4.5: The Hyperboloid
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The Equation
x2a2−z2c2=1
is a hyperbola, and a is the semi transverse axis. (As described in Chapter 2, c is the semi transverse axis of the conjugate hyperbola.)
If this figure is rotated about the z-axis through 360∘, the surface swept out is a circular hyperboloid (or hyperboloid of revolution) of one sheet. Its Equation is
x2a2+y2a2−z2c2=1.
Imagine two horizontal rings, one underneath the other. The upper one is fixed. The lower one is suspended from the upper one by a large number of vertical strings attached to points equally spaced around the circumference of each ring. Now twist the lower one through a few degrees about a vertical axis, so that the strings are no longer quite vertical, and the lower ring rises slightly. These strings are generators of a circular hyperboloid of one sheet.
If the figure is rotated about the x-axis through 360∘, the surface swept out is a circular hyperboloid (or hyperboloid of revolution) of two sheets. Its Equation is
x2a2−y2c2−z2c2=1.
The Equations
x2a2+y2b2−z2c2=1
and x2a2−y2b2−z2c2=1
represent hyperbolas of one and two sheets respectively, but are not hyperbolas of revolution, since their cross sections in the planes z= constant and x= constant >a respectively are ellipses rather than circles. The reader should imagine what the cross- sections of all four hyperboloids are like in the planes x=0, y=0 and z=0.