Question

A person in a boat sees a fish in the water (n = 1.33, the light rays making an angle of 40? relative to the water's surface. what is the true angle (in degrees relative to the water's surface of the same rays when beneath the surface?

Answer 1

We know that the measure of an incident ray is:  α 1 = 40°.
The index of refraction:
- for the air : n 1 = 1.00,
- for the water: n 2 = 1.33
Snell`s Law of Refraction :
n 1 · sin α 1 = n 2 · sin α 2
sin α 2 = n 1 · sin α 1 / n 2 =
= 1.00 · sin 40° / 1.33 = 0.64278 / 1.33 = 0.4833
α 2 = sin ^(-1) 0.4833
α 2 = 28.9 °
Answer: The angle relative to the water`s surface of the rays when beneath the surface is 28.9°.