Dish or Parabola
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Parabolic Geometry
< diagram to be inserted here >
A Parabola is one of the “conic sections” and is defined as the locus (path) of a point that travels so that it is equidistant from a fixed point and a straight line. Algebraically this can be reduced to:
< formula here > where a is a constant
More specifically, < formula here > where f is the focal length – distance from the curve to the focal point
In the diagram above
- the Y axis is central to the curve
- the tangent is a line that touches the curve at one point and has the same gradient as the curve at that point
- the normal is perpendicular to the tangent at the point of contact with the curve
- i is the angle of incidence – the angle between the incoming signal and the normal
- r is the angle of reflection – the angle between the reflected signal and the normal
- i = r Angle of incidence = Angle of reflection
- a broad beam entering the parabola will be reflected to and concentrated at the focal point