You’d normally put summertime and wintertime activities in separate mental compartments. You don’t ice skate outdoors when it’s 90 degrees out, and you don’t go to the beach during a blizzard. That said, it can be fun, or at least interesting, to mix things up.
For example, a popular way to raise money for good causes is to hold a “polar bear swim” where people go for a dip in freezing weather (and come right back out, of course). Kids blowing soap bubbles is one sure sign warmer weather has arrived.
A woman in Montana gave it a try on a frigid winter day with incredibly beautiful results, as you’ll see in the video posted below. Soap bubbles are actually rather interesting when it comes to their physics and mathematics. They’re nature’s way of solving a complex mathematical problem: the least possible surface area that can contain a given volume of space.
Curious things happen to soap bubbles when it’s cold out. If it’s under 5 degrees Fahrenheit, a bubble will freeze if it lands on a surface. At -13 degrees or below, a bubble will freeze in mid-air and most likely shatter when it hits the ground.
The soap bubble in this video was made when it was 5 degrees out, just cold enough to make the stunning outcome possible. At first, the bubble is clinging to the top of a snow pile and managing not to pop despite a gentle breeze. It’s catching the sun beautifully.
But then the real show begins: ice crystals start spreading across the bubble’s surface, first from one spot, then a couple of others, and also from below. The transformation takes about a minute, and it’s absolutely mesmerizing. Be dazzled by this combination of summer and winter beauty in the video below.
