A few seconds was all it took for this shimmering tube of soap and water to set a world record.
At 11ft across and more than 5ft high before it burst, it enclosed 50 children to pop the previous record of 42 bubble-bound children set in the U.S. earlier this year.
It was created by "bubbleologist" Sam Heath at the Science Museum in London. The children, all of whom had to be over 5ft, squeezed on a stage surrounded by a moat of soapy water.
Mr Heath dipped a wand - a metal hoop with a 36ft circumference - into the solution, before raising it above their heads.
He had briefly held the record in 2006, when he encased 19 schoolkids in a bubble at Chessington World of Adventures theme park in Surrey.
Representatives from the Guinness Book of Records were on hand to adjudicate and the soapy spectacle was witnessed by hundreds of schoolchildren.
The record breaker coincided with the opening of the museum's flagship interactive gallery of physics phenomena, entitled Launchpad.
Launchpad features 50 new, live, previously-unseen interactives, devices and experiments. Visitors launch rockets, capture multicoloured shadows, turn heads into sound boxes and control magnetic clouds.
At 11ft across and more than 5ft high before it burst, it enclosed 50 children to pop the previous record of 42 bubble-bound children set in the U.S. earlier this year.
Don't move: 50 children stand still inside the bubble
'Pretty bubbles in the air': Sam Heath gazes at his huge creation
It was created by "bubbleologist" Sam Heath at the Science Museum in London. The children, all of whom had to be over 5ft, squeezed on a stage surrounded by a moat of soapy water.
Mr Heath dipped a wand - a metal hoop with a 36ft circumference - into the solution, before raising it above their heads.
He had briefly held the record in 2006, when he encased 19 schoolkids in a bubble at Chessington World of Adventures theme park in Surrey.
Record breaker: Sam Heath
SamSam Bubbleman: I'm forever blowing bubbles
Representatives from the Guinness Book of Records were on hand to adjudicate and the soapy spectacle was witnessed by hundreds of schoolchildren.
The record breaker coincided with the opening of the museum's flagship interactive gallery of physics phenomena, entitled Launchpad.
Launchpad features 50 new, live, previously-unseen interactives, devices and experiments. Visitors launch rockets, capture multicoloured shadows, turn heads into sound boxes and control magnetic clouds.