•  A student is in a stationary hot-air balloon that is momentarily fixed at 1325 ft above a piece of land. The pilot looks down 45^o (from horizontal) and turns laterally 360^o.
• Find:
  • a) How many acres of land are contained by the cone created by his/her line of sight?
  • b) How high would the balloon be if, using the same procedure, an area four times greater is encompassed?

Repeat the question with the angle of 60^o from horizontal. Discuss how the angle at which the pilot watches down changes the area of land contained by the cone from the line of sight.

Bonus five points: Show the variation of area (acres) versus angle (Rad) in a graph (excel, or any other plotting tool) for four different angle of sight. (Hand-drawn graphs are not acceptable).

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

To solve this problem we need to use the formula for the area of a circular cone Given information Balloon height 1325 ft Angle of sight 45 from horiz... View the full answer