A person riding in a boat observes that the sunlight reflected by the water is polarized parallel to the surface of the water. The person is wearing polarized sunglasses with the polarization axis vertical.
Part A
If the wearer leans at an angle of 19.5 degrees to the vertical, what fraction of the reflected light intensity will pass through the sunglasses?
Question
Answer:
I / Io = 0.8886
Explanation:
For this exercise we will use the law of Malus
I = I₀ cos² θ
Where t is the angle between the lenses and the plane of polarization, the reflected light is horizontally polarized,
I / I₀ = cos² 19.5
I / Io = 0.8886