On a sunny summer day, with the sun overhead, you can stand under a tree and look on the ground at the pattern of light that has passed through gaps between the leaves. You may see illuminated circles of varying brightness. Why are there circles, when the gaps between the leaves have irregular shapes?
To show: The reason why sunlight forms circle with irregular shape when passing through the gap of trees.
Answer to Problem 1CQ
Explanation of Solution
As, the image which is formed in the ground acts like a viewing screen, the distance between the gap and the ground is more. As the viewing screen is far away, the gap acts like a pin hole camera and the image which is formed by the gap on the screen is just the inverted image of the object.
In this case, the object is the Sun as the rays are coming from the Sun which is round in shape. So, the image formed by the Sun’s rays pass through the gap is round in shape as the inverted image of the sun is been formed.
Conclusion:
The reason why sunlight forms circle with irregular shape when passing through the gap of trees has been explained.
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