Julia Thompson Algebra-2nd Kiker 04/1/13

Architect Analytical Report

The day has finally come! My architectural team SaJuMaLu has completed the replica of one of our most famous whispering galleries for the new physics/mathematics exhibit in Austins local museum. Though it took a lot of time, sweat, effort, and materials, the replica has been moved to the exhibit and is ready to be observed amongst the museum goers. The replica looks exactly like our life-size, modern, street style whispering gallery. The bold blue, red, and silver graffiti is artistically spray painted onto the structure, just as it would appear of the actual gallery, catching the eyes of many. Also, the texture of the replicas walls is almost exactly identical to that on the original gallery. These small, but important touches are what make our whispering galleries so unique. By creating this replica, my team and I have discovered the difficulties and eases in creating a down-sized model of one of our galleries. When building our model, things went a lot smoother and easier than we thought. We constructed the actual whispering gallery out of pieces of Styrofoam duck taped together. We has originally planned on using spray adhesive or glue to paste the pieces together, but the glues seemed to seep into the foam making it very hard to keep them stuck together. So, we opted for duck tape because it works on anything an d its sturdy. After taping together the correctly measured Styrofoam pieces, we drew out the x and y axis, found the center and foci, and labeled the vertices and co-vertices. We then cut a piece of string that measured the distance from one vertex to the other, then attaching that string to both of the foci in order to

Julia Thompson Algebra-2nd Kiker 04/1/13

draw the first ellipse. After drawing the guidelines, we began to cut away the first layer of stacked Styrofoam with box cutters and knives. We decided that by cutting away layer by layer would be easier to construct the dome shape into the model. So each layer we would decrease the dimensions by a couple of centimeters, keeping it constant, and cut away another layer. Until we had cut away the most layers that we could. After finishing cutting the rough shape, we took sandpaper and began to shave the layers down until they blended together more. We wanted to keep the layers visible though to show how we went through the process. We again used more duck tape in order to secure the pieces together and make sure it wouldnt fall apart when moving it around. After making the actual gallery, we taped together more Styrofoam pieces to create the base for the gallery. We had originally decided on putting columns connecting the top to the base, but the wooden rods were too thin to support the structure, so we decided to scrap them and just put the top directly onto the base. We wanted to keep the top separate from the base in order to show the inside of the model, so we just placed it on top of the base without securing it completely. After that it was time to decorate our model. We decided to use spray paint to paint the model because it sprayed large surfaces quickly and also because we could create cool looking designs. We didnt really have a color scheme or any patterns in mind, so we all just took a can of paint and began to spray randomly around the top of the model, avoiding the dome. It ended up looking super cool and we really liked the outcome of the design. It looked really modern in a way and also super patriotic! To cover up any paint that had gotten in the dome, we sprayed white spray paint on top of any accidental colors. As we began to work on the base, we realized that the spray paint seemed to be melting

Julia Thompson Algebra-2nd Kiker 04/1/13

away at the Styrofoam, leaving a really awesome texture that we thought just added to the model appeal overall. For the base, we used basically the same colors that we used on the top but decided to paint a design to shake things up a bit. After we let the paint dry for a little bit, we glued on little people on the base, matching up with the foci on the ellipse above, in order to demonstrate the whispering affect in the gallery. On the top we measured another piece of string from focus to focus and secured them with push pins, in order to show where the foci were on our ellipse. After messing with the columns for a good hour, we decided that just placing the top on the base without them was the best option. We were pretty happy with the outcome of our gallery and felt as if we demonstrated how a whispering gallery works very effectively. Ellipses today are used everywhere, on elliptical work out machines, in art, food, the solar system, medical practices, satellite dishes, and of course whispering galleries. The ellipse is nevertheless the curve most often recognized and seen in everyday life. A fact I found strangely interesting is that when cylindrical foods are cut into ellipses, it can give the food a more elegant look. Ellipses are used in Lithotripsy, which is basically a method to destroy a kidney stone. There is an elliptical shaped tub in which the person lies down in and then a kidney is aligned with a focus, shockwaves then focusing in on that kidney destroying the kidney stone. The reason that ellipses are used in whispering galleries is because being an ellipse, it has the property to reflect sound or light waves from one focus to the other focus in which it originated.

Julia Thompson Algebra-2nd Kiker 04/1/13

Question: Lafaunda, Walter, and Betty were developing a small-scale sketch of a Whispering Gallery for a team of architects. The three are a bit confused on how to find the vertices for their ellipse. The information that they have is that the center is (3, -1), the A value is 9, and the B value is 4. Using the formulas substituting variables into both equations. Answer: The vertices are (6, 1) and (-12, 1). Explanation: The vertices are (6, 1) and (-12, 1) because given the information that was provided, you can easily substitute each value in for the variables. The center (3, -1) would be placed into the original horizontal ellipse equation for the -h and the -k variables. After you substitute the values into each numerator, the numerators of the original equation change to (x-3)2 + (y+1)2. Next, you would substitute the A and B values in the denominator giving you the equation . From there you would then substitute the h, a, and k values into and (h + a, k), (h a, k) find the vertices by

the original equations (h + a, k) and (h a, k) in order to find the vertices. You would substitute -3 in for the h variable, 9 in for a, and 1 in for k, giving you the vertices of (6, 1) and (-12, 1).

Sources
http://www.ehow.com/info_8522010_real-life-uses-ellipses.html http://britton.disted.camosun.bc.ca/jbconics.htm