Solving the brachistochrone and other variational problems with soap films
Popular Physics
2015-05-18 v3 Classical Physics
Physics Education
Abstract
We show a method to solve the problem of the brachistochrone as well as other variational problems with the help of the soap films that are formed between two suitable surfaces. We also show the interesting connection between some variational problems of dynamics, statics, optics, and elasticity.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1003.3924,
title = {Solving the brachistochrone and other variational problems with soap films},
author = {Carlos Criado and Nieves Alamo},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1003.3924},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
16 pages, 11 figures. This article, except for a small correction, has been submitted to the American Journal of Physics