The Smartphone Camera Trick · AI Generator #GEN-4A4544F0
Physics · optics
Problem
A physics student discovers that when they hold their smartphone camera at a specific angle while looking at light reflecting off a calm lake surface, the reflected glare almost completely disappears from their photos. The student measures this critical angle to be 53° from the vertical (i.e., 37° from the horizontal lake surface). Using this observation, determine the refractive index of water. Assume the smartphone camera is in air with refractive index nair=1.00.