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Mad Scientist Invents Colored Bubbles

Posted by Zonk on from the bubbles-make-the-heart-float dept.

Anonymous Custard writes "Popular Science has a fascinating article up about toy inventor Tim Kehoe's quest to create colored bubbles. 'Chemical burns, ruined clothes, 11 years, half a million dollars--it's not easy to improve the world's most popular toy. ... It turns out that coloring a bubble is an exceptionally difficult bit of chemistry.'"

56 of 251 comments (clear)

  1. He's not a Mad Scientist! by Knight+Thrasher · · Score: 5, Insightful
    He's not a Mad Scientist!

    He's a happy, idea-patented RICH inventor. ;)

    That being said, this is EXCELLENT. Imagine possibilities like clothing that changes color depending on the soap you wash it with.

    1. Re:He's not a Mad Scientist! by Scrameustache · · Score: 5, Funny

      That being said, this is EXCELLENT. Imagine possibilities like clothing that changes color depending on the soap you wash it with.

      Imagine?

      Ask your mom to put some bleach in your next color's wash, it's FUN! ;- )

      --

      You can't take the sky from me...

    2. Re:He's not a Mad Scientist! by moosesocks · · Score: 5, Funny

      According to the article, he initially tried using nitric acid to color the bubbles because of its red color.

      The fact that he thought he could sell nitric acid as a child's toy I believe qualifies him as being legitimately crazy.

      --
      -- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
    3. Re:He's not a Mad Scientist! by Mr2cents · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I liked the exploding bubble. The article didn't say much about it, but my guess is that it might have been nitric acid reacting with glycerin (producing .. nitroglycerin!). Glycerin is often used for making bubbles, it allows them to grow larger.

      I did some experiments trying to create nitroglycerin when I was 17, but later I learned that the nitric acid sold commercially contain chemicals that inhibit the reaction (the bastards!). Maybe the guy found a way to inhibit the inhibitor?

      --
      "It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
    4. Re:He's not a Mad Scientist! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      I love how it's a given that mom is doing my laundry.

    5. Re:He's not a Mad Scientist! by xSauronx · · Score: 2, Insightful

      my brother is a hippie and those bastards are far too lazy to re-dye everything every 45 minutes, considering they have to wear it for days at a time. nice try.

      --
      By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth. -- George Carlin
    6. Re:He's not a Mad Scientist! by Silentnite · · Score: 2, Informative


      It would need another catalyst, not to mention you can make your own Nitric acid. W/O inhibiters.

    7. Re:He's not a Mad Scientist! by Mr2cents · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The tests I did was with nitric and sulphuric acid mixed together. The sulphuric acid's role was indeed to boost the reaction. But if my understanding is correct, the nitric acid alone can also form nitroglycerin, just less, and it's slower. It could be enough to produce an audible bang.

      --
      "It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
    8. Re:He's not a Mad Scientist! by Muhammar · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Here is how you can make exploding bubbles by yourself:
      1.Get the bubble toy solution.
      2. Get the acetylene/oxygen welding torch to blow them.
      3. make these suckerz and ignite with a long twig

      (you do not turn the flame on when using the torch, of course).

      This explosive gas mixture trick works with hydrogen/oxygen also (and you get lighter-than-air floating bubbles) but acetylene+oxygen gives *much* stronger bang for the volume. Once we filled modest-size thrashbag with the mix and it cracked the window (and our eardrums) - and yes, we were standing on the veranda outside the house.

      --
      I doubt that we will ever figure out - and I suspect that even if we did figure out we couldn't do much about it
    9. Re:He's not a Mad Scientist! by JiffyPop · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Congratulations, you know what detonation is. However, you apparently think that just because something can be detonated that it cannot be burned.

      Nitroglycerin may be burned, although the expansion will not be as powerful as if it were detonated. In fact it can explode from the heat generated when creating it (ie: adding the glycerine to the nitric/sulfuric acid mix too quickly).

      See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitroglycerin

      And in response to another post: The sulfuric acid is required as a catalyst. Nitric acid alone will not allow for the production of nitroglycerin, gun cotton, TNT, etc (you can nitrate most organic compounds...)

  2. Giggling Geek by dada21 · · Score: 4, Funny

    My broad just told me I was smiling like a freak and asked what was so happy-inspiring.

    Who would have guessed bubbles can make a grown man giggle still?

    Great story. I digg.

    1. Re:Giggling Geek by rbarreira · · Score: 3, Funny
      My broad just told me I was smiling like a freak and asked what was so happy-inspiring.

      Who would have guessed bubbles can make a grown man giggle still?

      Well, I guess you're using the expression "grown man" in the broad sense...
      --

      The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
    2. Re:Giggling Geek by dada21 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      FWIW, does anyone see this story as actually a decent rated-G Hollywood movie? I'm sure you'd need some artistic license, but the entire time reading it I was wishing that I had actual footage of some of the experimenting. A real life Willy Wonka sort of movie.

    3. Re:Giggling Geek by georgewad · · Score: 2, Insightful

      like the Hudsucker Proxy
      "you know, for kids!"

      --
      Karma: It's not just a good idea. It's the law.
    4. Re:Giggling Geek by dada21 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Thanks, Tom, err Tom's neighbor :)

      This guy is going to be a billionaire over this technology.

      Makes me think of the circle on the bar napkin. You know? For kids?

    5. Re:Giggling Geek by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      As someone who is about to get married, wife for me has the connotation that the union is permanent and public, before God, friends and family. I couldn't care less about the government. But I guess Christians are funny like that.

      Do post again after the divorce and let us know what you think then.

  3. Really? by SpiritGod21 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I can think of all kinds of chemicals (ingredients cheaply purchased at your local supermarket) that can make one see all kinds of different coloured bubbles...

  4. Wow by ApuD2 · · Score: 5, Funny

    "...Chemical burns, ruined clothes, 11 years, half a million dollars..."
    Sounds like Michael Jackson's life story.

    1. Re:Wow by wildsurf · · Score: 4, Funny

      "...Chemical burns, ruined clothes, 11 years, half a million dollars..."
      Sounds like Michael Jackson's life story.

      Not to mention the color change.

      --
      Weeks of coding saves hours of planning.
  5. Wow, awesome. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Chemical burns, ruined clothes, 11 years, half a million dollars--it's not easy to improve the world's most popular toy."

    And yet, that never stops people from trying, does it?

    (Posted anon because I would like to have a political career someday)

  6. As a socially concerned geek... by Elrac · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm deeply concerned about the rapid decline of species, about global warming, the limping economy, political corruption, the war in Iraq and the ever-shortening attention spans of

    OOH! COOL! COLORFUL BUBBLES!!

    --
    When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called Rel
  7. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  8. Not a dupe. by technoextreme · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yeah. The two articles are not the same despite being from the same magazine. The one that you just mentioned was a one paragraph blurb. This article is a full fledged story.

    --
    Ooo man the floppy drive is broken. No wait. The computer is just upside down.
  9. Whole article by Toothpick · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://www.popsci.com/popsci/printerfriendly/scien ce/0a03b5108e097010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html

    Printer (and user) friendly!

  10. I actually.. by Chickenofbristol55 · · Score: 5, Funny
    am a subscriber to popular science, so I read this article about a week ago. In the article it was kind of silly, because it was in the section of the "best of 2005", along with a super-advanced bionic arm, and the like. While it's a cool idea, it isn't even practical or useful (even as a form of entertainment). Here's how I think it went:

    Scientist 1 "Haha! I have done it!"

    Scientist 2 "What? Cured cancer...AIDS!?"

    Scientist 1 "No, much better!"

    Scientist 2 "Really? OMG What is it?!"

    Scientist 1 "I have created..... the first coloured bubble!!!"

    Scientist 2 "Your're a real jerk, Mark"

    Scientist 1 "True, but look at the pretty colours!"

    --
    public class null extends java applet { System.out.print ("Tabula Rasa"); }
    1. Re:I actually.. by fliplap · · Score: 4, Informative

      Ok, apparently you didn't read the entire article then. Turn to page 130 and the last 2 paragraphs of the article.

      Other things they're thinking of:
      Finger paints that fade from everything but a special paper.
      Vanishing hair dye
      Disappearing graffiti spray paint
      Toothpaste that turns a kids mouth pink until he's brushed for 30 seconds and soap that does the same
      A swiffer type mop that dyes where you've already mopped
      A wall paint that lets you test paint colors

  11. Re:Huh?? There are five paragraphs on each page by interiot · · Score: 4, Informative
    Yes, "one paragraph" was an exageration. But it's spread over 11 pages, and most of the paragraphs are simply gush with no content. For those who just want the meat, the whole story can basically be boiled down to:
    Kehoe made a bubble like that when he was 26, after only two years of trashed countertops and chemical fires. He showed it to toy-company executives, who called it a "holy grail." And then it broke, as bubbles always do. And when it did, the dye inside escaped onto clothes and carpets and walls and skin, staining everything it touched. The execs told him to come back with a bubble they could wash off their boardroom table.

    The breakthrough finally happened in an empty lab in Minneapolis on a Sunday this past February. As with Kehoe's first bubble, it arose from the slow, subtle refinement of a process over thousands of experiments. But Sabnis could re-create it. He synthesized a dye that would bond to the surfactants in a bubble to give it bright, vivid color but would also lose its color with friction, water or exposure to air--not fade, not transfer to something else, but go away completely, as though it had never been there. When one of these bubbles breaks on your hand, rub your hands together a few times and look: Poof. Magic. No more color. If the bubble breaks on your shirt or the carpet or the dog, you have two choices: Dab it with a touch of plain water to remove it immediately, or forget about it for half an hour. Either way, the color will soon be gone.

    Sabnis's solution was to build a dye molecule from an unstable base structure called a lactone ring that functions much like a box. When the ring is open, the molecule absorbs all visible light save for one color--the color of the bubble. But add air, water or pressure, and the box closes, changing the molecule's structure so that it lets visible light pass straight through. Sabnis builds each hue by adding different chemical groups onto this base.

  12. Video by Mard · · Score: 5, Informative

    There is video of children playing with the bubbles on the company's website:
    http://www.zubbles.com/gallery/index.asp

    Screw Hurricane Katrina, somebody make this guy Person of the Year.

    --
    DRM = Digitally Restricted Media. This is a viral sig, pass it on.
  13. Think of the possibilities... by Massamune · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Like a man made rainbow, practical jokes that only last 30 seconds. Truly impressive, though I wonder what the cost of the chemical reagents required is, lactone rings are fairly expensive to synthesize if I recall my organic chemistry correctly.

  14. Company website by Scutter · · Score: 3, Informative

    Allegedly due out in February (not Real Soon Now) according to the article. Check out the awesome video on their website. (coral cached. Actual site is http://www.zubbles.com/

    --

    "Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
  15. it's the diappearing part that's hard by lashi · · Score: 3, Insightful
    If you read TFA, it's not making coloured bubles that's hard, it's making the colour diappear that's hard.

    His first coloured bubbles stained clothes, people, pets and everything else, and horrified parents even though the dyes were washable. It took him another nine years to come up with bubbles with disappearing colour which will have implication on a lot of other fields beside toys. Security for example.

  16. Offensive. by Kelbear · · Score: 2, Funny

    Scientists create colored bubbles...

    Jesse Jackson proclaims them "Bubbles of color"

  17. But what about... by kd3bj · · Score: 2, Interesting

    colored antibubbles?

  18. Noxious gases? by whitehatlurker · · Score: 3, Funny
    He's had to evacuate his family because he filled the house with noxious fumes.

    Beans at the Kehoes' for supper, again?

    --
    .. paranoid crackpot leftover from the days of Amiga.
  19. Patent or trade secret? by Isaac-Lew · · Score: 2, Interesting
    From TFA:

    As Popular Science went to press, Kehoe was looking for a partner with a factory that could keep the formula secret and crank out a million units in six weeks.

    Did he patent the formula or is it a trade secret? The article implies the latter, but a trade secret wouldn't make any sense to me (all you'd need is a reasonably competent chemist to reverse-engineer the formula).

    1. Re:Patent or trade secret? by jimmytango829 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Here is the link to the page that says the dyes are patent pending.

    2. Re:Patent or trade secret? by The+Journalist · · Score: 3, Interesting
      all you'd need is a reasonably competent chemist to reverse-engineer the formula)

      Although you seem to have read the article, you also seem to have missed a few key points:

      From TFA:

      • "Ram Sabnis is a leader among a very small group of people who can point to a dye-chemistry Ph.D. on their wall."
      • "'What Ram did was an extremely difficult bit of chemistry,' [says Darlene Carlson, a former 3M chemist]."
      • "'Nobody has made this chemistry before,' Sabnis says. 'All these molecules--we will make 200 or 300 to cover the spectrum--they don't exist. We have synthesized a whole new class of dyes.'"

      Color me cynical, but I doubt even a "competent" chemist could reverse engineer something like this.

  20. FOR HOW HE DOES IT... by MLopat · · Score: 2, Informative

    ...Goto page 10 of 11 to save yourself from the extensive history of bubbles and toy manufacturing.

  21. This is what science is all about: by mblase · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Like Kehoe, Sabnis doesn't seem to consider the possibility that a problem can't be solved.

    I love that one sentence. More than anything else, this one philosophy is what has led one person after another to change the world, even if it's just in the temporary-dye business.

    Good for these guys.

  22. Best before by marol · · Score: 2, Interesting

    So, how long before the colour fades while the solution is in the container? I guess it's good for bussiness if you can't save the solution too long. Besides most kids probably are not much into saving fun and playtime for later either. Potentially limited storage life time may be a larger problem with some of the other products mentioned in the article.

  23. Zillions of other uses... by IdahoEv · · Score: 2, Informative
    ... some of them very much non-entertainment.

    Um, from TFA:


    "When Kehoe isn't blowing bubbles for businessmen, he's at home inventing again, coming up with new uses for the disappearing dye, the importance of which is hard to overstate. For decades, the color industry has been focused entirely on color fastness. No one has really thought about the potential of temporary color. That the dye was created for children's bubbles may turn out to be just a footnote, a funny story Sabnis tells at color-chemist conventions.

    Among the ideas Kehoe has already mocked up are a finger paint that fades from every surface except a special paper, a hair dye that vanishes in a few hours, and disappearing-graffiti spray paint. There's a toothpaste that would turn kids' mouths a bright color until they had brushed for the requisite 30 seconds, and a soap that would do the same for hand washing.

    He's also thinking outside the toy chest, mucking around in the lab on weekends making things like a Swiffer that leaves a momentary trace showing where you've Swiffered and a temporary wall paint that would let you spend a few hours with a color before committing to it. The dye's reach is so great that there are even biotech and industrial uses being discussed. "We've got stuff in the works I can't talk about that'll blow bubbles away," he says excitedly. It might take years, but, knowing Tim Kehoe, we'll see them eventually. After all, it's only a little extra work."


    But anyone who thinks entertainment and fun are not important and/or not business-worthy is living a lonely, sad life on a different planet from this one.
    --
    I stole this sig from someone cleverer than me.
  24. Amazing range of experimental ingredients... by suitepotato · · Score: 4, Funny

    Tim Kehoe has stained the whites of his eyes deep blue.

    It seems he even tried using melange. I am impressed.

    --
    If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
  25. 50 year old news? by Jason1729 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    How is this different from disappearing ink?

    I also remember a toy watergun called "Zap It" that used a richly-colored dye instead of water. You'd spray it on people's clothes, but in a few minutes the "stain" was gone.

    1. Re:50 year old news? by meowsqueak · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It's not just about disappearing dye, it's also about the dye binding correctly with the surfactant so that the bubble appears uniformly coloured. Also, doesn't disappearing ink have to dry first??

  26. The ignorant thing by earnest+murderer · · Score: 2, Insightful

    From TFA: The inventor is a 50% stakeholder in the company.

    Read the thing, it's interesting. Really.

    --
    Platform advocacy is like choosing a favorite severely developmentally disabled child.
  27. Ah wunnerful, ah wunnerful by ExoticMandibles · · Score: 2, Funny

    If only Lawrence Welk were still alive!

  28. Re:Coloured bubbles aren't the breakthrough by CaptainCarrot · · Score: 2, Informative

    If you'll RTFA, you'll discover that Kehoe had a breakthrough of his own some time earler: he found how to bind the dye to the surficant layer so that it didn't pool in the bottom of the bubble. Without that it wouldn't matter what dye you used; you couldn't have colored bubbles.

    --
    And the brethren went away edified.
  29. Blue eyes by JazMuadDib · · Score: 5, Funny

    Come ON you guys. The man turned the whites of his eyes blue. BLUE. And you think of bubbles! For shame! Have you not considered that he may be the Kwisatz Haderach?

  30. Re:nitricacidse.com by karnal · · Score: 2, Funny

    I didn't read your subject.

    And mistakenly took "*se.com" to be goatse.com, for some reason...

    Darn slashdotters.

    --
    Karnal
  31. Re:Where can I invest a few bucks???? by CrazyJim1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Even after 1999, we have people who want to invest in a bubble market.

    --
    God spoke to me.
  32. Um what about the chemist by syousef · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Personally my respect goes to the chemist that solved the problem. Not the compulsive nut job that couldn't repeat anything because he didn't keep proper notes and who had to throw a massive party and cover everyone with colour to realise they'd freak out if you did that.

    --
    These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
    1. Re:Um what about the chemist by merikari · · Score: 2, Informative

      Well, that "nut job" got the funding for the project. Remember the half a mil?

      Of course, Mr. Sabnis was the person who actually made the stuff, but he probably would not have even dreamt of coloured bubbles.

      --
      My other SIG is a Sauer.
  33. MSDS? by iamlucky13 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Let's just hope we don't find out this sweet stuff causes cancer 6 months after it hits the market. : (

    He needs to get his act in gear and make bouncing bubbles. That sounded almost equally as cool.

  34. This reminds me of a joke by shyampandit · · Score: 2, Funny

    A new lady teacher came to teach 8th standard students. As it was the first day, she gave her intro, and asked all the students to Introduce themselves with name and hobby.

    She said, "Let's start with the boys first". Boys start giving their intro...

    First boy: "My name is John, and my hobby is to see bubble in the Bathtub".

    Teacher was confused to listen but said, "Interesting. Well, Ok. In fact, we must be honest in telling the hobby. And after all there is essentially a child in each of us. So it's ok John. Yes next".

    Second boy: "Myself Peter and my hobby is to see bubble in the bathtub."

    Teacher now got surprised and said, "Good. I like the spirit of supporting a friend. Ok next".

    Third boy: "I'm Smith and my hobby is to see bubble in the bathtub".

    Teacher: "Guys are you joking or what? Please be sincere. Ok next".

    This continues...

    And the last boy stands up "I'm Harry and my hobby is to see Bubble in the bathtub".

    Exhausted, the teacher said, "I don't think I will be able to teach un-grown boys for long. Anyway, now the girls please."

    First girl: "I'm Julie and my hobby is to see birds".

    Teacher: "Good. At last I got something different. Ok next".

    Second girl: "I'm Ruby and I like to collect perfumes".

    Teacher "Now it's like educated grown up girls. Ok next.

    You sweet Girl; Yes you..." Most beautiful girl of the class gets up:

    "Mam, my name is Bubble, and my hobby is to take bath three times a day" :)

  35. Not even a scientist. by shrykk · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The main character in the story, Tim Kehoe, spent years mixing dyes with soap in his kitchen and blowing bubbles with it. Nothing worked.

    After ten years of almost entirely unsuccessful tinkering, he got some financial backing and finally employed a guy with a PhD. in dye chemistry to work on the problem - who apparently cracked it by synthesising an unusual molecule called a 'lactone ring' - something Kehoe would never have created in a lifetime of messing about in the kitchen.

    The '11-year quest' makes a nice story, but it was an actual scientist who created the bubbles. Props to Kehoe for the idea, but he didn't have the skills to realise it.

    --
    #define struct union /* Reduce memory usage */
  36. Well he had drive and managed to get money by TheLink · · Score: 2, Insightful

    True it was the Indian chemist who did the final version of the bubbles (quite impressive work too - managed to do it within a year). I think few chemists would be able to do that sort of thing.

    But this guy had the idea, AND the persistence, AND the luck to get the financing.

    Otherwise the Indian chemist might be doing other stuff rather than bubbles.

    So what if you're brilliant AND have the idea, if you can't get any money to pull the idea into reality, the idea just stays an idea.

    Or if you're brilliant, but you have no ideas in that particular field. While you might be able to think of millions of ways of creating dyes (which might impress chemists in other fields), but that's different from thinking of things that could impress kids and toy manufacturers.

    Without that particular team of people, there wouldn't be these coloured bubbles.

    And interesting dye tech too.

    Does it by absorbing light though.

    I wonder if they can make bubbles which have intense iridescent colours. While normal soap bubbles do already get colours from iridescence, they don't really have intense colours. You might be able to also have something that washes away easily or that is fairly transparent - after all it probably won't be a "normal" dye - it'll be thin layers of transparent refractory stuff.

    --