Conical spiral

In mathematics, a conical spiral, also known as a conical helix,^[1] is a space curve on a right circular cone, whose floor projection is a plane spiral. If the floor projection is a logarithmic spiral, it is called conchospiral (from conch).

Conical spiral with an archimedean spiral as floor projection

Floor projection: Fermat's spiral

Floor projection: logarithmic spiral

Floor projection: hyperbolic spiral

Parametric representation

In the ${\displaystyle x}$ -${\displaystyle y}$ -plane a spiral with parametric representation

${\displaystyle x=r(\varphi )\cos \varphi \ ,\qquad y=r(\varphi )\sin \varphi }$ 

a third coordinate ${\displaystyle z(\varphi )}$  can be added such that the space curve lies on the cone with equation ${\displaystyle \;m^{2}(x^{2}+y^{2})=(z-z_{0})^{2}\ ,\ m>0\;}$  :

• ${\displaystyle x=r(\varphi )\cos \varphi \ ,\qquad y=r(\varphi )\sin \varphi \ ,\qquad \color {red}{z=z_{0}+mr(\varphi )}\ .}$ 

Such curves are called conical spirals.^[2] They were known to Pappos.

Parameter ${\displaystyle m}$  is the slope of the cone's lines with respect to the ${\displaystyle x}$ -${\displaystyle y}$ -plane.

A conical spiral can instead be seen as the orthogonal projection of the floor plan spiral onto the cone.

Examples

1) Starting with an archimedean spiral ${\displaystyle \;r(\varphi )=a\varphi \;}$  gives the conical spiral (see diagram)

${\displaystyle x=a\varphi \cos \varphi \ ,\qquad y=a\varphi \sin \varphi \ ,\qquad z=z_{0}+ma\varphi \ ,\quad \varphi \geq 0\ .}$ 

In this case the conical spiral can be seen as the intersection curve of the cone with a helicoid.

2) The second diagram shows a conical spiral with a Fermat's spiral ${\displaystyle \;r(\varphi )=\pm a{\sqrt {\varphi }}\;}$  as floor plan.

3) The third example has a logarithmic spiral ${\displaystyle \;r(\varphi )=ae^{k\varphi }\;}$  as floor plan. Its special feature is its constant slope (see below).

Introducing the abbreviation ${\displaystyle K=e^{k}}$ gives the description: ${\displaystyle r(\varphi )=aK^{\varphi }}$ .

4) Example 4 is based on a hyperbolic spiral ${\displaystyle \;r(\varphi )=a/\varphi \;}$ . Such a spiral has an asymptote (black line), which is the floor plan of a hyperbola (purple). The conical spiral approaches the hyperbola for ${\displaystyle \varphi \to 0}$ .

Properties

The following investigation deals with conical spirals of the form ${\displaystyle r=a\varphi ^{n}}$  and ${\displaystyle r=ae^{k\varphi }}$ , respectively.

Slope

 

Slope angle at a point of a conical spiral

The slope at a point of a conical spiral is the slope of this point's tangent with respect to the ${\displaystyle x}$ -${\displaystyle y}$ -plane. The corresponding angle is its slope angle (see diagram):

${\displaystyle \tan \beta ={\frac {z'}{\sqrt {(x')^{2}+(y')^{2}}}}={\frac {mr'}{\sqrt {(r')^{2}+r^{2}}}}\ .}$ 

A spiral with ${\displaystyle r=a\varphi ^{n}}$  gives:

• ${\displaystyle \tan \beta ={\frac {mn}{\sqrt {n^{2}+\varphi ^{2}}}}\ .}$ 

For an archimedean spiral is ${\displaystyle n=1}$  and hence its slope is${\displaystyle \ \tan \beta ={\tfrac {m}{\sqrt {1+\varphi ^{2}}}}\ .}$ 

• For a logarithmic spiral with ${\displaystyle r=ae^{k\varphi }}$  the slope is ${\displaystyle \ \tan \beta ={\tfrac {mk}{\sqrt {1+k^{2}}}}\ }$  (${\displaystyle \color {red}{\text{ constant!}}}$  ).

Because of this property a conchospiral is called an equiangular conical spiral.

Arclength

The length of an arc of a conical spiral can be determined by

${\displaystyle L=\int _{\varphi _{1}}^{\varphi _{2}}{\sqrt {(x')^{2}+(y')^{2}+(z')^{2}}}\,\mathrm {d} \varphi =\int _{\varphi _{1}}^{\varphi _{2}}{\sqrt {(1+m^{2})(r')^{2}+r^{2}}}\,\mathrm {d} \varphi \ .}$ 

For an archimedean spiral the integral can be solved with help of a table of integrals, analogously to the planar case:

${\displaystyle L={\frac {a}{2}}\left[\varphi {\sqrt {(1+m^{2})+\varphi ^{2}}}+(1+m^{2})\ln \left(\varphi +{\sqrt {(1+m^{2})+\varphi ^{2}}}\right)\right]_{\varphi _{1}}^{\varphi _{2}}\ .}$ 

For a logarithmic spiral the integral can be solved easily:

${\displaystyle L={\frac {\sqrt {(1+m^{2})k^{2}+1}}{k}}(r{\big (}\varphi _{2})-r(\varphi _{1}){\big )}\ .}$ 

In other cases elliptical integrals occur.

Development

 

Development(green) of a conical spiral (red), right: a side view. The plane containing the development is designed by ${\displaystyle \pi }$ . Initially the cone and the plane touch at the purple line.

For the development of a conical spiral^[3] the distance ${\displaystyle \rho (\varphi )}$  of a curve point ${\displaystyle (x,y,z)}$  to the cone's apex ${\displaystyle (0,0,z_{0})}$  and the relation between the angle ${\displaystyle \varphi }$  and the corresponding angle ${\displaystyle \psi }$  of the development have to be determined:

${\displaystyle \rho ={\sqrt {x^{2}+y^{2}+(z-z_{0})^{2}}}={\sqrt {1+m^{2}}}\;r\ ,}$ 

${\displaystyle \varphi ={\sqrt {1+m^{2}}}\psi \ .}$ 

Hence the polar representation of the developed conical spiral is:

• ${\displaystyle \rho (\psi )={\sqrt {1+m^{2}}}\;r({\sqrt {1+m^{2}}}\psi )}$ 

In case of ${\displaystyle r=a\varphi ^{n}}$  the polar representation of the developed curve is

${\displaystyle \rho =a{\sqrt {1+m^{2}}}^{\,n+1}\psi ^{n},}$ 

which describes a spiral of the same type.

• If the floor plan of a conical spiral is an archimedean spiral than its development is an archimedean spiral.

In case of a hyperbolic spiral (${\displaystyle n=-1}$ ) the development is congruent to the floor plan spiral.

In case of a logarithmic spiral ${\displaystyle r=ae^{k\varphi }}$  the development is a logarithmic spiral:

${\displaystyle \rho =a{\sqrt {1+m^{2}}}\;e^{k{\sqrt {1+m^{2}}}\psi }\ .}$ 

Tangent trace

 

The trace (purple) of the tangents of a conical spiral with a hyperbolic spiral as floor plan. The black line is the asymptote of the hyperbolic spiral.

The collection of intersection points of the tangents of a conical spiral with the ${\displaystyle x}$ -${\displaystyle y}$ -plane (plane through the cone's apex) is called its tangent trace.

For the conical spiral

${\displaystyle (r\cos \varphi ,r\sin \varphi ,mr)}$ 

the tangent vector is

${\displaystyle (r'\cos \varphi -r\sin \varphi ,r'\sin \varphi +r\cos \varphi ,mr')^{T}}$ 

and the tangent:

${\displaystyle x(t)=r\cos \varphi +t(r'\cos \varphi -r\sin \varphi )\ ,}$ 

${\displaystyle y(t)=r\sin \varphi +t(r'\sin \varphi +r\cos \varphi )\ ,}$ 

${\displaystyle z(t)=mr+tmr'\ .}$ 

The intersection point with the ${\displaystyle x}$ -${\displaystyle y}$ -plane has parameter ${\displaystyle t=-r/r'}$  and the intersection point is

• ${\displaystyle \left({\frac {r^{2}}{r'}}\sin \varphi ,-{\frac {r^{2}}{r'}}\cos \varphi ,0\right)\ .}$ 

${\displaystyle r=a\varphi ^{n}}$  gives ${\displaystyle \ {\tfrac {r^{2}}{r'}}={\tfrac {a}{n}}\varphi ^{n+1}\ }$  and the tangent trace is a spiral. In the case ${\displaystyle n=-1}$  (hyperbolic spiral) the tangent trace degenerates to a circle with radius ${\displaystyle a}$  (see diagram). For ${\displaystyle r=ae^{k\varphi }}$  one has ${\displaystyle \ {\tfrac {r^{2}}{r'}}={\tfrac {r}{k}}\ }$  and the tangent trace is a logarithmic spiral, which is congruent to the floor plan, because of the self-similarity of a logarithmic spiral.

 

Snail shells (Neptunea angulata left, right: Neptunea despecta

References

1. "Conical helix". MATHCURVE.COM. Retrieved 2022-03-03.
2. Siegmund Günther, Anton Edler von Braunmühl, Heinrich Wieleitner: Geschichte der mathematik. G. J. Göschen, 1921, p. 92.
3. Theodor Schmid: Darstellende Geometrie. Band 2, Vereinigung wissenschaftlichen Verleger, 1921, p. 229.

External links

• Jamnitzer-Galerie: 3D-Spiralen. 2021-07-02 at the Wayback Machine.
• Weisstein, Eric W. "Conical Spiral". MathWorld.