Equilibrium Capillary Surfaces

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvi

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2. Introduction

   • Robert Finn

   Pages 1-16

3. The Symmetric Capillary Tube

   • Robert Finn

   Pages 17-36

4. The Symmetric Sessile Drop

   • Robert Finn

   Pages 37-66

5. The Pendent Liquid Drop

   • Robert Finn

   Pages 67-109

6. Asymmetric Case; Comparison Principles and Applications

   • Robert Finn

   Pages 110-132

7. Capillary Surfaces Without Gravity

   • Robert Finn

   Pages 133-188

8. Existence Theorems

   • Robert Finn

   Pages 189-211

9. The Capillary Contact Angle

   • Robert Finn

   Pages 212-233

10. Identities and Isoperimetric Relations

    • Robert Finn

    Pages 234-236

11. Back Matter

    Pages 237-247

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Capillarity phenomena are all about us; anyone who has seen a drop of dew on a plant leaf or the spray from a waterfall has observed them. Apart from their frequently remarked poetic qualities, phenomena of this sort are so familiar as to escape special notice. In this sense the rise of liquid in a narrow tube is a more dramatic event that demands and at first defied explanation; recorded observations of this and similar occur­ rences can be traced back to times of antiquity, and for lack of expla­ nation came to be described by words deriving from the Latin word "capillus", meaning hair. It was not until the eighteenth century that an awareness developed that these and many other phenomena are all manifestations of some­ thing that happens whenever two different materials are situated adjacent to each other and do not mix. If one (at least) of the materials is a fluid, which forms with another fluid (or gas) a free surface interface, then the interface will be referred to as a capillary surface.

• Calculation
• Surfaces
• behavior
• equation
• geometry
• identity
• plant
• proof
• stability
• theorem

• Department of Mathematics, Stanford University, Stanford, USA

  Robert Finn