24 August 2019 | New Scientist | 29Bubbling over
Photographer Kym Cox/RPS“HOW can you not be fascinated
by bubbles once you know what
they can do?” asks photographer
Kym Cox. She has been working
with bubbles since 2009 and finds
they still give her something new
to shoot. The image opposite
is the result of a collaboration
with Stefan Hutzler, a physicist at
Trinity College, Dublin. It is one of
three of her pictures shortlisted
by the Royal Photographic Society
for its first Science Photographer
of the Year competition.
The life cycles of several
bubbles were photographed
over 10 minutes, allowing Cox to
capture the way light reflects and
refracts as it passes through the
bubble walls. The spectrum of
colour changes over time because
light rays are reflected from both
the front and back of each bubble
wall. As the liquid drains under
gravity, they get thinner and these
reflections change. “You see the
same patterns in all bubbles.
They’re consistent – that’s the
beauty of their science,” says Cox.
Research into the science of
bubbles, soap films and foams
has led to a range of products and
applications, from cleaning up
oil spills to understanding global
weather systems.
As a self-described practitioner
of sci-art, Cox designs and builds
studio sets and lighting rigs, and
creates the liquid formulations for
the bubbles she photographs. “I’m
constantly testing equipment and
learning how to light the images,”
she says. “I spend hours just
watching. I’ve got mixtures that
can take months – even a year –
to achieve the right consistency.”
Seventy images from the
competition will feature at an
exhibition at the Science Museum
in London from 7 October until
5 January 2020. ❚Lilian AnekweNuts about nanotech?
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