Bubbles

blue bubbles backgroundWatt-Ahh® Inventor Rob Gourley is a “bubble master.” No, he does not make the bubbly champagne used to toast in the New Year. Instead, he infuses the stable all-water gas into a tank filled with up to 6,000 gallons of ultra pure liquid water. The gas goes through special air stones placed at the bottom of the tank that creates micron-sized bubbles to interact with the molecular structure of the liquid water. Millions of bubbles form a beautiful grayish white plume inside the tank that creates your Watt-Ahh®.

Rob started his bubble apprenticeship in his childhood with his Uncle Jim Trowbridge, one of the lead chemists who developed Tide detergent in the 1950s. Rob told us that his Uncle taught him to make wire forms such as double star-shapes (a small wire star inside a larger one) to dip into soapy water and watch the varying bubble shapes.

Bubbles are an amazing phenomenon of Nature. One of our customers forwarded this video of another “bubble master” – artist Ana Yang performing on stage and making her own plume of bubbles before a captivated audience.  Rob told us, “Uncle Jim, if he were still with us, would be fascinated with how she creates her bubbles on stage.” Likely, Uncle Jim also would be fascinated with his own nephew’s bubbling too!

We heard from Rob’s cousins when this article ran for the first time last week. They also shared with us good memories of Uncle Jim, including Cousin Helen of New York who wrote: “Uncle Jim would indeed be proud to be featured in your newsletter.  I still have the paperback he gave me on Soap Bubbles, and I treasure it.” Cousin Liz of  New York wrote, “Of course, we all can visualize Uncle Jim with his bubbles.”