By the turn of the 19th century James Maxwell had proposed a set of wave equations that accurately described light as an electromagnetic wave. This wave model described light as the combination of and electric and magnetic wave, each generating the other. Watch this vid for more
As a consequence of the equations light was modelled as a set of transverse waves oscillating on a variety of planes from a source.
It was also discovered that some materials and interaction can polarize the light. That is remove one plane of oscillation while the others travel on.
In this task you will use two polarizing filters and change the orientation until they blacked out the light.
What orientation must they be to allow the most light through?
What orientation must they be to block the light?
What can you conclude about the light being filtered?
Polarization can occur in many ways..
Consider the images below.
How does the polaroid filter change the image?