baggier
- Science
The 11-Year Quest to Create Disappearing Colored Bubbles
Tim Kehoe has stained the whites of his eyes deep blue. He's also stained his face, his car, several bathtubs and a few dozen children. He's had to evacuate his family because he filled the house with noxious fumes. He's ruined every kitchen he's ever had. Kehoe, a 35-year-old toy inventor from St. Paul, Minnesota, has done all this in an effort to make real an idea he had more than 10 years ago, one he's been told repeatedly cannot be realized: a colored bubble.
6.28.2009 at 08:16am - Comment by baggierI am not that impressed with the chemistry of the dyes. From what I have gathered on a quick patent search it is essentially phenolphthalein derivatives (remember the acid base indicators) that are colourless when neutral but coloured when basic. What drives the colour change is probably just the co2 from the air making the slightly basic bubbles neutral. I once made a cloth for a company that turned pink when wet but dried clear and could be reused based on the same principle.
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December 2009: Best of What's New
In our December issue, Popular Science names the 100 best innovations of the year: bombproof wallpaper, self-parking cars, the fastest helicopter, and 97 more. Plus inventor profiles and videos.
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