How Tall is the Tree in the Plane Mirror Problem?

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Homework Help Overview

The problem involves a woman standing between a vertical mirror and a distant tree, with the goal of determining the height of the tree based on the reflection seen in the mirror. The mirror is 0.5 meters tall, and the distances from the woman and the tree to the mirror are given as 1.0 meter and 9.0 meters, respectively.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking, Problem interpretation

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants discuss the use of the magnification equation and the definitions of object distance (do) and image distance (di) in the context of the problem. There is uncertainty about how to incorporate the woman's distance from the mirror into the calculations. Some participants suggest drawing a diagram to clarify the relationships between the objects and the mirror.

Discussion Status

The discussion is ongoing, with participants exploring different interpretations of the distances involved and questioning how to apply the magnification formula. Some guidance has been offered regarding the presence of two objects (the woman and the tree) and the need to consider their respective distances from the mirror.

Contextual Notes

There is a noted complexity due to the presence of two objects affecting the mirror's reflection, and participants are grappling with how to define the image distances for both the woman and the tree. The problem context suggests that the woman’s position is relevant to the overall setup, but the exact relationship remains unclear.

CaneAA
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Homework Statement



A woman stands between a vertical mirror, 0.5 meter tall, and a distant tree whose height is H. she is 1.0 m from the mirror and the tree is 9.0 m from the mirror. If she sees the tree just fill the mirror, what is H?

Homework Equations



m = (hi/ho)/(-di/do)

hi = image height = 0.5
ho = object height = H
di = image height
do = object height

The Attempt at a Solution



I'm trying to solve the problem using the magnification equation. The image height has to be the height of the mirror and the object height is the unknown.

However, I'm having a hard time figuring out what values to use for di and do. In all the problems I've done so far, "do" was the distance from the object to the mirror and "di" was the distance from the image to the mirror (equal to "do" but negative for a virtual image), but in this problem, I don't know how to incorporate the person's distance from the mirror.

The correct answer is 5 m.
 
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It looks like this is a plane mirror. If it is a curved mirror, you can't do the problem without the focal length or curvature. The magnification is +1, if you must have it. Draw yourself a neat geometric diagram and you will see what is going on.
 
I did draw a diagram--I just don't know what "do" or "di" would be in this case, since I can't figure out how to incorporate the person's distance from the mirror. I'm guessing that the person must factor into the "do" or "di" measurement somehow.

And I don't see how the magnification would help since 1 = 0.5/H would be H=0.5 and that is incorrect.
 
There are two "objects" in this case, a woman and a tree, therefore there are two values for do, namely do1 = 1 m and do2 = 9 m. Draw a plane mirror of some height that you label h0 (0.5 m), then draw a woman in front of the mirror and a tree also in front of the mirror but at about nine times the woman's distance from the mirror. Label the tree's height H.

Question 1: What are di1 and di2? Draw the images in your figure.
Question 2: What condition must be met so that the woman sees the tree just fill the mirror? What does your diagram say?
 

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