WATER BUBBLES

What are Water Bubbles?

● A biodegradable, edible, and safe alternative to water bottles

● It is composed of sodium alginate and calcium lactate
● Two ingredients combine to undergo a process called reverse
spherification
● Reverse Spherification - calcium lactate reacts with sodium alginate to
form a “gel-like” shell around the water
Current Problem: Plastic Waste

● Currently, there is 315 billion lbs. of plastic waste in

the ocean
● Only 9% of 8,300 million metric tons of plastic ever
produced has been recycled
● 79% of “recyclable” plastic is put into landfills
● Strains ocean wildlife & resources we desperately
rely on
 Design Requirements
Size, Shape, and Thickness Materials

● 1 inch in diameter ● Composition of shell :

● Spherical ○ Sodium Alginate

● For correct thickness : ○ Calcium Lactate

○ 1 g of Sodium Alginate ● Distilled water on the inside

○ 5 g of Calcium Lactate ● Substitute Propel water for inside
● This thickness can survive up to a 13cm. ○ Targeted at runners/ athletes

drop from air without popping

 Alternative
● Concept 1
Concepts Not ○ Thicker shell (more alginate / lactate)
Selected ●
○ Mio flavoring
Concept 2
○ Thinner shell (add calcium chloride for hardness)
Evaluation Concept 1 Concept 2 Concept 3 ○ Propel inside
Criteria
● Concept 3
Wt. Valu Wt. x Val Wt. x Val Wt. x ○ Regular bubbles
e1 val1 ue2 Val2 ue3 Val3
○ Packaged in a tub full of water
Durability .35 8 2.8 7 2.45 8 2.8 ○ Propel inside
Easy to .05 7 .35 8 .4 8 .4
transport Even though we picked concept three at the time, we further experimented
Easy to .10 4 .4 6 .6 8 .8
and decided to use an egg carton-style package because of the tub’s
manufactur heaviness and to save water. We were able to create one using the 3D
e
printer.
Good .30 9 2.7 9 2.7 9 2.7
flavor

packaging .20 7 1.4 8 1.6 8 1.6

total 1.0 7.65 7.75 8.3

Final Concept

● 1in. edible biodegradable water bottle

● Composed of sodium alginate and calcium lactate
● Can contain water, water with added electrolytes, or dog medicine
● Container is composed of a corn based plastic that is biodegradable as
well
○ 6in x 4in
○ 1.5in. diameter hemispheric indentations
Cost & Market Analysis

Sodium alginate: A colorless or light yellow powdery or crystalline polysaccharide, the sodium salt of alginic acid, used as a food
thickener and stabilizer and in medicines, paint, and paper coating. (in seaweed) Buy: ~$20 / 16 oz.

calcium lactate: a black or white crystalline salt made by the action of lactic acid on calcium carbonate. It is used in foods (as an
ingredient in baking powder) and given medicinally. Buy: ~ $20 / 14 oz.
Materials
● Paid for ourselves
● Inexpensive (about 2 cents per bubble)
● All other materials came from our kitchen / the chemistry lab
Opportunity for Investors? Market strategy?
● Investors / a gofundme
● First bring to schools (Cross Country races)
● Expand to all races and/or vending machines
 Why We Choose These Ideas

Water Bubbles Packaging

● Sent out a student based survey
○ 1in. water bubble
○ Water with added electrolytes
● Wanted to also try them as an alternative
to dog pills
○ During course of project → Oohoo
transformed their website and created
sport drink filled edible pouches debuted at
London Marathon (April 27th, 2019)
● Biodegradable
○ stays within our goal of eco friendly
● In correct conditions - can degrade in
about a year
● Vs. water bottles - biodegrade in at least
450 yrs.
○ Some up to 1,000 years

Water Bubble
Design
Reverse Spherification
1. Alginate thickens calcium/water
solution
2. Calcium Lactate forms shell
around liquid
3. Place formed water bubble into
pure H2O to stop reaction
4. Two ways of consuming :
○ Can puncture water
bubble → drink liquid and
dispose pouch
○ Can put the whole bubble
into mouth and eat
Recipe
Ingredients :
● 1g Sodium alginate
● 5g Calcium Lactate
● 4 cups Water w/ added electrolytes
● 1 cup distilled water
Steps :
1. Prepare sodium alginate solution→ mix distilled water and sodium alginate &
let sit for 15 mins. until all bubbles are gone
2. In separate bowl, mix 4 cups of flavorful liquid and 5 grams calcium lactate
gluconate
3. Use a spoon to scoop the sodium alginate solution and drop it into the
calcium lactate bath
4. Swirl the water around to make sure the bubbles don’t stick to the bottom
5. After they have formed spheres and have been sitting in the solution a
minute, use a slotted spoon to move the spheres into a pure water bath
6. The pure water bath will stop the reaction between the calcium lactate and
sodium alginate
Detailed Design (using Autodesk Fusion 360)
 To the left is
the full sketch
drawing of our
model, made
with Autodesk
Fusion 360.

Orthographic Views
Special features: Water Bubbles

* Shelf life of one week

* durable from a 13 in. drop

*dog pills

*can hold other liquids besides just water

*6 weeks to biodegrade
Special Features: Packaging

*closes with a latch

*rotates almost 360 degrees

*made from pla (corn based plastic that is biodegradable)

*waterproof
Rotates about axis Latch top
*reusable Latch bottom
Above: the Ultimaker 2 Extended+ 3D printer, which was printing our 7th draft container.
 Experiments
Experiment 1: Durability Experiment 2 : Acidity

Set Up: manipulated the amount of sodium alginate and
calcium lactate individually in 2 trials
Conclusion: Changing the ratio of ingredients did not
affect the force needed to pop the bubble. All the
bubbles popped when dropped from at least a height of
13cm
Set Up: Measure the Ph of the liquid before undergoing
spherification and then measure the Ph after being
inside the bubble
Conclusion: THe surrounding chemicals in the shell of
the water bubble do not have an effect on the Ph of the
liquid inside

Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Water Propel

Height dropped from that it popped at 13 cm 13 cm 13 cm Ph before being in the bubble 6 4

Mass 7.77 g 6.38 g 9.62 g Ph after being in the bubble 6 4

Force 76.2 N 62.6 N 94.3 N

 Experiments
Test for Shelf Life:

Procedure:

1. Created a batch of the water bubbles according to the recipe in slide 9

2. Placed 10 water bubbles into a bowl with water and then 10 water bubbles into bowl with no water and repeat
3. Set out one of each bowl in room temperature and one of each in cooled temperature
4. Check water bubbles each day until the shell begins to harden to find shelf life

Results:

● Room temperature bubbles (in water) = 8 days

● Room temperature bubbles (without water) = 9 days
● Fridge bubbles (in water) = 12 days
● Fridge bubbles (without water) = 15 days
Summary

The Water Bubbles are a biodegradable, safe alternative to water bottles that
will help save the environment

● Can hold a variety of liquids including water, electrolyte enhanced water,

etc.
● They are transportable in reusable corn-based plastic packaging
● Shelf life of one week
● Can withstand a drop of 13 in.
● Take only 6 weeks to biodegrade vs. plastic water bottles that take 450
years