Loading [MathJax]/jax/output/HTML-CSS/jax.js
Skip to main content
Library homepage
 

Text Color

Text Size

 

Margin Size

 

Font Type

Enable Dyslexic Font
Physics LibreTexts

4.5: The Hyperboloid

( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\)

The Equation

x2a2z2c2=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+y2a2z2c2=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

x2a2y2c2z2c2=1.

The Equations

x2a2+y2b2z2c2=1

and x2a2y2b2z2c2=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.


This page titled 4.5: The Hyperboloid is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Jeremy Tatum via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.

Support Center

How can we help?