Solving the brachistochrone and other variational problems with soap films

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel method using soap films to solve variational problems like the brachistochrone, revealing connections across physics disciplines such as dynamics, statics, optics, and elasticity.

Contribution

It presents a new approach leveraging soap films to address variational problems and explores interdisciplinary links among physics fields.

Findings

Soap films can be used to solve the brachistochrone problem.

The method extends to other variational problems in physics.

Connections between different physics disciplines are demonstrated.

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.