A car passes you on the highway and you notice the taillights of the car are 1.2

Question

A car passes you on the highway and you notice the taillights of the car are 1.27 m apart. Assume that the pupils of your eyes have a diameter of 6.7 mm and index of refraction of 1.36. Given that the car is 14.2 km away when the taillights appear to merge into a single spot of light because of the effects of diffraction, what wavelength of light does the car emit from its taillights (what would the wavelength be in vacuum)?

Given:
distance between the tail lights = theta in radians*distance to the car to find theta in radians.
then use theta in radians = 1.22*lambda/D, where D is the diameter of your pupil, to find lambda

Explanation / Answer

1.27= theta (14200) theta=8.943x10-5 (1.22*lambda)/6.7=8.943x10-5 lamdba=491

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