Prepared by:

Shiela Mae Reynaldo

Danilyn Reyes

Submitted to:
Dr. Grace D. Ladia
 Introduction
About the Model:
A clinometer is an instrument that is used to measure angles of inclination, slope or
elevation of an object. In other words, it is used to measure the height of objects from a distance
using the geometry of triangles. It can be used to measure the inclines of positive slopes, which
is when one observes the object from bottom up, or the declines of negative slopes, which is
when one observes the object from top to bottom. Clinometers are mostly used in forestry to
determine the height of plants or trees, as well as used to measure buildings or structures that are
difficult or impractical to measure through physical methods. Looking through the lens of a
clinometer, you will see a scale that represents the units used by the varying clinometer. While
the idea of learning how to use a clinometer may sound difficult, it really can be quite simple. All
you will need is the clinometer and the object to be measured.

Materials:
For wooden
Wooden Protractor
Pipe (optional)
String
Marker
For cardboard

A protractor with a small hole on the center spot or print out of paper protractor
Poster board or card board (can be from a box) to back the protractor
20 cm or about 8 inches of string or strong cotton
Weight - such as a metal nut, paper clips or a small piece of clay
Glue and Scissors
A straw
Clear Tape
Marker

Procedure:
How to make a clinometer?

1. If you are making a protractor, cut out the copy of the protractor.
2. Get the piece of poster board or an empty box. Stick the paper protractor on top of the
card and cut the joined pieces.
3. Get the straw and tape it to the straight edge of your protractor that you made above.
 4. With your pen or pencil, poke a hole through the center of the protractor where it meets
the straw. Push the string through the hole and tie a large knot on the other side so it
won't pull through.
5. Tie your weight to the other end of the string.

How to use a Clinometer?

Step 1: Pick a spot

Pick a spot to measure your object (I

measured a telephone pole). You should
be far enough away from your object that
you can see the top of it, and you need to
be on level ground with the base of the
object. I like to set something down by my
feet once I've picked my spot, so that I can
easily come back to it.

Step 2: Measure angle

Here's where we bust out our handy clinometer. Look through the straw of your clinometer at
the top of the light pole (or whatever object you're measuring). The weighted string should hang
down freely, crossing the protractor portion of the clinometer. Read the angle shown, and
subtract from 90 to find your angle of vision from your eye to the top of the pole (it can be
helpful here to have an assistant to read the measurement while you look through the
straw). Record your results on your paper.
Step 3: Measure distance

Once you have your angle of vision, use your

tape measure to find the distance from the
spot you're standing to the base of the object
you're measuring (an assistant comes in
handy here, too). We must know how far
away you are to accurately calculate the
height.

Step 4: Find your eye-height

The last piece of data you need to

calculate the height of your object is the
height from the ground to your eye (your
eye- height). Have your assistant help
you measure this using your tape
measure.

Step 5: Draw a picture

Time to move inside. In calculating the height of the object you just measured, I find it helpful to
begin by drawing a picture and labeling it with all of the information I have.

Step 6: Model as a triangle

The next step is to simplify your drawing

to model your system as a right triangle. Label
your triangle with the angle you read on your
clinometer as well as the distance you were
standing from the object (we don't need the eye-
height just yet).

Step 7: Solve for x

We can find x in this triangle (which represents the portion of the height from eye-level up) by
using some basic trigonometry, specifically the tangent ratio of the triangle:

tan(angle) = x / distance

Multiply by the distance on both sides and you get:

x = tan(angle) * distance
Use a calculator to multiply these together and get a decimal value (be sure your calculator is in
'degrees' mode, rather than 'radians'!).

In my example:

tan(35) = x / 15.6

x = tan(35) * 15.6

x = 10.92 meters

Step 8: Combine with eye height

To find the height of your object, bring
this x value back to the original drawing. By
labeling it, we can see that the height of the
object, h, is equal to the x value we just found
plus the eye-height we measured earlier:

h = x + (eye-height)

In my example:

h = 10.92m + 1.64m
h = 12.56m

There you have it! A few basic classroom materials and a little bit of trigonometry and you can
measure the height of anything around you!