Real-Life Applications of Parabola

Parabolas are used in various fields such as physics, engineering, and computer graphics because of their unique properties. Parabolic shape has various real life applications and some of its application are in:

• Satellite Dishes
• Headlights
• Basketball
• Bridges
• Fountains
• Telescopes
• Solar Panels, etc.

Let’s learn about the same in detail.

Satellite Dishes

Satellite dishes are shaped like parabolas. The receiver is placed at the focus of the parabola so that all signals that hit the dish are reflected to the receiver.

Headlights

The reflectors in car headlights are parabolic. The light bulb is placed at the focus of the parabola, so the light rays are reflected out in parallel beams.

Basketball

When a basketball is thrown in a perfect arc, the path it follows is a parabola. This is due to the force of gravity acting on the ball, and the parabola goes perfectly to the basket.

Bridges

Some bridges are built in the shape of a parabola because of the parabola’s strength and load distribution properties.

Fountains

We see fountains in our daily life and water in a fountain follows a parabolic path. This is due to the force of gravity acting on the water.

Telescopes

Mirrors in telescopes are often parabolic. Light entering the telescope is reflected by the mirror and focuses at a single point.

Solar Panels

Solar panels often use parabolic mirrors to focus sunlight onto a small area to generate heat.

A parabola is a symmetrical curve formed by the points that are equidistant from a fixed point (the focus) and a fixed straight line (the directrix). It’s commonly seen in mathematics and physics and has a U-shape. The path of a thrown object, like a ball, follows a parabolic trajectory under ideal conditions. The parabola has a unique property that makes it very useful in many real-world applications.

In this article, we will learn about, Parabola definitions, real-life applications of parabola, and others in detail.