Bubbles, bubbles everywhere! Hamza wonders why bubbles are always round. Is there something special about a spherical shape? To find out, we make a bubble explosion, turn kids into human soccer balls, and throw water into outer space. Koolkatt also gets in on the action by popping out his spherical eyeballs– BOING!

INVESTIGATION/HANDS-ON: Today Han Ru and Stefano hunt for spheres. They meet Kathleen, a graduate student in physics whoworked on a NASA-sponsored research balloon. Together, they see if blowing soap bubbles withdifferent-shaped wands will create different-shaped bubbles. Turns out, the bubbles are always spherical,because that’s “nature’s most efficient shape.”

CHALLENGE: How strong are spheres? We find out, as Hamza assembles two teams of kids to play “bubble soccer.” Despite plenty of bumping and rolling, the kids are protected in their spheres.

BRAIN BENDER: Today’s brain bender is an optical illusion. Taya and Andrew have to figure out which dot, red or blue, isthe centre of the circle. It’s not as easy as it sounds, or looks. The proof is in the measuring!

EDUCATIONAL TAKE AWAY: A sphere is a perfectly round and symmetrical three-dimensional object. It has no edges or corners. Of all the shapes, a sphere has the smallest surface area for a given volume. The sphere appears in nature whenever a surface wants to be as small and efficient as possible.

** This episode also emphasizes inquiry based reasoning and experimentation.