What would happen if you tried to blow a soap bubble in below-freezing weather? Would it freeze and fall to the ground? Would you have to hit it with a stone to break it? These questions came into my mind one cold winter day. It was too cold to play in the snow, but it was a perfect time to experiment with blowing frozen bubbles.
如果你想在冰点以下的天气吹肥皂泡，会发生什么？它会结冰掉到地上吗？你非得用石头砸它才能把它打碎吗？在一个寒冷的冬日，这些问题突然浮现在我的脑海里。天气太冷了，不能在雪地里玩，但这是吹冰冻气泡的绝佳时机。
To blow frozen bubbles, I had to wait until the air outside was very cold. For this activity, that meant 10 degrees below 0 Fahrenheit or colder. I didn’t have the bubble things that come in a bottle, so I used dish-washing soap. Adding a drop of glycerin made the soap work even better. I chose a place out of the wind, and blew bubbles the same way I always do. I watched to see what would happen. Here’s what I learned.
为了吹出冰冻的气泡，我必须等到外面的空气非常冷的时候。对于这项活动，意味着华氏零下10度或更低。我没有装在瓶子里的泡泡，所以我用了洗碗皂。添加一滴甘油使肥皂的效果更好。我选择了一个无风的地方，像往常一样吹泡泡。我看着会发生什么。这是我学到的。
If the temperature is low enough, the skin of the bubble frosts over, becoming cloudy instead of clear. And what about those rainbow swirls that you see in soap bubbles? The rainbow colors stay even when the bubbles frost, but they don’t spin anymore. The bubbles still float in the air. They don’t fall to the ground any faster than they would on a warm summer day.
如果温度足够低，气泡的表面会结霜，变得浑浊而不是清澈。你在肥皂泡中看到的彩虹漩涡呢？当气泡结霜时，彩虹的颜色保持均匀，但它们不再旋转。气泡仍然漂浮在空中。它们掉落在地上的速度不会比在温暖的夏天更快。
When these frozen bubbles break, they don’t turn into tiny drops of soap as summer bubbles do. They turn into shiny rainbow pieces and fly slowly to the ground. Sometimes a frozen bubble will roll across the snow without breaking. If it breaks, it may leave a strong bubble skin on the ground. Leave the bubble alone and it may stay there for a long time.
当这些冻结的气泡破裂时，它们不会像夏天的气泡那样变成微小的肥皂滴。它们会变成闪亮的彩虹碎片，慢慢地飞到地上。有时，一个冻结的气泡会在雪地上滚动而不破裂。如果它破裂，可能会在地面上留下一层坚固的气泡皮。别管泡沫，它可能会在那里呆很长时间。
Sometimes I could catch a bubble and hold it until the heat of my hand made it pop.
有时我可以抓住一个泡泡，一直握着，直到我的手的热量让它爆裂。
I learned one other thing about blowing frozen bubbles. It’s so much fun. I want to try it again next year!
我还学到了吹冷冻气泡的另一件事。这太有趣了。我想明年再试一次！
