We can picture the universe as the curved surface of a membrane like a soap film that changes dynamically in time.
22.
In 1917 he and G . I . Taylor suggested the use of soap films as a way of studying stress problems.
23.
It was during a discussion of two-dimensional soap films that Jagla brought in a photograph of a columnar lava formation in Argentina.
24.
A soap film can be formed by dipping a closed contour wire into a soapy solution as in the figure on the right.
25.
Her areas of research have included the surface of liquid crystals, foams and foam drainage, mixtures of surfactants and polymers and soap film drainage.
26.
If surfactants are well chosen and the atmospheric humidity and air movements are suitably controlled, a horizontal soap film can last from minutes to hours.
27.
In the study of the dynamics of free fluid films, such as soap films, it is common to model the film as two dimensional manifolds.
28.
For an open soap film, the pressure difference is zero, hence the mean curvature is zero, and minimal surfaces have the property of zero mean curvature.
29.
Commenting upon his analysis of experimental results from in-laboratory soap film formations, Courant believed that the existence of a physical solution does not obviate mathematical proof.
30.
In contrast, a vertical soap film is affected by gravity and so the liquid tends to drain, causing the soap film to thin at the top.
