Bicol University

College of Engineering

Geodetic Engineering Department

Geometric Geodesy
Lab Activity 2: Mechanical
Representation of an Ellipse

Rex Martin D. Aligan

Patrick Dale Niones

Zimon Blaze P. Garcia

Selene B. Brondial

Robelyn Z. Sanje

-Group 4-

BSGE 2A

Michael T. Cobilla

Instructor
 Mechanical Representation of an Ellipse

Group 4

Objectives: To sketch ellipses with given foci distances

To determine eccentricities and polar flattening by the sketched ellipses

through “string-and-pencil” method

Materials: Cork Board or Styro

Push Pin

String

Ruler

Bond Paper

Procedure: 1. Draw an ellipse using the materials above mentioned and label the
parts of the ellipse.

2. Foci Distances

0 cm

5 cm

10 cm

15 cm

3. Compute the eccentricity and flattening of the ellipse drawn based on

#2.

4. Write your observation on the activity report.

Table 1. Distances of semi-minor and semi-major axes

F15cm F10cm F5cm F0cm

Semi-Major Axis (a) 9.6 9.6 9.6 9.6
Semi-Minor Axis (b) 6.4 8.3 9.3 9.6
Formulas
𝑎−𝑏
Polar Flattening (f) 𝑓=
𝑎
2
First Eccentricity (e) √𝑎 − 𝑏 2
2
𝑒=
𝑎
2
Second Eccentricity (e’) √𝑎 − 𝑏 2
2
𝑒′ =
𝑎
𝑏
Angular Eccentricity (1-f) cos ∝ =
𝑎
Linear Eccentricity (E) 𝐸 = 𝑎𝑒

Table 2. Polar Flattening and Eccentricities of the Ellipses

F15cm F10cm F5cm F0cm

Polar Flattening (f) 0.33 0.14 0.03 0
First Eccentricity (e) 0.75 0.50 0.25 0
Second Eccentricity (e’) 1.12 0.58 0.26 0
Angular Eccentricity (1-f) 48.19 30.16 14.36 0
Linear Eccentricity (E) 7.2 4.8 2.4 0

Observations:

The illustration of 4 concentric ellipses are tangent at the end points of the
horizontal axes. The semi-minor axes increase in size in each successive ellipse. The semi-
major axes remain constant. The major axis is horizontal for the three innermost ellipses.
When the major and minor axes are equal, the result is a circle, shown in the fourth ellipse.