The floating ball paradox (Q972703)

The paper concerns the problem whether or not Thomas Young's balance of forces to derive the contact angle conditions is valid in general. This principle has been called into question by \textit{R. Finn} [Phys. Fluids 18, No.~4, Art.~047102, 7~p. (2006); erratum ibid. 20, No.~10, Paper No.~109901, 1~p. (2008; Zbl 1185.76470)]. The author provides arguments which support Young's method by considering a floating ball and an elastic band experiment. Moreover, interesting result are obtained related to a comparison of the floating ball experiment with an associated trapped drop experiment (Theorem 3.1).