My apologies to Mr. Moss, since I think his mystery proverb question is actually more fun than the above idea. Also, I did search the archive to see if this had been addressed before.
My beloved daughter, who on occasion has the tongue of an asp when the situation calls for it, suggested the above last week after I had spent quite a bit of submerged time trying to right a small sailboat I had turtled. I'm not sure if she was joking or not... I am a reasonably good craftsman, and can follow mathematical "recipes" as well as anyone, but I go into brainlock whenever innovative reasoning is called for. Thus, the question. Postulating a dialist with too much time on his hands, who has a tranquil artificial backyard pond with good sun exposure, and who wants to impress the neighbors, how would one have to modify the hour line equation for horizontal dials to take into account the way the refraction of water? From what I recall from high school physics, would there not also be portions of the dial on either side of the style where sunlight would not penetrate, due to the light rays bouncing back off the water after a certain slant had been reached? Also, has anyone tried this before? Any advices would be appreciated, and thank you. All best, Bill Daciuk Swarthmore PA USA 39 54 N, 75 21 W
