Product Details

• Format: NTSC
• Language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Springer
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: 3540926356
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #654,892 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Touching Soap Films is a well-prepared video product, introducing the world of minimal surfaces to the general audience. ... It is recommended to every mathematics club and public library, and can also be used as a source of information for univresity courses in geometry or claculus of variations. Some topics such as building tunnels into minimal surfaces are under current mathematical research, which makes the tape also worth watching by experts in this field."

Reviewed by Hong You Wu, Mathematical Reviews, Issue 2001d

Product Description

This is a scientific video about the world of soap films designed for the general public. Few other physical problems have influenced as many branches of mathematics in the past 200 years as have the study of soap films. A soap film is physically similar to a piece of rubber surface which tries to contract itself under surface tension to a surface with least area. The video is completely computer generated. It explains the world of soap films and their properties in an amusing story, in which a young boy explores the palace of soap films. Under the guidance of an old professor, he gets fascinating insights and becomes a witness to never-before-seen shapes and animations of soap films. The authors have achieved the unique result of making the film exciting and enjoyable for both anyone interested in science and researchers in differential geometry. In addition, the film is ideally suited to be shown to school students, and hence of great interest to mathematics teachers.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learn mathematics and physics by examining the properties of thin films of soap, July 1, 2006

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Touching Soap Films [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Since a soap film will spontaneously re-form so that the surface area is minimal, they are a practical demonstration of a complex problem in mathematics. Given a specific set of parameters, finding the minimal surface with these characteristics is a hard problem. Stability is also an issue, in that there may be a stable surface, but it is necessary to pass through an unstable state to get there. The surfaces with least area have many practical applications in architecture, physics and chemistry. This video, completely animated via computer, walks you through many of the key surfaces.

The main character is a young boy with a curiosity that prevents him from leaving things alone. He moves through a museum as the surfaces are explained and demonstrated. They are deformed and rotated in a continuous manner so that you can examine all aspects of the surface. This is clearly the highlight of the tape. The deformations are stunning in their smoothness, as you can see every detail of the surface from every angle.

However, while the tape is good, it would be difficult to use it as a distinct educational device. Without some supplemental explanation, most of the discussion would be beyond the reach of most students. Fortunately, the package also contains a small, twenty-page booklet that explains the properties of the surfaces. With that at your disposal, it would be very easy to incorporate the tape into any course on applied mathematics or physics. A further advantage would also be that it would be easy and inexpensive to develop supplemental laboratory demonstrations.

Children have fun with soap bubbles and there is no reason why this fun should stop at an early age. With this video, that fun can be extended into the college classroom, where it is possible to learn mathematics and physics by examining the properties of thin films of soap.

Published in Mathematics and Computer Education, reprinted with permission