WEBVTT - How can you measure the height of a tall tower?

0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:02.760
<v Speaker 1>Streaming TV shows and movies directly to your home is

0:00:02.759 --> 0:00:05.560
<v Speaker 1>a breeze with Netflix. As a Netflix member, you can

0:00:05.600 --> 0:00:09.040
<v Speaker 1>instantly watch TV and movies on your PC, Mac, mobile device,

0:00:09.160 --> 0:00:12.400
<v Speaker 1>or television. Get a free thirty day trial membership. Go

0:00:12.520 --> 0:00:15.200
<v Speaker 1>to Netflix dot com, slash stuff and sign up today.

0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:19.080
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brainstuff front house, stuff works dot com where

0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:30.160
<v Speaker 1>smart happens. Hi. I'm Marshall Brain with today's question. How

0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:33.919
<v Speaker 1>can you measure the height of a tall tower? There

0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:36.720
<v Speaker 1>are several different techniques you can use depending on where

0:00:36.760 --> 0:00:40.440
<v Speaker 1>the tower is located. These same techniques can be used

0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:44.440
<v Speaker 1>to measure trees in your yard, mountains, tall buildings in

0:00:44.479 --> 0:00:47.720
<v Speaker 1>downtown areas, and so on. Here are three of the

0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:51.600
<v Speaker 1>most commonly used techniques. If the tower is sitting in

0:00:51.600 --> 0:00:55.040
<v Speaker 1>the middle of a flat field, probably the easiest technique

0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:58.680
<v Speaker 1>to use is its shadow. On a sunny day, take

0:00:58.720 --> 0:01:01.440
<v Speaker 1>a broomstick, a ham, and a measuring tape with you.

0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:05.040
<v Speaker 1>Pound the broomstick into the ground a few inches so

0:01:05.080 --> 0:01:07.600
<v Speaker 1>it stands up on its own. If you are patient,

0:01:07.760 --> 0:01:10.760
<v Speaker 1>you can wait until the length of the broomsticks shadow

0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:14.080
<v Speaker 1>is equal to the length of the visible broomstick, and

0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:16.800
<v Speaker 1>then go measure the length of the tower shadow. The

0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:18.959
<v Speaker 1>length of the shadow tells you the height of the

0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:23.800
<v Speaker 1>tower directly. If you are impatient, you can first measure

0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:28.040
<v Speaker 1>the length of the broomsticks shadow. Second, calculate the ratio

0:01:28.160 --> 0:01:31.800
<v Speaker 1>of the broomsticks shadow length to the broomsticks height. Third,

0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:35.480
<v Speaker 1>measure the tower shadow, and then forth apply the ratio

0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:39.120
<v Speaker 1>to discover the tower's height. For the second technique, you

0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:43.039
<v Speaker 1>need a drinking straw, a protractor, some scotch tape, and

0:01:43.120 --> 0:01:46.560
<v Speaker 1>a measuring tape. Tape the drinking straw to the protractor

0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:50.120
<v Speaker 1>at a forty five degree angle. Hold the protractor with

0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:53.240
<v Speaker 1>its flat side level to the horizon, and then sight

0:01:53.520 --> 0:01:56.920
<v Speaker 1>through the drinking straw. Walk a distance away from the

0:01:57.000 --> 0:01:59.680
<v Speaker 1>tower tree until you can see the top of the

0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:03.120
<v Speaker 1>tower or through the straw. Since you're sighting the top

0:02:03.160 --> 0:02:06.520
<v Speaker 1>of the tower at a forty five degree angle, your

0:02:06.600 --> 0:02:09.400
<v Speaker 1>distance from the tower is equal to the height of

0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:12.360
<v Speaker 1>the tower. Measure your distance from the tower and you

0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:15.800
<v Speaker 1>know it's height. For the third technique, you need to

0:02:15.800 --> 0:02:19.200
<v Speaker 1>protract or drinking straw, tape, measure, and a calculator that

0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:23.720
<v Speaker 1>will handle trigger and metric functions. Stand somewhere where you

0:02:23.760 --> 0:02:27.640
<v Speaker 1>can easily measure your distance to the tower. Sight through

0:02:27.639 --> 0:02:30.239
<v Speaker 1>the drinking straw and find the top of the tower,

0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:32.760
<v Speaker 1>and then measure the angle between the straw and the

0:02:32.840 --> 0:02:36.560
<v Speaker 1>horizon using the protractor. Let's say the angle is fifty

0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:40.000
<v Speaker 1>five degrees and the distance to the base is two feet.

0:02:40.400 --> 0:02:43.760
<v Speaker 1>The equation to use is height of the tower equals

0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:47.639
<v Speaker 1>distance of the tower times the tangent of the angle.

0:02:48.080 --> 0:02:50.600
<v Speaker 1>Don't forget to add the height of the protractor when

0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:52.639
<v Speaker 1>you measure the angle to the height of the tower.

0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:56.559
<v Speaker 1>Do you have any ideas or suggestions for this podcast?

0:02:56.960 --> 0:02:59.600
<v Speaker 1>If so, please send me an email at podcast at

0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:02.360
<v Speaker 1>house off works dot com. For more on this and

0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:04.760
<v Speaker 1>thousands of other topics, go to how stuff works dot

0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:07.640
<v Speaker 1>com and be sure to check out the brain Stuff

0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:10.160
<v Speaker 1>blog on the how stuff works dot com home page.

0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:15.680
<v Speaker 1>This episode of brain Stuff is brought to you by

0:03:15.760 --> 0:03:19.160
<v Speaker 1>Linda dot Com. Linda dot Com offers thousands of engaging,

0:03:19.200 --> 0:03:22.359
<v Speaker 1>easy to follow video tutorials taught by industry experts to

0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:26.080
<v Speaker 1>help you learn software, creative and business skills. Membership starts

0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:29.720
<v Speaker 1>at twenty five dollars a month and provides unlimited seven access.

0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:32.400
<v Speaker 1>Try Linda dot Com free for seven days by visiting

0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:34.520
<v Speaker 1>Linda dot com slash brain stuff,