Polarization is a property of electromagnetic waves related to the direction of oscillation of the field. Linear or complete polarization is a polarization in which the electric field vector constantly oscillates in the same plane.
When scattering, light is polarized on air molecules, water vapor and dust. The light of short wavelengths, violet or blue, is scattered more strongly. This is why the sky looks blue to us during the day. The white light from the Sun sprays and reaches us. It is linearly polarized. When the sun is setting, waves of light they must pass through a thick layer of the atmosphere. Since blue light is scattered, it is contagious from red, unpolarized and unscattered red light comes to us, while blue is scattered and polarized.
When natural light falls on a transparent medium, such as glass or water, at a certain angle of incidence, which is such that the refracted and reflected rays form a right angle, the reflected light is polarized perpendicular to the plane of reflection. This is the so-called Brewster’s law :
(n G— index of refraction of a denser optical medium; n R – index of refraction of a rarer optical medium)
Polarized glasses help significantly in reducing glare at sea or on a heated road. Glasses are usually made so that only vertically polarized light passes through. The reflected light is horizontally polarized, and when it falls on polarizing glasses , it does not pass through them. In this way, the glare is significantly reduced.
Author:
prof. Emil Šatalić
