In: Advanced Math
Question:
Your client is the curator of the local museum and as such is responsible for the way the various objects are displayed. Usually, the items are displayed inside the large, clear Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)1 display cabinets which are already installed in the museum, however, your client recently received a rare collection of butterflies which are housed in their own Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) glass case and she is considering which is the best way to display this item. Does she:
(i) Leave the butter collection in its glass case and display this as is on top of a stand?
(ii) Remove the butterfly collection from its case and place the collection inside the existing large display cabinet?
(iii) Leave the display in its glass case and place this inside the existing large display cabinet, in which case visitors would be looking at the butterfly collection through two layers of glass? In order to assist your client in making this decision, you do some thinking and quick calculations.
a) In relation to visitors’ ability to see the collection under the glass, what is the significance of the two different refractive indices? Explain in detail.
b) Presuming the butterfly case is placed inside the museum display cabinet (as per Option
(iii)), what is the critical angle for light passing through the two layers of glass?
c) If the situation was reversed, and the butterfly case was made of PMMA and the museum display cabinet was made of PET, what would be the critical angle for light passing through the two layers of glass? Again, assume the butterfly case is placed inside the museum display cabinet.
d) After careful exploration of the situation and based on the above considerations, which option would you recommend your client select? Explain in detail.
Take the refractive index of the PET butterfly case to be 1.5750 and the refractive index of the existing PMMA museum display cabinets to be 1.4893.