Imagine you are a fish (abducted by aliens while still in the egg and transporte

Question

Imagine you are a fish (abducted by aliens while still in the egg and transported to a galaxy far, far away) in the bottom of a lake filled with an unknown liquid. You are observing a bird (call him Louie) at an angle of a = 32º (as shown, the angle of refraction at the lake surface for this viewing angle is ß = 49º).

(a) What it the refractive index of the liquid in which you are swimming?

(b) Can you see another bird (Louie’s mate, Pinkie) at an angle of g = 47º? Why or why not?

Explanation / Answer

(A) refractive index = sin I / sin r

where I is incident angle =49 and r refractive angle = 32

So refractive index = sin 49/sin 32 = 1.424

(B) when r is 47 then incident angle should be = refractive index * sin r.

Sin i = 1.424 * sin 47

sin I = 1.04, this is not possible as value of sin cannot be greater than 1, greater than 1 sin value means not allowed value.

Hence with g=47 another bird can't be seen

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