People don't usually become government scientists for the thrill, but that hasn't stopped Richard Simpson from having a good time with it. In an effort to develop better computer models for jet fuel fires, he filled a canyon with soap bubbles. While these two things seem completely unrelated, the bubbles actually helped to solve a real problem with modeling fire outbreaks.
Simpson works at Sandia National Laboratories, where they spend a lot of time setting things on fire (for science of course). In testing and modeling the behavior of fires burning jet fuel, researchers realized they were missing something. Very hot fires, like those stoked by jet fuel, are often affected by air flow. However, there was no good way to visualize the swirling patterns of air around a blaze… until someone suggested using bubbles.
Rather than work out some sort of complicated government contract for the construction of a bubble-making rig, Simpson just bought 20 off-the-shelf bubble machines you might see at a party. That, and 50 gallons of bubble solution went on his government procurement card. After convincing the powers that be of the legitimacy of his purchase, Simpson was ready to get some science done — with bubbles.
The bubble machines were placed on towers all through the canyon Sandia uses to run burn tests. A large spotlight was used to illuminate the bubbles so their paths could be captured by a flotilla of 3D cameras in special heat resistant cases. The findings helped improve the way scientists at Sandia model jet fuel fires, and it was also fun data to collect, according to Simpson.
This isn’t the bubble test, but it is a great example of Sandia researchers lighting stuff on fire:
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