Activity 5: Conic Sections Applications

1. Radio Waves KROC radio station is 4 miles west

Station
(0, 0)
(Drawing not to scale) Bigcity Center

2. Sprinkler System A sprinkler system shoots a stream of water that follows a parabolic
path. The nozzle is fastened at ground level and water reaches a maximum height of 40
feet and a maximum horizontal distance of 180 feet from the nozzle. Find the equation that describes
the path of the water. Use the location of the nozzle as the origin. How close to the nozzle can a 5½
foot woman stand before completely blocking the spray?

3. Whispering Gallery Statuary Hall is an elliptical room in the United States Capitol in Washington
D.C. This room, sometimes called the Whispering Gallery is 46 ft. wide and 96 ft. long. John Quincy
Adams is said to have used the focusing properties of the room to overhear conversations.
a. Find an equation that models the shape of the room.

b. What is the area of the floor of the room? (The area of an ellipse is A   a b .)
 c. Where should the people stand to hear each other (that is – find the foci)

4. Art. A sculpture has a hyperbolic cross section (see figure). 


sculpture. (Hint: It’s
NOT 2
y
2 1)
x (-1, 0)

(1, 0)
1  169 x

   

b. Each unit in the coordinate plane represents 1 foot. 
Find the width of the sculpture at a height of 5 feet. 
(-2, -13) (2, -13)

5. Whispering Gallery. Jim, standing at one focus of a whispering gallery, is 6 feet from the nearest
wall. His friend is standing at the other focus, 100 feet away. What is the length of this whispering
gallery? How high is its elliptical ceiling at the center?
6. Semielliptical Arch Bridge. The arch of a bridge is a semiellipse with a horizontal major axis. The
span is 30 feet, and the top of the arch is 10 feet above the major axis. The roadway is horizontal and
is 2 feet above the top of the arch. Find the vertical distance from the roadway to the arch at 5-foot
intervals along the roadway.

7. Semielliptical arch Bridge. A bridge is to be built in the shape of a semielliptical arch and is to have
a span of 100 feet. The height of the arch, at a distance of 40 feet from the center is to be 10 feet.
Find the height of the arch at its center.
For the next problems, use the following facts about orbits: The orbit of a planet about a star is an
ellipse, with the star at one focus. The aphelion of a planet is its greatest distance from the star, and
the perihelion is its shortest distance. The mean distance of a planet from the star is the length of the
semi-major axis of the elliptical orbit. See the illustration:

mean distance
aphelion
perihelion
major axis
Center star

8. Mars. The mean distance of Mars from the Sun is 142 million miles. If the perihelion of Mars is
128.5 million miles, what is the aphelion? Write an equation for the orbit of Mars about the Sun.

9. Jupiter. The aphelion of Jupiter is 507 million miles. If the distance from the Sun to the center of
its elliptical orbit is 23.2 million miles, what is the perihelion? What is the mean distance? Write an
equation for the orbit of Jupiter around the Sun.
10. Architecture A semi-elliptical arch over a tunnel for a one-way road through a mountain has a
major axis of 50 feet and a height at the center of 10 feet.
a. Draw a coordinate system on a sketch of the tunnel with the center of the road
entering the tunnel at the origin. Identify the coordinates of the known points.

b. Find an equation of the semi-elliptical arch over the tunnel.

c. You are driving a moving truck that has a width of 8 feet and a height of 9 feet. Will
the moving truck clear the opening of the arch?