7. The lines \(l _ { 1 }\) and \(l _ { 2 }\) have equations $$\mathbf { r } = \left( \begin{array} { r } 1
- 1
2 \end{array} \right) + \lambda \left( \begin{array} { r } - 1
3
4 \end{array} \right) \quad \text { and } \quad \mathbf { r } = \left( \begin{array} { r } \alpha
- 4
0 \end{array} \right) + \mu \left( \begin{array} { l } 0
3
2 \end{array} \right) .$$ If the lines \(l _ { 1 }\) and \(l _ { 2 }\) intersect, find

1. the value of \(\alpha\),
2. an equation for the plane containing the lines \(l _ { 1 }\) and \(l _ { 2 }\), giving your answer in the form \(a x + b y + c z + d = 0\), where \(a , b , c\) and \(d\) are constants. For other values of \(\alpha\), the lines \(l _ { 1 }\) and \(l _ { 2 }\) do not intersect and are skew lines.
   Given that \(\alpha = 2\),
3. find the shortest distance between the lines \(l _ { 1 }\) and \(l _ { 2 }\).