Soap Bubbles
and the Forces which Mould Them

14 SOAP-BUBBLES, AND water, then shows that the hairs of a brush cling together not only because they are wet, but for some other reason as well which we do not yet know. It also shows that a very common belief as to opening our eyes under water is not founded on fact. It is very commonly said that if you dive into the water with your eyes shut you cannot see properly when you open them under water, because the water gums the eyelashes down over the eyes; and therefore you must dive in with your eyes open if you wish to see under water. Now as a matter of fact this is not the case at all; it makes no difference whether your eyes are open or not when you dive in, you can open them and see just as well either way. In the case of the brush we have seen that water does not cause the hairs to cling together or to anything else when under the water, it is only when taken out that this is the case. This experiment, though it has not explained why the hairs cling together, has at any rate told us that the reason always given is not sufficient. I shall now try another experiment as simple as the last. I have a pipe from which water