Bubble Bursting Speed Test
Perhaps the most fun way to measure the speed at which a bubble pops is to throw an olive right through the middle of a bubble while capturing video at ~10000 fps. A bubble pops about 10x faster than human reaction time! And about 2 to 3x slower than the reaction time of a house fly!
Shot was taken during MIT short course on High Speed Imaging by the "A" team!
The "A" team members and supporters:
Jim Bales, MIT Edgerton Center
J. Kim Vandiver, MIT, Edgerton Center
Edward Moriarty, Edgerton Center
Rob Watkins, Tesla
Benn Stutrud, Anderson Windows and Doors
Jason Davis, Nammo Talley Inc.
Kyle D. Gilroy, Vision Research, Phantom
Equipment used for this was a v2640 color camera with a 100 mm Zeiss Makro wide open, Schlieren setup at the Edgerton center (Z-config) with a four-color filter/LED source, and GSVitec LEDs for illumination of the Olive.
These bubbles were created by blowing into a rubber tube who's opposite end was soaked in a glycerin solution... if you look close, as the bubble pops, you can see the relatively lower-density hot air from breath inside the bubble upon its beautiful demise.