The surface area of Kelvin's minimal tetrakaidecahedron: The ideal foam cell (?)

Abstract Calculations have been made of the surface area and volume of Kelvin's minimal tetrakaidecahedron which appears to be the ideal prototype of a bubble in a dry, monodisperse foam. Its surface area is 9.70% larger than that of a sphere of the same volume ( S S 0 = 1.0970 ), while its isoperimetric quotient is 36πV 2 S 3 = 0.75746 . The surface area is only 0.18% smaller than that of the simpler orthic tetrakaidecahedron of the same volume, while the length of its edges is 0.43% larger. The results and their implications are discussed in the light of recent experimental findings.