Why do the rail tracks seem to converge and vanish?

Question

Why do railway tracks seem to converge at a far away point?

Can this phenomenon occur with a very far away tall wall (considering I stand on a flat plane, not the curved surface of earth). Isn't this the same phenomenon that explains why sun looks so small?

Aren't the light Rays reflected from the object parallel?

(NOT A DUPLICATE OF PREVIOUS QUESTION BECAUSE THE MAIN QUESTION IS THE SECOND ONE. THE PRECEEDING QUESTION SETS THE CONTEXT OF THE NEXT.)

Probably also useful: https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/3488/25301 — Kyle Kanos, Aug 24 '19 at 17:32
This one doesn't explain my other question. Can you please clarify that. Thanks. — ObsessionWithElectricity, Aug 24 '19 at 18:15
You have to explain why it isn't a duplicate. Saying it isn't doesn't make it true. — BioPhysicist, Aug 24 '19 at 18:39
The perspective is due to your eye imaging system. If you were having telecentric imaging you would be seeing same size objects regardless of the distance. Then you will be asking how far is the approaching car. — ole, Sep 22 '19 at 19:11

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 24 '19 at 18:47

The angular separation between the two lines of sight from the two rails on a train track gets smaller (and approaches zero) when viewing the rails at an increasing distance (angle in radians = track separation/viewing distance). This means that the image on the retina of your eye also gets smaller.

Why do the rail tracks seem to converge and vanish?

1 Answers1