what is a use of an ellipse in real life?

Question

it can't be that the orbit of the planets is an ellipse, i know that one already i just can't find another one

Answer 1

The Capitol in Washington D.C. has a ceiling that follows an elliptical curve. It is over the original senate chamber.
The nature of an ellipse is that the sum of the distances from the two focal points remains constant. Also, the angles between rays from the foci to the curve will be equal.
The guys who built the senate chamber used those principles to create 2 focal points on the senate floor. If you are sitting at one focal point, you can hear another person at the other focal point as clearly as if he/she is whispering in your ear.
btw. race tracks are ovals, not ellipses.

Answer 2

Ellipses In Real Life

Answer 3

Here are some other places where you will find ellipses:

The shape of a spotlight on a planar surface is in most
cases an ellipse. In some cases it may be a circle.

If you cut a cylinder at an angle, you will get elliptical
sections. This can have important applications in optics
(lenses and mirrors can be elliptical in shape), or in the
kitchen (where one might cut vegetables or sausage along a
"bias cut" in order to obtain pieces that have the same
thickness, but have more surface area exposed.

Some tanks are in fact elliptical (not circular) in cross
section. This gives them a high capacity, but with a
lower center-of-gravity, so that they are more stable when
being transported. And they're shorter, so that they can pass
under a low bridge. You might see these tanks transporting
heating oil or gasoline on the highway

The ellipse is found in art and architecture, and you may be
familiar with the Ellipse, part of a President's Park South
(a National Park in Washington, DC, just south of the White
House).

Ellipses (or half-ellipses) are sometimes used as fins, or
airfoils in structures that move through the air. The
elliptical shape reduces drag.

On a bicycle, you might find a chainwheel (the gear that is
connected to the pedal cranks) that is approximately elliptical
in shape. Here the difference between the major and minor
axes of the ellipse is used to account for differences in the
speed and force applied, because your legs push and pull more
effectively when the pedals are arranged so that one pedal is
in front and one is in back, than when the pedals are in the
"dead zone" (when one pedal is up and one pedal is down).

Answer 4

Circle: Ferris Wheel Ellipse: Race Track Parabola: McDonald's arches Hyperbola: Hourglass

Answer 5

All planetary and satellite orbits are ellipses, some approach perfect circles. Racetracks are better called rectangular ellipses (as opposed to true ones), because they have straight sides (the "straightaway"). The egg has an oval shape, which is fatter at one end than the other. (Racetracks are sometimes called "ovals" in error.) Some special gears in machines are in the shape of an ellipse.

Answer 6

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RE:
what is a use of an ellipse in real life?
it can't be that the orbit of the planets is an ellipse, i know that one already i just can't find another one

Answer 7

The camshaft is an apparatus often used in piston engines to operate poppet valves. It consists of a cylindrical rod running the length of the cylinder bank with a number of oblong lobes or cams protruding from it, one for each valve. The cams force the valves open by pressing on the valve, or on some intermediate mechanism, as they rotate.

those oblong lobes are elliptical...a real world use of the ellipse

Answer 8

Whenever you sketch a circle, you draw an ellipse... A perfect circle does NOT exist in nature... Ask Einstein... Neither does a truly straight line, for that matter...

Answer 9

Orbits are elliptical, although I'm not sure if they are *exactly* ellipses.

Answer 10

Think of rides at an amusement park. They are filled with math and physics equations.

The kitchen is filled with chemistry.

Some things I can think of at an amusement park are the tracks.