News Physics

Water drops on soap bubble films act like merging galaxies

Scientists hope to be able to use the soapy system to study the cosmos

Like colliding galaxies, water droplets (dark circles) on a soap film orbit before coalescing.

J.-P. Martischang et al./PNAS Nexus, 2026

By Emily Conover

The physics of merging galaxies has popped up in an unexpected place: the stuff of soap bubbles.

Water droplets placed on a flat soap film act like galaxies that orbit one another before coalescing.