Download C-A Parallax

C-A Parallax
We will be going outside to find the distances to various objects that are on or near our
school. The choices you have are listed on the board so it would be a good idea to write
them down. We will be using a compass rather than a protractor today. We will call your
left viewpoint X and your right viewpoint Y.
You will be given a piece of string that is 5 to 10 m long. This will be your baseline.
Unlike the exercise in class, the object will not line up exactly with magnetic north from
viewpoint X. As a result, we must use a little geometry to find our angle by measuring
the angles between the reference object and the target object at both locations X and Y.
Measure the angle Bx at viewpoint X then go to viewpoint Y and measure angle By.
Now that you have the baseline and angle use the small angle formula to find the distance
to the target object. Does your answer seem appropriate?