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Speaker 1: Welcome to brainstuff front house, stuff works dot com where
Speaker 1: smart happens. Hi. I'm Marshall Brain with today's question. How
Speaker 1: can you measure the height of a tall tower? There
Speaker 1: are several different techniques you can use depending on where
Speaker 1: the tower is located. These same techniques can be used
Speaker 1: to measure trees in your yard, mountains, tall buildings in
Speaker 1: downtown areas, and so on. Here are three of the
Speaker 1: most commonly used techniques. If the tower is sitting in
Speaker 1: the middle of a flat field, probably the easiest technique
Speaker 1: to use is its shadow. On a sunny day, take
Speaker 1: a broomstick, a ham, and a measuring tape with you.
Speaker 1: Pound the broomstick into the ground a few inches so
Speaker 1: it stands up on its own. If you are patient,
Speaker 1: you can wait until the length of the broomsticks shadow
Speaker 1: is equal to the length of the visible broomstick, and
Speaker 1: then go measure the length of the tower shadow. The
Speaker 1: length of the shadow tells you the height of the
Speaker 1: tower directly. If you are impatient, you can first measure
Speaker 1: the length of the broomsticks shadow. Second, calculate the ratio
Speaker 1: of the broomsticks shadow length to the broomsticks height. Third,
Speaker 1: measure the tower shadow, and then forth apply the ratio
Speaker 1: to discover the tower's height. For the second technique, you
Speaker 1: need a drinking straw, a protractor, some scotch tape, and
Speaker 1: a measuring tape. Tape the drinking straw to the protractor
Speaker 1: at a forty five degree angle. Hold the protractor with
Speaker 1: its flat side level to the horizon, and then sight
Speaker 1: through the drinking straw. Walk a distance away from the
Speaker 1: tower tree until you can see the top of the
Speaker 1: tower or through the straw. Since you're sighting the top
Speaker 1: of the tower at a forty five degree angle, your
Speaker 1: distance from the tower is equal to the height of
Speaker 1: the tower. Measure your distance from the tower and you
Speaker 1: know it's height. For the third technique, you need to
Speaker 1: protract or drinking straw, tape, measure, and a calculator that
Speaker 1: will handle trigger and metric functions. Stand somewhere where you
Speaker 1: can easily measure your distance to the tower. Sight through
Speaker 1: the drinking straw and find the top of the tower,
Speaker 1: and then measure the angle between the straw and the
Speaker 1: horizon using the protractor. Let's say the angle is fifty
Speaker 1: five degrees and the distance to the base is two feet.
Speaker 1: The equation to use is height of the tower equals
Speaker 1: distance of the tower times the tangent of the angle.
Speaker 1: Don't forget to add the height of the protractor when
Speaker 1: you measure the angle to the height of the tower.
Speaker 1: Do you have any ideas or suggestions for this podcast?
Speaker 1: If so, please send me an email at podcast at
Speaker 1: house off works dot com. For more on this and
Speaker 1: thousands of other topics, go to how stuff works dot
Speaker 1: com and be sure to check out the brain Stuff
Speaker 1: blog on the how stuff works dot com home page.
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