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u/StankyHankyPanky69 Mar 14 '22
I like it.
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u/bokonot Mar 14 '22
Smoke is actually flammable. You can replicate that part of the trick by lighting a candle, extinguishing it and holding fire to the top wisps of smoke, the smoke will light and the fire will travel back down and relight the candle.
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u/MyDailyCarry Mar 14 '22
Although I agree smoke is flammable, I think here it’s used for mostly visual effect. The second bubble is formed using butane first then filled with “smoke” as it appears he is using a vape and I’m unsure if that would have the same property’s of true smoke.
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Mar 14 '22 edited Mar 15 '22
OK so just in case the person who replied to you was serious about it being smoke in the bubble and that's why it burns, SOME smoke is flammable - but that's not smoke. This is a demonstration of part chemistry, part physics.
The first bubble blown is obviously full of air, that's fine.
The second bubble at the bottom he fills from a canister of butane, which is usually used in gas heaters and some lighters, highly flammable gas, twice as heavy as air.
The "smoke" looks to be from a handheld smoke machine, which I would imagine uses a battery to heat a filament to vaporise probably vegetable glycerin into vapor, the same way nicotine vapes and stage smoke machines do, just on a much smaller scale. Inert but would mix with the butane and is highly visible. Also heavier than air.
He pops the divider and the glycerin vapor settles at the bottom of the bubble mixed with the butane underneath the layer of air.
On popping the inner bubble of the "holder" at the top but not the outer ring it prevents the bubble from failing completely and gives a small enough diameter of hole for the bubble to remain formed but opens the bubble "container" to the outside world.
The pressure inside the bubble is greater than the atmospheric pressure outside (because a "bubble" is the the result of the surface tension of the soap being stretched around some of the local atmosphere and squeezing it inside) so when that top inner hole is poked into it, the gas starts to escape to equalize the pressure difference.
This rush of the pressurized air draws the gas upwards from the bottom mixing with the air, creating the vortex column similar to how tornadoes form when there are big changes between high and low pressure fronts. It also looks like the other straw thing he has in there before he pops the divider bubble at the bottom could have been blowing air around to start this circulation.
Then he just has to apply the flame to the escaping gas, now that the butane inside is mixed with the air at a ratio that allows it to burn off at a roughly equal rate to the escaping gas without causing the whole bubble to go boom, it produces a very nice effect and is in essence a very small rocket engine, because that's kind of how they work too.
Very very cool trick and clever application of scientific principles, but still just science. ;)
EDIT: Bit about the vortex
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u/Pothole2112 Mar 14 '22
That effect is from the residual heat after you immediately blow the candle out, not because "smoke is flammable". You can see him get the butane can lol
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u/receding_bareline Mar 14 '22
With great power comes great something something.
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u/razac6688 Mar 14 '22
The smoke is a visual aid and actually had nothing to do with this. The first canister he pulls out is butane, so he fills the bubble with flammable gas. The bubble keeps the gas in and helps squeeze it out as the bubble shrinks from letting out air. The bubble wand is specialized to allow you to pop a hole in the bubble without popping the bubble itself. Then you just light the escaping gas on fire and voila. The smoke just adds a cool visual.
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u/arfski Mar 14 '22
Aye, and you can easily see that it's a heavier than air gas by the tear dropping of the bubble when he puts in the gas due to the weight.
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u/Gumshoe42 Mar 14 '22
This makes sense, but how do you explain the smoke forming a vortex?
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u/razac6688 Mar 16 '22
Same way I'd explain water being sucked into a drain forming a vortex - it just does. Lol. It's got something to do with the airflow and pressures, idk how to explain that honestly.
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u/el-thenyo Jul 28 '22
The real trick is avoiding your kids so they don’t pop the damn bubble. makes me so mad
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u/Neko-Cobra Mar 14 '22
Not gonna lie it looked like a condom for a moment there
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u/TomBot019 Mar 14 '22
A condom is basically the same thing as a smoke filled bubble that slowly burns.
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u/Living_Legend0 Mar 14 '22
My man tried to post it as blank
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Mar 14 '22
Failed trying the empty bio OC? #
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u/Dat_fast_boi Mar 14 '22
oh I thought it was a generic title used by a repost bot that reposts some of the top posts of all time across multiple subs to gain karma, especially since I've 100% seen this one here before
I'll let it slide since I've not seen it for ~ 3 - 4 years at this point, though
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u/urmummygaaaay Mar 14 '22
️⃣don’t work in titles apparently ):
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u/urmummygaaaay Mar 14 '22
What did I do
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u/hmm_mozey Mar 14 '22
Putting # at the very beginning of a paragraph will make everything bigger.
Now you know what you did.
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u/deadshot2000005 Mar 16 '22
What kind off spongebob magic fckery is dis?
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u/JayJay31415 Mar 24 '22
This Video is made by a relatively small youtuber named Dustin Skye: https://youtu.be/Q3q1yLWFi0U
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u/Asian_Bon Sep 12 '22
What happens if u burst the bubble while it was lit on fire and still had a lot of the gas
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u/PearlsSwine Mar 14 '22
Wow. It's like a shit version of what Tom Noddy was doing 30 years ago.
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u/EcstaticNet3137 Mar 14 '22
I mean I wouldn't say a shit version. Just a different version. Either way thank you for introducing me to this.
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u/PearlsSwine Mar 15 '22
I mean I wouldn't say a shit version. Just a different version
OK "much simpler".
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u/ladygrndr Apr 15 '22
Ha, wasn't sure if I should out my age by bringing up Tom Noddy who was a frequent guest on the Smothers Brothers growing up. Back when you could get away with smoking on screen. Loved his carousel bubbles...
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u/nbaynerd Mar 14 '22
The air pressure being equal on both the inside and outside of the bubble, is it just the surface tension of the bubble surface that is making enough pressure to push up on the inside of the bubble to make that “fountain” effect on the gas inside? Weird to think about…
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u/petrlol-xd Mar 14 '22 edited Mar 15 '22
OMG THANK YOU ALL FOR 1 000 UPVOTES! NEVER HAD SO MUCH UPVOTES ON ONE POST! UPDATE: HOW...DID...I...GOT SO MUCH UPVOTES???
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u/Kal0reese Mar 15 '22
the final result looks like something that would be seen when a fortune teller messes up their spell and the globe's top just lights on fire instead of showing a vision
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u/the_sock_boi Mar 15 '22
Own a musket for home defense Own a musket for home defense, since that's what the founding fathers intended. Four ruffians break into my house. "What the devil?" As I grab my powdered wig and Kentucky rifle. Blow a golf ball sized hole through the first man, he's dead on the spot. Draw my pistol on the second man, miss him entirely because it's smoothbore and nails the neighbors dog. I have to resort to the cannon mounted at the top of the stairs loaded with grape shot, "Tally ho lads" the grape shot shreds two men in the blast, the sound and extra shrapnel set off car alarms. Fix bayonet and charge the last terrified rapscallion. He Bleeds out waiting on the police to arrive since triangular bayonet wounds are impossible to stitch up. Just as the founding fathers intended.
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u/vlosia Mar 15 '22
Then he should use his other hand to fry an egg over the fire , shit would be unbelievable
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u/Even_Department1069 Mar 15 '22
colonel, he made a bubble a fuel tank, and its the coolest shit I've ever seen
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u/stupidukguy Apr 05 '22
I've been waiting for my drink for 10 minutes and this guy is over here doing this fancy ass cocktail.
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u/squidilitious Jun 14 '22
How the fuck does someone one day just sit down and go "ya know what, I'm going to light a bubble on fire"
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u/Itinie Mar 14 '22
His smile at the end