Skip to main content

THE PARABOLA

    

      A jet of water shooting from a hose pipe will follow a parabolic path.  What is the so special about parabola.

    Y= x^2
Draw a graph for the above equation.  It will result in a parabola.  This parabola is also called unit parabola.  Any equation involving square will yield a parabola.
Example:  Y = 2x^2 +3x+3 (also called quadratic equation)

    X= 2 and -2, both  satisfies the equation 4 = X^2.  Parabolic equations always have two solutions.

     Any motion taking place freely under gravity follows parabolic path. Examples:   An object dropped from a moving train,   A bomb dropped from flying plane,  A ball kicked upwards.

      If a beam of light rays fall on the parabolic shaped mirror, they will be reflected and brought to focus on a point.  This fact is made use of in Dish Antenna, Telescope mirrors, etc.

      Inverted parabola shape is used in the construction of buildings and bridges.  Because the shape is able to bear more weight.

      A plane follows a parabolic path to create zero gravity.  A fast climb up and a free fall.

     All hanging, suspension cables are in the parabolic shape. 
    The parabola is a natural curve. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE EARTH, A SUPER ORGANISM

     JOIN MY COURSE: "Become a programmer in a day with python"       A man called 'love lock' (what a name) proposed a theory called Gaia theory, named after Greek Goddess.      It says, "Earth is a self-regulating organism like a human being.  The organic life in it interacts with in-organic matter and maintains atmosphere, temperature and environment".  Hence the earth is still suitable for the life to thrive.      Imagine, in a particular place, there are lot of flowers.  Some flowers are white and some are darkly coloured.  We know, white reflects light and heat while dark absorbs the same.  White flowers can thrive in hot climate.  But dark flowers requires cold climate.  The absorption and reflection balances and the environment reaches average, warm temperature at which both the flowers can co-exist.  This is the essence of "Gaia" theory.      On our earth, ...
3 comments
Read more

DISORDER IS THE "ORDER OF THE DAY"

         Imagine a balloon full of air.  The air molecules are moving randomly inside the balloon.  Let us pierce the balloon with a pin.  The air rushes out.  Why should not the air molecules stay inside the balloon safely and ignore the little hole?  That is not the way the world works.  The molecules always "want to occupy as many states as possible".  Hence the air goes out in the open to occupy more volume.   The things always goes into disorder (entropy) and the disorder increases with time.  The above statement is what we call "second law of thermodynamics".      Consider a cup of coffee on the table. Suppose the heat from entire room flows to your cup of coffee, the coffee will boil and the rest of the room will freeze.  Freezing means bringing things to order and arrangement.  It violates the second law.  Hence it will never happen.  Hence heat must flow from high ...
Post a Comment
Read more

CASINO'S GAME

           Let us find out how the casino survives with mathematics.      Say, your friend invite you for a game of dice.  You must bet (wager) 2 dollars.  If you roll 'six' you will get back 8 dollars.  The game will go on for 30 rounds.  All sounds good.      The probability of rolling 'six' is 1/6.  Since the game will be played for 30 times, the 'expected win' is 30*1/6 = 5.  That is, you are expected to win 5 rounds out of 30.  Hence your gain will be 5 * 8 =40 dollars.  ok.  This also implies that you will loose 25 rounds.  Hence your loss will be 25*2 =50 dollars.  Your net gain will be gain-less = 40-50 = -10 dollars. For 30 rounds, the loss is -10 dollars, Hence, for one round =-10/30 = -1/3 dollars.  There will be a loss of -1/3 or 0.33 dollars per round.  It is not a fair game.     Let us make a simple formula to calculate  'Pa...
4 comments
Read more