the difference between a parabola and a catenary
In: Mathematics
I’ll try to make this an explanation for a five year old.
Both are curves that looks similar but aren’t exactly the same.
A parabola is the shape a baseball follows when you toss it at up an angle and gravity slows it down and pulls it back to earth.
A catenary is the shape a rope takes when it hangs tied at both ends and sags under its own weight.
The baseball has only the force of gravity acting on it. It is pulled down evenly the whole time.
The rope has the force of gravity but also the tension of the two ends of the rope. Gravity pulls down but also pulls “out” because rope is pulling on the anchors it’s tied to.
So the equations that are required to describe each type of curve are very different. You can’t describe a catenary with a parabola. It doesn’t account for the pulling back of the rope. It’s more complex and needs different kinds of equations to describe them.
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