The pupil of the human eye has an aperture of around 5mm, and visible light has wavelengths peaked around 500nm. Estimate the angular resolution of the human eye (that is, the smallest angle for which you could distinguish that light was coming from two different directions). Suppose two point sources of light were separated by a distance x, and you are standing one meter away from them. Estimate the smallest distance x for which you could tell that there were two point sources (rather than just one).
The pupil of the human eye has an aperture of around 5mm, and visible light has wavelengths peaked around 500nm. Estimate the angular resolution of the human eye (that is, the smallest angle for which you could distinguish that light was coming from two different directions). Suppose two point sources of light were separated by a distance x, and you are standing one meter away from them. Estimate the smallest distance x for which you could tell that there were two point sources (rather than just one).
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Transcribed Image Text:The angle subtended by the
sources at the slit is large
enough for the diffraction
patterns to be distinguishable.
*
Slit
Viewing screen
The angle subtended by the
sources is so small that their
diffraction patterns overlap, and
the images are not well resolved.
Slit Viewing screen
(a) The pupil of the human eye has an aperture of around 5mm, and visible light has
wavelengths peaked around 500nm. Estimate the angular resolution of the human
eye (that is, the smallest angle for which you could distinguish that light was coming
from two different directions).
(b) Suppose two point sources of light were separated by a distance x, and you are
standing one meter away from them. Estimate the smallest distance x for which you
could tell that there were two point sources (rather than just one).
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