Touching Soap Films

Andreas Arnez, Konrad Polthier,
Martin Steffens, Christian Teitzel

The video "Touching Soap Films" is an educational film about the world of SOAP FILMS, or in mathematical words, the world of MINIMAL SURFACES. 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. Surfaces with least area appear as optimal solutions of many problems, for example, since the 1960's, they have been used in architecture as models for light roof constructions such as the Olympic stadium in Munich. Also, in crystallography, physics and chemistry soap films are used as separating surfaces between grids of atoms.

The young boy Kalle (here) is the main actor in the video. He explores the palace of soap films and dives into the science of minimal surfaces. The video is intended for pupils and popular scientifically interested people. Nevertheless, most of the geometric animations come from latest mathematical research on minimal surfaces, and most material is new even for experts.

Content

	Introductory Booklet and (short) Preface Soap Films in Mathematics Architecture and Tent Roofs Crystallographic Models and Zeolithes Production of the Video
	Scenes from the Video Still Images and Comments Video Excerpts
	Cover Pages of Distributed Versions Bild der Wissenschaft Komplett-Media Springer Verlag
	Order Forms German Edition (VHS PAL) English Edition (VHS PAL and VHS NTSC) Portuguise Version (VHS PAL)
	Literature on Minimal Surface Popular Scientific Material Comprehensive Text Books Research Books and Articles Other videos
Reviews ....	MAA Online (July 2000)

© 1996-2007 Last modified: 10.01.07 --- Konrad Polthier --- Freie Universität Berlin, Germany