Reflections

In a soap bubble, you can see yourself and your friends reflected in a very special way, where the laws of physics turn the world upside down.

Why can you see yourself in a soap bubble?

If you look closely at a soap bubble, you will see that it reflects its surroundings. This is because the water in the bubble reflects the surroundings, just as you can see reflections in a puddle or a lake without waves.

In the Bubblearium at Experimentarium, you can be reflected together with your friends. Remember to put your head well into the light so that you can be seen.

Why are you upside-down when you look at your reflection in a soap bubble?

If you look closely, you can see that the bubbles reflect their surroundings twice. In the Bubblearium, you can clearly see how the illustration on the wall is reflected upside-down.

The bubble reflects its surroundings on both front and back. At the front, the bubble curves towards you and shows a normal reflection. At the back, the bubble curves away from you and gives a reversed reflection. In a soap bubble, you therefore see two reflections of the surroundings, with one that is upside-down.

You can experience the same phenomenon if you look at front and back of a spoon.

Reflections on both sides of a spoon. Photo: Wonderwhizkids.com

Here is a picture where the sky is bright and the ground is dim, so the reflections of the sky will be stronger than the reflections of the ground. Therefore, in the picture, you do not see the ground reflected as much, but instead, the sky is reflected both at the top of the bubble and at the bottom of the bubble.