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By the way, those
green dots are called foci (the plural for focus -- it's one of those
pretentious math words that make geeks feel superior.)
These points are pretty dang
important!
In fact, our Sun lives at a
focus... All the planets orbit the Sun in elliptical paths.
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Notice how the Earth speeds up a bit when
it gets closer to the Sun?
Coooooool! (Actually, it wouldn't be
since you're closer to the Sun.)
(I exagerated this animation quite a bit
too make my point. Although our orbits are ellipses, they are much
closer to being circles.) |
I know you're pretty dang jazzed
about ellipses already (and, really, who can blame you), but, there's
more! These things have
some totally amazing reflective properties!
Check
it out: If we shoot rays
(like maybe light or sound) from one focus...
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They shoot out, reflect off the inside of
the ellipse and head straight for the other focus!
Repeat after me: Duuuuuuuuuuuude! |
Continued on the
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