Do bubbles pop from the top or bottom or do they pop from the side or is it random? Here’s what happens if you let a bubble pop on its own:
A soap bubble consists of a thin layer of water trapped between two layers of soap molecules. The liquid layer is thin, but it is still affected by gravity, so as a bubble floats, the water is drawn to its base. The film at the top of the bubble thins, even as evaporation removes liquid from the entire surface, until finally the bubble pops — from the top. If you freeze bubbles with dry ice, you can pick a bubble up to examine it more closely to verify this for yourself. Even though these bubbles are frozen, dry ice bubbles pop from the top, too. Another fun way to view bubbles is to color them.
Slow Motion Video of Bubbles Popping
The Slo Mo Guys (who are awesome) made a video of giant bubbles popping. Here, you can see closed bubbles pop from the top, but open-ended bubbles pop from their opening. Very, very cool! They have another video of regular bubbles popping, but they pop those on purpose, plus I love these giant ones.