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XII MATHS ACTIVITY-9 (Three Dimensional Geometry)

This activity measures the shortest distance between two skew lines analytically and verifies it experimentally. Students draw two skew lines on a graph paper using wooden blocks fixed at points. They calculate the analytical shortest distance between the lines using their equations. Experimentally, they measure the distance between the lines with a thread and ruler. The analytical distance of 0.04 cm matches closely with the experimental measurement of 0.6 cm, verifying the formula for shortest distance between skew lines.

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8K views4 pages

XII MATHS ACTIVITY-9 (Three Dimensional Geometry)

This activity measures the shortest distance between two skew lines analytically and verifies it experimentally. Students draw two skew lines on a graph paper using wooden blocks fixed at points. They calculate the analytical shortest distance between the lines using their equations. Experimentally, they measure the distance between the lines with a thread and ruler. The analytical distance of 0.04 cm matches closely with the experimental measurement of 0.6 cm, verifying the formula for shortest distance between skew lines.

Uploaded by

himanshuydv281
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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XII Maths Activity No.

9 (3D) Term-2

Objective of the Activity


To measure the shortest distance between two skew lines and verify by analytically.

Pre-requisite Knowledge
❖ Knowledge about various forms of equation of lines, skew lines. Knowledge about the
formula of distance (shortest) between two skew lines.

Materials Required
✧ Thick card board sheets
✧ White chart paper
✧ Four wooden blocks of suitable dimensions
✧ Threads
✧ Glue sticks etc.

Logical Steps of the Activity


1. Take a card board sheet of suitable size and paste a white sheet on it and after that paste a
graph paper on it.

2. Draw two lines XOX‘ and YOY‘ which is bisected perpendicularly at point O. The point O
represent the origin and XOX‘ is called x-axis and YOY‘ is called y-axis. On these axis take
1 cm = 1 unit and label them as shown in the figure.

3. Mark the points P(3, 3), Q(11, 3), R(6, 11), S(14, 13) on the graph paper.

4. Label the four wooden blocks as a, b, c and d.

5. Now fix the wooden blocks labeled a, b, c and d at point P(3, 3), Q(11, 3), R(6, 11) and S(14,
13) respectively such that their base centers fall exactly at these points.

6. Using adhesive/glue sticks fix a piece of thread joining points A and D where A and D are
the contents of the tops of blocks a and d respectively.

1
7. Similarly fix a piece of thread joining points B and C where B and C are the centers of the
blocks b and c respectively.

2
8. Take a thread and join it perpendicularly with the lines AD and BC and measure the actual
distance.

9. Place a set square such that its side forming the right angle is along the thread BC.

10. Move the set square along AD till its other side forming the right angle touches the other
piece of thread.

11. Measure the distance between the two threads in this position to get the required shortest
distance between AD and BC.

Observations
1. Here the threads joining AD and BC represents two skew lines.

x − x1 y − y1 z − z1
2. Equation of line joining two points (x1, y1, z1) and (x2, y2, z2) is = = .
x2 − x1 y2 − y1 z2 − z1
3. Now equation of line joining A(3, 3,1) and D(14, 13, 2) is given by

x−3 y −3 z−1
= =
14 − 3 13 − 3 2 − 1
x −3 y −3 z−1
or = = ... (1)
11 10 1
and equation of line joining B(11, 3, 1) and C(6, 11, 0) is given by

x − 11 y − 3 z − 0 x − 11 y − 3 z
= = or = = ... (2)
6 − 11 11 − 3 0 − 1 −5 8 −1
4. Now we know that the shortest distance (d) between two skew lines
x − x1 y − y1 z − z1 x − x2 y − y2 z − z2
= = and = = is given by
a1 b1 c1 a2 b2 c2

x2 − x1 y2 − y1 z2 − z1
a1 b1 c1
d= a2 b2 c2

( a1b2 − a2b1 )2 + (b1c2 − b2c1 )2 + (c1a2 − a1c2 )2


So the shortest distance d between the lines (i) and (ii) is given by

11 − 3 3 − 3 0 − 1
11 10 1
d= −5 8 −1
(88 + 50)2 + ( −10 − 8)2 + ( −11 + 5)2

3
8 0 −1
11 10 1 8 ( −18 ) − 0 + 1 ( 88 + 50 )
d= =
−5 8 −1 19044 + 324 + 36
2 2 2
(138 ) + 18 + 6

−144 + 138 −6
d= =
19404 139.29

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or ⇒ d = .04 cm
139.29
5. On actual measurement the shortest distance between two skew lines = 0.6 cm

6. From point (4) & (5) we observe that the shortest distance between Skew lines AD and
BC by actual measurement is approximately equal to the shortest distance obtained by
analytical method.

Result
From the above activity we conclude that the shortest distance between two Skew lines obtained
by actual measurement and obtained by analytical method is coming equal.

Application

This activity is helpful to explain the concept of Skew lines and shortest distance between
two Skew lines.

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