Editing Giant Soap Bubbles (section)

===Full Explanation===
''Surface Tension'' is the attraction between liquid molecules at the surface caused by the bulk of the liquid. Surface tension results in minimal surface area, which is why water droplets are always spherical. Surface tension is also why a liquid will sometimes form bubbles on the surface. When a bubble forms, it has the liquid spread out thinly around a pocket of air. The liquid's surface tension is holding it together, but it is deteriorating due to evaporation, which happens much faster due to the liquid's surface being spread so thinly. This is why soap bubbles break down on their own fairly quickly; although the soap works to help spread the water further, and therefore to get a bigger bubble, the water is still evaporating.

For the giant bubble solution, we added in glycerin. Glycerin helps the bubble last longer and to grow bigger by doing two things; decreasing the surface tension and resisting evaporation. Glycerin and soap are ''Surfacants'', or compounds that help to decrease the surface tension of a liquid. The soap decreases the surface tension of the water, but it doesn't do much to decrease the rate of evaporation. This is why soap bubbles tend to pop pretty quickly after you make them, unless they stay on the surface of the solution. Glycerin, however, helps to reduce the rate of evaporation. When you dissolve sugar in water, the sugar molecules spread out and try to stay evenly distributed. When you make a bubble with the sugar solution, the sugar molecules in the bubble start losing some water due to evaporation. However, hydrated sugar molecules have strong attractions to each other, so they will start linking together and making a "grid" across the bubble's outer surface. This grid locks in the water molecules, and makes it harder for the water to evaporate. The additional soap in the solution helps to spread the water out as you make the bubble bigger. Combined, the soap and glycerin work together to prevent additional evaporation and lower surface tension, resulting in giant bubbles!