8 December 2010, 6:00pm to 7:00pm
The Mathematics of Soap Films: Show Me The (Shortest) Way to Go Home, Professor Simon Cox (University of Aberystwyth)
Abstract
A soap film is a minimal surface, that is: it has zero mean curvature. This provides a route to predict the shape of a soap film with a given boundary (Plateau’s problem). But, as Plateau observed, a film also minimizes its surface area, a procedure that is more straightforward to implement numerically. I will discuss (and demonstrate) this minimization principle, and show how it can be used to find optimal networks and, with the addition of volume constraints (bubbles), to solve packing problems and predict the flow of foams in situations of industrial importance such as oil extraction.
Venue: Mitchell & Kenyon Cinema, Foster Building, University of Central Lancashire, Preston
No charge is made to attend meetings and non-members are welcome.
