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In H.G. Wells's classic story The Invisible Man, a man manages to change the index of refraction of his body to 1.0 ; thus, light would not bend as it enters his body (assuming he is in air and not swimming). If the index of refraction of his eyes were equal to one, would he be able to see? If so, how would things appear?

Short Answer

Expert verified
Explain why or why not. Answer: No, the Invisible Man would not be able to see if his index of refraction is 1.0 because there would be no bending of light as it passes through his eyes. The cornea and lens of the human eye rely on refraction, or the bending of light, to focus the light onto the retina. With an index of refraction of 1.0, the same as air, no refraction would occur in the eyes, leading to undefined or extremely blurry vision for the Invisible Man.

Step by step solution

01

Understand the concept of refraction#index_tag_content# Refraction is the phenomenon when a light wave changes its speed and direction as it passes from one material to another. The index of refraction (n) measures the extent of this change. In general, light slows down and changes direction when it enters a denser medium, causing it to bend. The greater the difference in the index of refraction between two materials, the more the light bends when crossing the boundary.

Step 2: The importance of refraction in the eyes#index_tag_content# In human eyes, the cornea and lens (which have indices of refraction higher than 1) play a crucial role in focusing light onto the retina. They bend light rays to form a focused image on the retina, which the brain then interprets as vision. If the index of refraction of these eye components were 1, there would be no refraction occurring in the eyes.
02

Evaluate the effect of an index of refraction of 1.0 on eyes and vision#index_tag_content# If the index of refraction of the man's eyes is equal to 1 (same as air), there would be no bending of light as it passes through his eyes. This would mean that the light would not be able to focus onto the retina, and the man would not be able to see. In essence, everything would appear extremely blurry or undefined, as the required bending and focusing of light would not occur.

Step 4: Conclusion for the Invisible Man's vision#index_tag_content# In conclusion, if the Invisible Man's eyes had an index of refraction of 1.0, he would not be able to see, as his eyes would not be able to bend light and focus it onto the retina. Without the ability to focus light, the man would not be able to see clear images of the world around him, and everything would appear undefined or extremely blurry.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

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