by its surface tension. The higher the tension, the tighter the molecules are bound together. A bubble of say, water alone, has high surface tension, hence is more fragile or inelastic; adding soap to the water lessens the surface tension and makes it more elastic.

How long a bubble lasts is largely determined by the rate the water in it evaporates. Glycerin, available at most drug stores, and sugar, usually in the form of Karo syrup, is often added to home bubble mixtures as a hygroscopic agent, which means they help the water in the mixture to evaporate more slowly and thus increase how long a bubble will last.

Another popular stop at “Soap and Water Science” is the “Body Bubble.” Here, Wictor has placed a shallow bucket in the center of a small wading pool. Bubble solution is poured into the pool, leaving the bucket dry. Visitors step into the bucket, and using a series of nylon ropes and pulleys, slowly raise a Hula-Hoop from the solution toward their heads. If the bubble gods are with them, they are rewarded by being wrapped in a tube of bubble film.

The “Bubble Wall” was attracting plenty of attention too. The contraption makes a single pane of bubble solution like a picture window. It is designed to help visitors understand the elasticity of bubble film.

Explained at this display is how light-wave interference created the rainbow colors that can be seen shimmering across a bubble’s surface. As thin as it is, the wall of a bubble consists of an inner and outer surface. When white light bounces off the bubble, a portion of each light wave is reflected from the outer surface and another portion passes through it to be reflected by the inner surface, creating a variety of colors. Posters next to each of the exhibits explain the process in a way that can be understood by most grade-school children.

Cody Karst, 11, spent a good five minutes at the display, carefully raising and lowering the bar to create the fragile, shimmering sheets. A knot of preschoolers waited patiently by, a few of them blowing gently to create waves and ripples in the surface.

Although he didn’t spend much time examining Wictor’s gallery cards, Cody did walk away with a basic understanding of the process.

“It’s hard to explain why it works, but I think the particles all just, like, stick together,” said Cody as he thoughtfully dragged his damp hands across his T-shirt. “Whatever it does, it’s cool.”

But scientific research, even with bubbles, isn’t without its headaches, Cody said.

“You have to be really, really careful because the little kids like to stick their fingers in them.”

* What: “Soap and Water Science” at the Children’s Museum at La Habra.

* When: Through Sept. 10. Museum hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday.

* Where: Children’s Museum at La Habra, 301 S. Euclid St.

* Whereabouts: From the Orange (57) Freeway, exit at Lambert Road and drive west. Turn right on Euclid Street.

* Wherewithal: Admission is $4 for youths 2 to 16; younger than 2 is free.

* Where to call: (310) 905-9793.

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