Ellipses have unique properties that lend well to scientific study.
Ellipses show up in any beginning geometry course, but the uses for ellipses extend far beyond the classroom. The shape of an ellipse endows it with a unique ability to reflect various types of waves. For hundreds of years scientists and engineers have taken advantage of these properties and found uses for ellipses in astronomy, optics and even medicine.
Creating an Ellipse
Unlike an oval, an ellipse has two pointed ends.
While a circle has one center point called a radius, an ellipse has two. Mathematicians call these two points foci. To create an ellipse, take a piece of string and pin down both ends to a piece of paper some distance apart. Pull the center of the string to a point and lay it flat on the paper. Line up a pencil with the center point of the string and trace out a circle outside of and around the two points. It will form an elongated circle, pointed on both ends that mathematicians call an ellipse.
Lithotripsy
Ellipses have reflective traits that make them an invaluable tool in many different fields of science. By making an ellipse out of reflective materials, scientists can shine a beam of light or energy at one focus and it will reflect to the other. This feature has an important use in medical technology. Medical engineers use it as the basis for a machine called a lithotripter. The lithotripter reflects shock waves into the patient's kidneys to break up kidney stones into fragments small enough to pass via their urine.
Optics
Ellipses have important applications to optics.
Ellipses show up in nearly all fields of optics. The two foci of an ellipse allow opticians to accurately predict the path of a beam of light. By manipulating the angle and size of an elliptical lens, they can magnify, refract or reflect light. They then use these properties to create microscopes, telescopes and cameras. Physicists and engineers use the optical properties of ellipses to determine how much light scatters and how much an object absorbs -- two important properties of laser mechanics.
Astronomy
Ellipses show up in many areas of astronomy.
The ellipse plays an important part in astronomy. Early astronomers believed planets orbited in a perfectly circular pattern, but Johannes Kepler proved that they follow an elliptical orbit and later used the properties of ellipses to create a set of laws about the universe. Using these laws, along with the mathematics of ellipses, astronomers can predict the arrival of comets, planetary orbit and other physical laws.
NASA
Without the ability to actually go to planets and take physical measurements, astrophysicists have to make estimates about their measurements. In 2003, NASA sent remote-controlled land vehicles to Mars. To give the astronauts a visual landing zone they used the shape of an ellipse. The ellipse gave them an area inside of safe terrain and the mathematics of ellipses allowed them to better calculate the chance of landing outside of the predicted zone.
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