Bubble wrap - which way round?

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

Here's a question about one of our favourite things, whatever your age - bubble wrap!

Squeeze - pop! Squeeze - pop! Squeeze - pop! Squeeze - pop! Heheheheheheh, etc

Anyway, now we've had our fun with it, I have a serious question.

I have a large roll of bubble wrap, which I am currently using to wrap various bits in for despatch after selling on Ebay.

But sometimes I wrap things with the 'bubbles' inside - i.e facing the part I'm wrapping, and sometimes the other way, with the 'bubbles' outside. Depends on nothing more than how a bit of it ends up laying on my bench after cutting a bit off the roll.

However, I have a feeling that it might work best with the 'bubbles' inside rather than outside, but I have no scientific data to back that up, just a hunch.


So....does anyone know the definitive way round I should be wrapping stuff??

[Carpal]

I asked one of the apprentices to pick some up from stores for me and pop it in the corner of the office.

He was gone hours.

[GBTurbo]

Bubbles in for me

[tyranical]

Wrong section however I would have thought it went bubbles facing out, although when you get jiffy bags they have the bubbles facing in..

Why do you have to ask this sort of question just before bed? I won't sleep now...

[CoolHands]

if you think about it jiffy must know what they're doing, so bubbles facing the item imo.

[paulshears]

Bubbles in

Packing tape sticks to it better that way

[madbadger]

It makes no difference. The bubbles do the same thing when impacted. They don't know if they are facing in or out.

[Marty63]

tyranical said:

Wrong section however I would have thought it went bubbles facing out, although when you get jiffy bags they have the bubbles facing in..

Why do you have to ask this sort of question just before bed? I won't sleep now...

Try counting popped bubbles................

[Centurion07]

madbadger said:

It makes no difference. The bubbles do the same thing when impacted. They don't know if they are facing in or out.

True, if the impacting 'thing' hits a bubble square on. If it gets between the bubbles it will hit the item you're trying to protect directly, whereas if the bubbles are on the inside, the plastic stretched between them will help stop the 'thing' making contact.

So, bubbles in, always!

[Nickyboy]

Bubbles in, if they are on the outside they pop a lot easier as the membrane around the bubble is thinner than the plastic base/wrap they are formed from.

[StuartGGray]

I once rode a bicycle along a 50 foot length of bubble wrap in a computer centre. The noise and feeling was fantastic. Bubbles up the way for better effect.

[checkmate91]

Depends what you're wrapping and why, I guess. The bubbles are actually quite fragile and will rupture easily. The under layer tends to be thicker and has more penetration resistance. On balance, I think I'd always have the bubbles on the inside unless I was wrapping a bunch of broken glass...

[longshot]

madbadger said:

It makes no difference. The bubbles do the same thing when impacted. They don't know if they are facing in or out.

It does make a difference.
If an item is wrapped with the bubble on the inside, as the bubblewrap wraps around the item, the bubbles are pushed closer together and so the level of protection is higher.

[Zeemax_Mini]

This should have been a poll, but I'm going definitely bubbles in!

Dom

[Pints]

Zeemax_Mini said:

This should have been a poll, but I'm going definitely bubbles in!

Dom

No need for a poll. It's not an opinion.

Bubbles in is the only correct way of wrapping an item.

[mattyn1]

madbadger said:

It makes no difference. The bubbles do the same thing when impacted. They don't know if they are facing in or out.

Of course they do.

Bubbles in.

[madbadger]

Ok then.

I'm convinced.

[98elise]

longshot said:

madbadger said:

It makes no difference. The bubbles do the same thing when impacted. They don't know if they are facing in or out.

It does make a difference.
If an item is wrapped with the bubble on the inside, as the bubblewrap wraps around the item, the bubbles are pushed closer together and so the level of protection is higher.

This is the right answer, but for 3 reasons;

1. Bubbles are compressed together at the corners
2. The strongest part (the backing)is facing out, so least likely to be punctured.
3. The backing forms a single cusioned barrier, but if the other way round its lots of small bubbles with gaps

[66comanche]

98elise said:

longshot said:

madbadger said:

It makes no difference. The bubbles do the same thing when impacted. They don't know if they are facing in or out.

It does make a difference.
If an item is wrapped with the bubble on the inside, as the bubblewrap wraps around the item, the bubbles are pushed closer together and so the level of protection is higher.

This is the right answer, but for 3 reasons;

1. Bubbles are compressed together at the corners
2. The strongest part (the backing)is facing out, so least likely to be punctured.
3. The backing forms a single cusioned barrier, but if the other way round its lots of small bubbles with gaps

I concur. How anyone could come to a different conclusion astonishes me.

[Monkey boy 1]

One of our clients sends stuff to us in blue bubble wrap, but the difference between normal clear bubble wrap and the blue stuff they send to us is that the blue has a slightly adhesive side for sticking to large components. No need for packing tape.

The Adhesive side is the flat side, so in this instance it's Bubble out.