Kelvin's ideal foam structure

Abstract

Among his many extraordinary accomplishments, Kelvin was a pioneer of crystallography, elasticity and materials science. These interests came together to inspire his speculation on the nature of the ether in 1887. He conceived it to be an ordered liquid foam, of minimal surface area. Kelvin's ideal structure of foam has been realised in the laboratory only recently. In the meantime it was surpassed (in terms of surface area minimisation) by the Weaire-Phelan foam, which is the basis for one of the main buildings of the Beijing Olympics. © 2009 IOP Publishing Ltd.