In this demonstration a right circular cone is cut by a plane that is perpendicular to the axis of the cone. The result of the slice is a circle.
| Conic Sections: the Circle |
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In this demonstration a right circular cone is cut by a plane that is not perpendicular to the axis of the cone. The plane has been tilted slightly so that the plane cuts into one side of the cone and exits on the opposite side of the cone. The result of the slice is an ellipse.
| Conic Sections: the Ellipse |
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In this demonstration a right circular cone is cut by a plane that is parallel to the side of the cone. The plane cuts into one side of the cone but never exits on the opposite side of the cone. The result of the slice is a parabola.
| Conic Sections: the Parabola |
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In this demonstration a right circular cone is cut by a plane that is parallel to the axis of the cone but does not contain the axis. For this we use a double cone and the plane cuts both cones simultaneously. The result of the slice is a hyperbola.
| Conic Sections: the Hyperbola |
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| This is an example of a degenerate conic. Here we sliced through the double cone with a plane that contains the axis of the cone. The slice produces an "X" shape made of two straight lines. | 
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