Choosing a Site:
Set the project up in an open, flat
area. You will need to set your observation stations up
along the side of the area being measured with at least
as much distance between stations as the area being
measured is wide.
Preliminary Preparation:
Indoors, make a jumbo protractor on the cardboard by
gluing a quadrant copy onto it and extending the 10
degree lines out using the ruler. The larger the better.
Make the "0" line (base line) extra dark.
Locate a stationary object near the
adjacent bank for sighting purposes.Push one stick into the ground so that
it stands straight up on its own, directly across the
creek from the object chosen(This will be station #1)
Placing the jumbo protractor flat over
this stick (horizontal); form a 90 degree angle with the
object on the opposite bank and the other stick, held at
least as far away (along the side of the bank) as the
creek is wide.
Choosing a convenient (whole #)
distance between sticks, push the second stick into the
ground so that it stands straight on its own
(This will be station #2)
Sight the object with the jumbo
protractor on the second stick to find the degree measure
from the base line you made with the two sticks to the
object across the creek
Processing the Data:
Look up the Tangent Ratio for the angle measured and MULTIPLY
this by the distance between stations. The result will be
the distance across the creek (in whatever units you used
to measure the distance between stations).
