PHYS 2170 Are We Alone?
Tutorial Question
for Week 8
- Discuss the clues that enable you to judge the distance to:
- a familiar object
- an unfamiliar object.
Using ray-tracing, work out a rule-of-thumb estimate of the "depth of
field" or "depth of focus" of an optical system. Apply this analysis
to:
- the human eye
- a domestic cam-corder.
- What is the angular resolution of the human eye? Assuming you
can "steer" your eyes to this resolution, what would be the accuracy
of a distance estimate made using binocular vision (ie, triangulation
using the distance between your eyes as the baseline)?
- Your next-door neighbour bangs on your door late one night,
holding a small saucer-shaped object she says just crashed in her
back-yard. What would convince you that the object was of
extraterrestrial origin?
- Which of the laws of Physics are you most willing to allow might
be proven wrong by an advanced civilisation?
- How far advanced is current (human) military technology? Which
of James Bond's gadgets are plausible, and which are not?
- Someday, somebody might invent a material stronger than steel
(actually, they already have). Can you imagine a material stronger
than the intermolecular bonds of its component molecules?
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