Jupiter's Great Red Spot Simulated by a Soap Bubble

There is a storm on Jupiter that has been raging across its atmosphere for the last three centuries or so. We call it the Great Red Spot, however our understanding of what has powered it for such a long time is limited, although it bears a small resemblance to the hurricanes that occur on our planet from time to time. Now, French researchers say that they have been able to replicate the swirling patterns of the Great Red Spot inside a small soap bubble.

One might ask: how is that even possible? Well, the two systems are in fact very similar because they are so thin, that they almost behave in a 2-dimensional manner. However, turbulent fluid motion inside the bubble soap film does not develop single vortices, such as in the case of hurricanes, but two hurricanes rotating in opposite direction.

"We use a tube of rubber connected to a pipette, so it's sophisticated straw. That way we can blow the bubbles very slowly, or suck a little out to adjust the volume," said University of Bordeaux researcher Hamid Kellay, while explaining how the hemispherical soap bubble was created.

In order to perfectly simulate the conditions observed during a hurricane, the surface below the bubble is heated so to circulate the soap solution through the soap bubble film. By doing so, 'soapstorms' can be determined inside the film.

"They look like hurricanes," said Kellay. He continues by explaining that hurricanes patterns have not been produced inside soap bubbles before, because the motion of the solution is restricted by the sidewall supporting the hemisphere, unlike atmospheres which may flow freely. If more heat is yet applied, the storms start to experience random motions, moving across the surface, at speeds of up to 1 centimeter per second.

The hurricane-like vortices created by the Bordeaux team do not move in straight lines as real one do, because they are not affected by the Coriolis effects, however they move in a random motion accordingly to the statistical properties of mini-storms. According to Kellay, much of the experiment can be reproduced at home with the help of several straws, some soap and a heat source. 50 degrees Celsius would be just enough to produce heat convection.