Carol Seaman
Department of Mathematics
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
seaman@uwosh.edu
Stephen Szydlik
Department of Mathematics
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
szydliks@uwosh.edu
Comments on our exploration? Post them to our comments pageDisclaimers: This page is not a fully classroom-ready set of teaching materials and should not be treated as such. The page was tested using Netscape 4.7. It is possible that images and interactive explorations may not be fully functional in Internet Explorer or other browsers. Suggestions are welcome!
Publishing Note: This page uses JavaSketchpad, a World-Wide-Web component of The Geometer's Sketchpad. Copyright © 1990-2001 by KCP Technologies, Inc. Licensed only for non-commercial use. The elliptic Sketchpad tools used to generate the sketches were initially created by Alexander, Findell, and Finzer.
This is a worksheet for discovering some fascinating facts about lunes and triangles on a sphere. Our first activity allows you to explore the two-sided polygon called a lune. Such polygons do not even exist in Euclidean geometry! The sides of a lune are both half lines with common endpoints. Recall that "lines" on a sphere are great circles. You can picture the area of a lune as the area between two lines of longitude on a globe model of the earth. The common endpoints of the sides of the lune are represented by the north and south poles. In the figure below, the blue region represents a lune. Using the rotation buttons can help you visualize the lune.
How Do We Find the Area of a Lune?
On the following disk model of the sphere, explore the relationship between the measure of the angles of the lune and its area. You may drag either point B or C in order to change the size of the lune. You will find questions to answer under the sketch.
Answer the following questions based on your findings.
- What is the relationship between the two angles of the lune? Why should this be happening?
- What is the relationship between the angle of the lune and the area of the lune and the area of the sphere? Can you explain how the area of a lune can be calculated if you know the angle of the lune?
- What is the relationship between the area of the lune ACDB and the area of the triangle ABC? Be specific! Why is it necessary to specify that the side CB goes through the center of the disk in order for this relationship to hold?
The Area of a Spherical Triangle Part 1:
How do we find area?Now take a look at triangles on the sphere. Drag any vertex of triangle ABC and discover what happens to the angle sum and to the area of the triangle. Again, there will be questions to answer under the sketch.
Answer the following questions based on your findings:
- What do you notice about the angle sum of a spherical triangle? What is the smallest angle sum you were able to make? What is the largest?
- What is the relationship between the area of the triangle and the angle sum of the triangle?
- Can you find a way to calculate the area of the triangle if you know its angle sum?
The Area of a Spherical Triangle Part 2:
Making the ArgumentConsider the following yellow spherical triangle. It is formed by the intersection of three lunes (green, blue, and red). (All three lunes include the yellow triangle.) Note that the triangle and also the lunes have associated "twins" antipodal to them, and these twins are given the same colors. Using the rotation buttons in the figure might help you to visualize all this.
Finally, take a look the question of whether or not two spherical triangles can be similar without being congruent. In the following sketch, drag the vertices of each triangle to try to form triangles with the same angle measures but with different areas.
What did you decide? Can similar but not congruent triangles exist on a sphere? Explain you answer based on your findings about the calculation of the area of a spherical triangle.
Comments on our exploration? Post them to our comments page