THESE images reveal for the first time what happens when an 鈥渁ntibubble鈥� bursts.
An antibubble is a thin, spherical shell of air in a liquid 鈥� the exact opposite of a soap bubble, which is a thin, spherical shell of liquid in air. They were first described in the 1930s but have never been well studied. 鈥淢ost scientists are surprised that they exist,鈥� says St茅phane Dorbolo, at the University of Li猫ge in Belgium.
Dorbolo and colleagues used high-speed photography to study how antibubbles are born and die. To make their antibubbles, they poured blue water into a beaker of soapy water. As the thin stream of coloured water plunges in, it drags air with it, which separates into blue antibubbles.
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The antibubbles can live as long as 7 minutes, Dorbolo says. But they are beautiful when they burst. Bursting bubbles simply vanish, but antibubbles go through complex death throes. This sequence shows a sinking antibubble, which popped due to water pressure. As it collapses, a small bubble of air escapes upwards and the liquid fans out in a spiralling vortex ().
