ISLAND Bay man Alan McKay is a bubble scientist – his specialty is breaking world records.
On August 9, 1996, McKay broke his own record for the longest bubble ever blown.
“It was 105 feet long, although it could’ve been 115. The photographer ran out of room to fit the bubble in,” he says.
The last person to hold that record was a New Yorker whose bubble was 50 feet (15.24m) long.
McKay currently has his sights set on a round bubble record of 20 (6m) feet.
“I’ve got the mixture, the equipment and technique – now I need the right weather.”
McKay says success in bubble blowing relies on these four elements. Good weather for bubbles is high humidity (98-100 percent), a cool temperature to keep away haphazard bugs, and virtually no wind.
“Autumn and winter mornings are record breaking times. Dew and fog are good, when the air is saturated, and places near the sea in the evening, where there’s no bugs flying around.”
The definition of ‘good equipment’ depends on entrepreneurial inventions of the time.  
“In the days when mixture was very fragile, I developed a system to absorb shocks and vibrations so the bubble would not break. I kept it a secret for many years, but when the mix became elastic, with the addition of polymers, there was less of a need.”
Unfortunately for bubble scientists around the world, the current state of bubble mixture is not good.
“[US multinational corporation] Procter and Gamble made a dishwashing liquid called Joy, and when it was diluted to 10 parts water with glycerin it made a fantastic mix  - it was good for bubbles as well as being gentle and user friendly. But they changed the formula and it’s created problems ever since,” he says.
The world’s most popular big bubble blowing mixtures were based on this earlier dishwashing liquid.
“Nobody’s making a formula that can compete with it,” says McKay.
McKay wrote to the company, but hasn’t had a response.
“That’s a whole story in itself, the frustrations of big bubble blowers world wide and the failure of Procter and Gamble to recognise it. Though they make the liquid to attack grease on dishes, that’s their business.”
Last year, Alan attended Bubble Daze in San Francisco - a gathering for the bubble mad from around the world.
“Some people are amazing. Tom Noddy is one of the original entertainment bubble blowers. He makes geometric constructions from little bubbles, combining them to form complex geometric shapes like dodecahedrons. There was also a Hawaiian bubble blower who created bubble haircuts, starting with a great big afro on someone’s head and shaping it into a hairdo. Some people do tricks like putting people inside bubble domes.”
The gathering wasn’t just about entertainment though.
“There were lectures about the chemistry of bubble mixtures. Understanding how the chemistry works is a major part of it.”
‘Bubble scientist’ is a fitting title for McKay, who is also an independent inventor.
While McKay spends much of his time inventing theories and alternative solutions, as a beneficiary who holds no official qualifications it’s not easy to get his ideas across to big companies.
 “Science funding bodies are all biased towards incorporations and universities, there’s a big gap in helping independents. There was one exception; when BP had the oil leak they sent out requests worldwide for ideas, and anyone could fill in a form online. It’d be good if there was more of that kind of thing, companies looking beyond traditional resources to solve problems.”
Unqualified inventors are more often than not treated warily, because they could be crackpots.
McKay points out that JK Rowling was turned down by 12 publishers, it was once said that the world market for computers numbered five machines, and the telephone was dismissed as a toy.
“Academics can be blinded by their own knowledge. This fear of so-called crackpots is overblown and it would sort itself out naturally. It’s better to allow the free exchange of ideas rather than be so terrified of crazy ideas that you cut everyone out of the process. Academia has become almost religiously terrified of new thinking.”
See Alan McKay blow bubbles at Festival of the Elements, Te Rauparaha Park, Porirua, February 6.