5/15/22, 10:52 AM W7: Conics are Everywhere! – MATH110 B033 Spring 2022
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W7: Conics are Everywhere!
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Conic shapes in the real world.
Begin by selecting Start a New Conversation. Research ONE example of a conic section in real
life that has not already been used by a classmate.
Make your choice (Bouncing ball) the subject of your post, and then tell us in your own words
about your find. Do not just make this up off the top of your head. The St Louis Arch, for
example, is NOT a parabola—it is an inverted catenary.
To get credit for this Discussion, you must cite a source confirming that your example is,
indeed, a conic and not some other more exotic curve.
Using a personal example (My eyebrow) will not count unless you can cite a source verifying
that eyebrows are parabolic.
You must also respond to 2 classmates’ posts. You may ask questions to elicit a more in-depth
explanation, add additional information to your own posting in response to questions, share
additional knowledge on another post or share an example from your own life related to the
topic.
Please sign ALL your Discussion posts with the name that you like to be called – it makes it so
much easier for the rest of us to address you by your preferred name when we respond.
Initial Post Due: Thursday, by 11:55 p.m., ET
Responses Due: Sunday, by 11:55 p.m., ET
5/15/22, 10:52 AM W7: Conics are Everywhere! – MATH110 B033 Spring 2022
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Week 7: Water Fountain
Derrek Bost posted May 15, 2022 3:56 PM
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Good afternoon everyone,
For this weeks discussion I decided to go with the water fountain, more specifically the
water fountain at the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. If you look at images of
this fountian you see something very familiar with the arch or trajectory of the water
streams. It starts from the floor and goes up, at a slight curve, to a point were the water
curves back to the ground and straightening back out a bit as it heads back to the floor.
This trajectory can be called a “parabolic trajectory.” If you do not believe that this is a
parabolic shape, then you have to question Galileo. He showed that projectiles falling
under uniform gravity follow parabolic paths. Another resource you can look at if you do
not believe this is my first website under my resources section. It breaks the arch of the
water fountain into a formula that proves water fountain arches are parabolic. I hope you
enjoy this post and I am looking forward to reading everyone elses post for this week.
Have a great rest of the week.
V/R,
Derrek
Resources
http://mathcentral.uregina.ca/qq/database/qq.09.06/h/emily1.html
http://handsonmath.blogspot.com/2011/06/parabolas-and-water-fountains.html
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5/15/22, 10:52 AM W7: Conics are Everywhere! – MATH110 B033 Spring 2022
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Parabolic Microphone
Sean Aldridge posted May 15, 2022 1:17 PM
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For my conic section in real life, I chose the Parabolic Microphone. You might have seen
these on the sidelines of NFL games or held by people recording nature sounds. It is a
microphone connected to a bowl shaped, or parabola, object. Its purpose is to pick up
focused sound waves from a designated direction.
How it works:
An individual would point the Parabolic Microphone in the direction they want to amplify a
sound. The parabola would pick up any sound that is traveling from that designated
direction because it would hit the parabola perpendicularly. The sound pressure waves
would travel from that direction, hit the parabola and reflect, or bounce, from the surface
of the parabola to the microphone which is at the focal point in the parabola. All sound
pressure waves which hit the parabola perpendicularly, which would be sounds coming
from the chosen direction, would reflect to the microphone receiver at the focal point. All
sound pressure waves which do not hit perpendicularly, all sounds outside the chosen
direction, would reflect away from the focal point.
References:
Budney, Greg. Foito, Chris. 2016. “How to Record Audio – Parabola.” YouTube. 09 August,
2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRXPy6ybPiA
Wikipedia. 2021. “Parabolic Microphone.” Last updated: 11 January, 2021.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parabolic_microphone
-Sean
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