04.23.08
New surface tension vs. drop bubble thoughts.
After lots of testing, here is the brief version. What I have found is that if you lower the surface tension, you increase the longevity and the size of bubbles under, and on top of the water. If you increase the surface tension, the opposite happens. You get lots of tiny bubbles. Neither actually gets rid of bubbles. (Disclaimer: This could be a coincidence)
Thinking what else could be making the oil work so well in preventing bubble formation is viscosity. This is the only difference between oil and the rest of the tested liquids. So I am in the process of making some scientific jelly, but I dont think I’m going to get it quite right to catagorically prove one thing or another (as usual).
The problem I have is the inability to change one single constant. For example, all the chemicals that are specifically designed for decreasing the surface tension also tend to be quite viscous (although nowhere near oil, and a lot more expensive!) and very very foamy (if that’s a word). Great for washing machine engineers, bad for scientists.
So in the end, I will still probably end up using oil and although it doesn’t mix, it does provide good results and its cheap.