How It Works: Bubble Power
When we read that physicists were dropping speakers into water to try and kick start cold fusion reactions, which could supply endless clean energy, we thought that they must have gone barmy. That's because we'd never heard of sonoluminescence, the mysterious phenomenon where sound makes bubbles all-powerful. B. James McCullum and Stuart Smith get to grips with some weird science.We all know the legend of the opera diva hitting a high note and shattering glass, but could she also make the glass burst into flames or even cause two hydrogen nuclei in the contents of the glass to combine, providing enough energy to power a small country? It might not be as farfetched as it sounds.
Back in the 1930's, a pair of scientists found out that sending ultrasonic waves into a liquid could expose photographic plates – sound energy was being turned into light. The phenomenon known as sonoluminescence was born.
Although no one is quite sure how sonoluminescence actually works, everyone agrees that when an ultrasonic genera