Question

Post-Impressionist Georges Seurat is famous for a painting technique known as pointillism. His paintings are made up of different-colored dots, and each dot is roughly 2 mm in diameter. When viewed from far enough away, the dots blend together and only large-scale images are seen. Assuming that the human pupil is about 2.9 mm in diameter, determine an approximate minimum distance you need to stand from one of Seurat's paintings to see the dots blended together. (Assume two dots touch, such that their center-to-center distance is equal to one diameter. Also assume light with a wavelength of 563 nm.)

Answer 1

Answer:

84 cm

Explanation:

The resolving power of the eye = 1.22 λ / D where λ is wavelength of light and D is diameter of the eye .

Putting the values in the formula

The resolving power of the eye = 1.22 λ / 2.9 x 10⁻³

Let the minimum distance you need to stand from one of Seurat's paintings to see the dots blended together  be D .

d = distance between two dots = diameter of dot = 2 x 10⁻³ m .

Given ,

λ D / d =  1.22 λ / 2.9 x 10⁻³

D /2 x 10⁻³   =  1.22  / 2.9 x 10⁻³

D = 2 x 1.22 / 2.9 m

= .84 m

= 84 cm .

minimum distance you need to stand from one of Seurat's paintings to see the dots blended together is 84 cm .