We present a simple red blood cell (RBC) model and solve it only based on the variational method. Such a model allows us to obtain the morphological characteristics of human mature RBC under normal conditions, and to study its shape transformation induced by osmotic pressure. This study requires only modest computational capabilities and geometric knowledge and thus is well suited to be a part of an advanced physics or biophysics course.

中文翻译：

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渗透压诱导的红细胞形态转化

我们提出一个简单的红细胞（RBC）模型，并仅基于变分方法对其进行求解。这种模型使我们能够获得正常条件下人成熟红细胞的形态学特征，并研究其在渗透压作用下的形状转变。这项研究仅需要适度的计算能力和几何知识，因此非常适合成为高级物理学或生物物理学课程的一部分。