Email Print Share

News Release 05-030

A Bubble Full of Sunshine

Temperatures inside bursting bubbles can be four times hotter than the Sun

A bubble grows and collapses due to ultrasound

A bubble's growth and collapse.


March 3, 2005

This material is available primarily for archival purposes. Telephone numbers or other contact information may be out of date; please see current contact information at media contacts.

Chemists at the University of Illinois have determined that temperatures inside gas bubbles collapsing in a liquid reach roughly 20,000 degrees Kelvin—four times hotter than the surface of the Sun. They made the discovery by blasting the liquid with intense sound waves and measuring "sonoluminescence," the light emitted from the bubbles as they form and collapse. According to the researchers, it is the first time anyone has measured the temperature inside a single collapsing bubble.

Their work was supported by the National Science Foundation and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and published in the March 3, 2005, issue of the journal Nature.

For further information, see the University of Illinois news release.

-NSF-

Media Contacts
M. Mitchell Waldrop, NSF, (703) 292-8070, email: mwaldrop@nsf.gov
James E. Kloeppel, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 217-244-1073, email: kloeppel@uiuc.edu

Principal Investigators
Kenneth Suslick, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, (217) 333-2794, email: ksuslick@uiuc.edu

The U.S. National Science Foundation propels the nation forward by advancing fundamental research in all fields of science and engineering. NSF supports research and people by providing facilities, instruments and funding to support their ingenuity and sustain the U.S. as a global leader in research and innovation. With a fiscal year 2023 budget of $9.5 billion, NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives more than 40,000 competitive proposals and makes about 11,000 new awards. Those awards include support for cooperative research with industry, Arctic and Antarctic research and operations, and U.S. participation in international scientific efforts.

mail icon Get News Updates by Email 

Connect with us online
NSF website: nsf.gov
NSF News: nsf.gov/news
For News Media: nsf.gov/news/newsroom
Statistics: nsf.gov/statistics/
Awards database: nsf.gov/awardsearch/

Follow us on social
Twitter: twitter.com/NSF
Facebook: facebook.com/US.NSF
Instagram: instagram.com/nsfgov