Rotationally symmetric soap films
A project concerning variational ODE

Objective: Produce soap films between circular wire rings. Measure shape and compare to solutions of Euler-Lagrange equation. Address existence and non-existence of solutions. Is there a way to produce physically unstable solutions? N.b., unstable double bubbles which it is claimed can be produced.

Additional reading: G.A. Bliss, Calculus of Variations, Carus Monograph.

Note: might involve photography.

Progress:

Fall 2001 (Cantin, Towal, Smith) Analyzed catenoids between two rings. Photographed and compared to explicit solutions. Also photographed stable double bubbles and compared to computed circular curves (though analysis is not complete at this writing). Attempted to create unstable double bubble, but were unable.