Final answer:
The shape that the water's surface creates on the ground when it is leaking out of an inverted conical tank is an ellipse.
Step-by-step explanation:
The shape that the water's surface creates on the ground when it is leaking out of an inverted conical tank is an ellipse.
When a plane intersects a cone, it creates different conic sections, which include the circle, ellipse, parabola, and hyperbola. In this case, the water's surface on the ground will take the shape of an ellipse.
This can be understood by imagining the cone formed by the tank and visualizing the intersection with the horizontal ground plane.