Eli5: why does the viscosity of a liquid determine the amount of pressure it takes to blow bubbles in it and does the depth of the liquid relative to where the air is released also play a role? (Is it harder to blow bubbles In deeper water?)
In: Mathematics
The question about “is it harder to blow bubbles in deeper water” is a bit tricky, because it depends on how you do it.
If you stand at the surface and have a long straw that you’re using to blow bubbles, then yes, it’s absolutely harder to blow bubbles as you get deeper. This is what I think you meant by “depth of the liquid relative to where the air is released”.
If you’re a scuba diver trying to compare blowing bubbles at the surface vs 100ft down, then the comparison more complicated. It will be harder to do it farther down, but the magnitude of the effect will be much smaller than the straw example. Further it’s my understanding that the change in difficulty isn’t exactly from the depth, rather as you go deeper the viscosity of the water and of the gas in your lungs is going to increase, which makes breathing harder.
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