Bursting Your Bubble

When I was a kid, I used to beg to be given a balloon just so I could let it go and watch it drift into the air. I was a “special” child, you could say. But another thing I loved, something to which every child—even the “normal” ones—can relate, was trying to make the hugest bubble I could with those little bubble blowers. Well, right now at the Discovery Science Center, you can see the biggest bubbles you've ever witnessed, bubbles that require more patience and scientific knowledge to create than most children ever dream of having. These are not just any bubbles. No, no, honey. This is the 11th annual Bubblefest with bubble scientist Fan Yang. The dude gets into the actual science of bubbles, has appeared on Late Night with David Letterman, and is in the Guinness Book of World Records for numerous bubble related feats. The kids, the moms, or you and the wacky girl you have a mad crush on but can't seem to figure out or make laugh can go and watch bubbles being made by a master and learn the science behind the wow—surface tension, elasticity, air pressure, molecular properties—and, if you're the unlucky type, what it feels like to get soap in your eye. Or just contemplate how our lives, like these bubbles, are beautiful, reflective, delicate and only here for a brief time to hang in space. Truly mind-bubbling.

Bubbles Under the Big Top at the Discovery Science Center, 2500 N. Main St., Santa Ana, (714) 542-2823. Call for show times. Through April 15. $5 plus admission ($9.95-$12.95); members, $4.

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