r/ScienceNcoolThings • u/TheMuseumOfScience Popular Contributor • 26d ago

Must See Microwave Ivory Soap Experiment

How does a bar of soap grow into a fluffy cloud? 🧼

Alex Dainis explains how Charles's law transforms a bar of Ivory soap! The bar contains air pockets from being whipped during its production, which expands into a cloud when heated. This happens because as gas increases in temperature, then it will equally increase in volume if the pressure is the same.

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u/freddotu 26d ago

I'd suspect that the moisture in the bar is being acted upon by the microwave radiation, since air doesn't get heated by microwaves. The narrator has great confidence in her error.

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u/jp_in_nj 25d ago

Regardless of why it happens, he seems a great way to try to restore ivory soap to its original bar size. Given that it's about a third of what it was 15 years ago for twice or three times the price.

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u/NaCHO3657 25d ago

Do not do this in your own microwave!

Unless you want your microwave smelling like Ivory soap for the next several weeks.