WHISPERING GALLERY, COMET, KIDNEY STONE AND ELLIPSE

We know well about the circle, the distance between any point on the circle and the center is constant and it is called 'radius'. Let us now consider an ellipse. There are two centers (focus) in an ellipse. The total distance between any point on the ellipse and two foci is constant.
Kepler discovered that all planets revolve around the sun in the elliptical orbits. The comets appear to us at some point of time. They reappear after a gap of long time(for example 76 years). People were not able to predict the motions of comets for a long time. Then it is found that the comet travel in long elliptical path with sun at one of the foci. Hence the long time gap for every appearance.

There are two famous whispering gallaries. 1. United states statuary capitol hall. 2. London's st. paul's cathedral. They are designed in the shape of ellipse. If a person whispers at one focus in the elliptical gallery, another person standing at the second focus can hear it loud and clear. The two foci are seperated by hundreds of feet. Here the sound waves starting from one focus, are reflected by the elliptically shaped walls and converge at another focus. That is why, even a pin drop can be heard.

Lithotripsy is the procedure of destroying kidney stone by sending high energy shock waves. Here again, the concept used in whispering gallery is adopted. The patients lie down in an elliptical tub. Shockwave source is at one focus and the patient's kidney stone is at the another focus. The stone is broken into minute pieces by the shock waves and then they pass out of the body without requiring surgery.
Like circle, the ellipse also has its own uses and status.

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