Concept explainers
The limit to the eye's acuity is actually related to diffraction by the pupil.
(a) What is the angle between two just-resolvable points of light for a 3.00-mm-diameter pupil, assuming an average wavelength of 550 nm?
(b) Take your result to be the practical limit for the eye. What is the greatest possible distance a car can be from you if you can resolve its two headlights, given they are 1.30 m apart?
(c) What is the distance between two just-resolvable points held at an arm's length (0.800 m) from your eye?
(d) How does your answer to (c) compare to details you normally observe in everyday circumstances?
Trending nowThis is a popular solution!
Chapter 27 Solutions
College Physics
Additional Science Textbook Solutions
Campbell Essential Biology (7th Edition)
Campbell Biology (11th Edition)
Chemistry: Structure and Properties (2nd Edition)
Physics for Scientists and Engineers: A Strategic Approach, Vol. 1 (Chs 1-21) (4th Edition)
Organic Chemistry (8th Edition)
Chemistry: A Molecular Approach (4th Edition)
- The limit to the eye’s visual acuity is related to diffraction by the pupil.Randomized VariablesD = 3.05 mmdh = 1.4 m Part (a) What is the angle between two just-resolvable points of light for a 3.05 mm diameter pupil in radians, assuming an average wavelength of 550 nm? Part (b) Take your result to be the practical limit for the eye. What is the greatest possible distance in km a car can be from you if you can resolve its two headlights, given they are 1.4 m apart? Part (c) What is the distance between two just-resolvable points held at an arm’s length (0.800 m) from your eye in mm?arrow_forwardOne important goal of astronomers is to have a telescope in space that can resolve planets like the earth orbiting other stars. If a planet orbits its star at a distance of 1.5 * 1011 m (the radius of the earth’s orbit around the sun) and the telescope has a mirror of diameter 8.0 m, how far from the telescope could the star and its planet be if the wavelength used was (a) 690 nm and (b) 1400 nm? Use the Rayleigh criterion and give your answers in light-years (1 ly = 9.46 * 1015 m).arrow_forwardOne important goal of astronomers is to have a telescope in space that can resolve planets like the earth orbiting other stars. If a planet orbits its star at a distance of 1.5 x 1011 m (the radius of the earth’s orbit around the sun) and the telescope has a mirror of diameter 8.0 m, how far from the telescope could the star and its planet be if the wavelength used was (a) 690 nm and (b) 1400 nm? Use the Rayleigh criterion and give your answers in light-years (1 ly = 9.46 x 1015 m).arrow_forward
- The limit to the eye's acuity is actually related to diffraction by the pupil. What is the angle between two just-resolvable points of light for a 2.75 mm diameter pupil, assuming the average wavelength of 539 nm? angle between two points of light: Take the result to be the practical limit for the eye. What is the greatest possible distance a car can be from a person if he or she can resolve its two headlights, given they are 1.40 m apart? greatest distance at which headlights can be distinguished: m What is the distance between two just-resolvable points held at an arm's length (0.900 m) from a person's eye? distance between two points 0.900 m from a person's eye: marrow_forwardA proposed "star wars" antimissile laser is to focus infrared light with 2.8-µm wavelength to a 50-cm-diameter spot on a missile 2500 km distant. Find the minimum diameter for a concave mirror that can achieve this spot size, given the diffraction limit. (Your answer suggests one of many technical difficulties faced by antimissile defense systems.)arrow_forwardTo make a hologram using an Argon laser (1 = 0.488 µm), the maximum angle between objective and reference beams is 0max resolution (or spatial frequency) of the holographic recording film (fo – lines per mm)? 40°. What is the requirement on the minimum 0.633 um). Assume that z, When the hologram is reconstructed using a HeNe laser (A 10cm, z, = 2z,, Zp transversal and axial magnification (M; and Ma). = 00, please compute virtual and real image locations (Fz;), thearrow_forward
- Can you address a-b with the given information from the image?arrow_forwardDifferent isotopes of the same element emit light at slightly different wavelengths. A wavelength in the emission spectrum of a hydrogen atom is 656.45 nm; for deuterium, the corresponding wavelength is 656.27 nm. (a) What minimum number of slits is required to resolve these two wavelengths in second order? (b) If the grating has 500.00 slits/mm, find the angles and angular separation of these two wavelengths in the second orderarrow_forwardThe maximum resolution of the eye depends on the diameter of the opening of the pupil (a diffraction effect) and the size of the retinal cells. The size of the retinal cells (about 5.0 mm in diameter) limits the size of an object at the near point (25 cm) of the eye to a height of about 50 µm. (To get a reasonable estimate without having to go through complicated calculations, we shall ignore the effect of the fluid in the eye.) (a) Given that the diameter of the human pupil is about 2.0 mm, does the Rayleigh criterion allow us to resolve a 50 -µm -tall object at 25 cm from the eye with light of wavelength 550 nm? (b) According to the Rayleigh criterion, what is the shortest object we could resolve at the 25 cm near point with light of wavelength 550 nm? (c) What angle would the object in part (b) subtend at the eye? Express your answer in minutes 160 min = 1°2, and compare it with the experimental value of about 1 min. (d) Which effect is more important in limiting the resolution of…arrow_forward
- The limit to the eye's acuity is actually related to diffraction by the pupil. What is the angle between two just‑resolvable points of light for a 6.25 mm diameter pupil, assuming the average wavelength of 539 nm? angle between two points of light: ° Take the result to be the practical limit for the eye. What is the greatest possible distance a car can be from a person if he or she can resolve its two headlights, given they are 1.20 m apart? greatest distance at which headlights can be distinguished: m What is the distance between two just‑resolvable points held at an arm's length (0.750 m) from a person's eye? distance between two points 0.750 m from a person's eye:arrow_forwardThe radar system of a navy cruiser transmits at a wavelength of 1.6 cm, from a circular antenna with a diameter of 2.3 m. At a range of 6.2 km, what is the smallest distance that two speedboats can be from each other and still be resolved as two separate objects by the radar system?arrow_forwardAn x-ray beam of wavelength A undergoes first-order reflection (Bragg law diffraction) from a crystal when its angle of incidence to a crystal face is 23°, and an x-ray beam of wavelength 97 pm undergoes third-order reflection when its angle of incidence to that face is 60°. Assuming that the two beams reflect from the same family of reflecting planes, find (a) the interplanar spacing and (b) the wavelength A.arrow_forward
- University Physics Volume 3PhysicsISBN:9781938168185Author:William Moebs, Jeff SannyPublisher:OpenStaxPrinciples of Physics: A Calculus-Based TextPhysicsISBN:9781133104261Author:Raymond A. Serway, John W. JewettPublisher:Cengage Learning