Question

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

Answer 1

1. My friend appears to be taller because the light is travelling from rarer to denser.
2. The rays bend in such away that they seems to be coming from long distance.
3. So it is actually apparent image of my friend which appears to be taller due to refraction.


This can also be explained using curved surface formula. Using R as infinity, we get:
$\frac{{\mu }_2}{v}=\frac{{\mu }_1}{u}$
$v=u\frac{{\mu }_2}{{\mu }_1}$

Clearly, ${\mu }_2>{\mu }_1$. So,
$v>u$

This means that the friend appears taller.