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! |