Shadow of a balloon · Estonian PhO 2013 #10

Physics

Problem

A spherical opaque balloon is floating during a sunny day and leaves a shadow on a horizontal ground, moreover the length of the penumbra is 5.0 m and the width 2.5 m and the length of the umbra is 1.0 m. How big is the diameter of the ball and how high is it from the ground? The apparent angular diameter of the Sun (the angle that forms between the two lines that are drawn from the eye of the observer to the ends of the Sun’s diameter) was α=0.53∘\alpha =0.53^\circ during that day.

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