Question

Suppose you are inside the water in a swimming pool near an edge. A friend is standing on the edge. Do you find your friend taller or shorter than his usual height? Why?

Answer 1

When I am inside water in a swimming pool my friend standing on the edge will appear taller shorter than his usual height due to following reason:

1. As light travelling from denser medium to rarer medium it bends away from the normal due to refraction and vice versa
   
2. And let x be the actual height of my friend, then,

$\frac{\text{refractive index of air}}{\text{Refractive index of water}}=\frac{\text{Actual height of my friend}}{\text{Apparent height of my friend}}⟹\frac{1}{\frac{4}{3}}=\frac{x}{\text{Apparent height of my friend}}⟹\text{Apparent height of my friend}=1.33\times \text{actual height of my friend}$