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Question
What do you notice when you place a beaker of water on top of a printed paper? How does the letters on the paper look like through the beaker?
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Solution
When a beaker of water is placed on top of a printed paper, two distinct optical changes are noticed due to the refraction of light.
If you look down at the beaker directly from above, the letters on the paper appear raised upwards and seem closer to the surface than they actually are. This phenomenon is known as apparent depth, which happens because light rays bend as they travel from the denser medium (water) to the rarer medium (air).
On the other hand, if you look at the letters from the side through the beaker, the text appears magnified (larger in size) and slightly distorted. This occurs because the curved cylindrical body of the water-filled beaker acts exactly like a convex magnifying lens.
