To Construct An "ALTITUDE LOCATOR" To Find the Height of the Building,
Height of the Tree and Height of Any Given Objects

Desai, Jyotiben                         Schurz High School
                                        794-8120
                           

Objectives:

To learn to define the terms like Altitude, Ratio, Proportion, Similar 
triangle.
To learn to construct an "Altitude Locator"
To use Altitude Locator to find the angular distance of the Building 
and the angular distance of the tree.
To construct the similar triangles and determine the height of the 
building and the height of the tree.

Apparatus needed:

Construction paper, glue, scotch tape, stapler, scissors, strings, 
paper clips, straws. 

Procedure:

Glue the copy of the protractor to the card board and punch a hole in 
the middle of the Ruler side.  Hang a paper clip through the string and 
pass it through the hole in the protractor.  Paste a straw on the ruler 
side horizontally using the glue or the scotch tape.  Look through the 
hole of the straw to locate the top of the building or the top of the 
tree and measure the angle of elevation E.  Also measure the distance 
from the base of the object to the person B1.  Find the height of the 
person from the ground to the Eye-level h1.  Construct a similar right 
angle triangle with same angle of elevation.
      A   
      |\                 
      | \
   T  |E \                                D
   R  |   \         
   E  |    \                              |\
   E  |     \                             |E\
    H1|      \                            |  \
      |       \                           |   \
      |  O     \                        H |    \
      |90       \                         |  O  \
    K ------------ C                      |90    \
      |     B1   |                        |-------- 
      |          |                       F     B     G
      |        h1|                                           
      |          |
      ------------

Right angle triangle AKC is similar to DFG(Construction).
Angle KAC=FDG(Construction).
Angle AKC=DFG(Right angle).

         Therefore   H1   H
                     -- = --
                     B1   B

                     H1 = H (B1)
                          --
                          B

       If B1=23.3 meter and B=10 cm. and H=5 cm., h1=1.52 m.

                          5cm.(23.3 m)                       
                          --------------=11.65m    
                           10cm.


          H=H1+h1
            11.65+1.52=13.17m.


      Therefore the height of the tree is 13.17 meter.

We can also find the height of the building using the same method.