Physics, Mr.

Tonkinson

Research essay

Andrs Bereznev

Determining the percentage of plane polarized light reflected from a piece of glass at the Brewsters angle

Name: School: Supervisor: Subject: Date: Main article world count: Abstract word count:

Andrs Bereznev The British School Quito Mr. Paul Tonkinson Physics 14/January/2014 3102 words 209 words

Physics, Mr. Tonkinson

Research essay

Andrs Bereznev

Abstract
The investigation of light has been started in the 5th century before Christ. Such properties of light as polarization by reflection are usually the most interesting. When light changes medium under a certain angle called the Brewsters angle, the plane polarized light reflects while the rest is absorbed by the medium. The reflected light seems to be completely polarized. A polarized filter is a sort of filter that allows polarized light to pass through when its interior lines are aligned to the way the transverse light wave goes. This investigation is about how much polarized light is reflected from a piece of glass at the Brewsters angle. To check if all the light is polarized, a piece of equipment measures the amount of reflected light that passes through a polarized filter placed in front. This filter is rotated to gradually cut off the chances of plane polarized light passing through the filter, allowing us to know how much of the total reflected light is polarized. The experiment is done and the results are analyzed to compare them to a Theoretical and experimental research. At the end some explanations are done and the amount of polarized light reflected from a piece of glass at the Brewsters angle is worked out.

Physics, Mr. Tonkinson

Research essay

Andrs Bereznev

Contents
Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... 2 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 4 Theoretical research ..................................................................................................................................... 6 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................. 7 Experimental research .................................................................................................................................. 8 Explanation ............................................................................................................................................... 8 Graph ........................................................................................................................................................ 9 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................. 9 Body/Methods/Results ............................................................................................................................... 10 Variables spider diagram ........................................................................................................................ 10 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 11 Aim .......................................................................................................................................................... 11 Variables information ............................................................................................................................. 11 Prediction ................................................................................................................................................ 12 Apparatus ................................................................................................................................................ 14 Diagram ................................................................................................................................................... 15 Method ................................................................................................................................................... 15 Results ..................................................................................................................................................... 19 Analysis ................................................................................................................................................... 20 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 21 Illustrations ................................................................................................................................................. 22 .................................................................................................................................................................... 23 .................................................................................................................................................................... 24 .................................................................................................................................................................... 26 .................................................................................................................................................................... 27

Physics, Mr. Tonkinson

Research essay

Andrs Bereznev

.................................................................................................................................................................... 28 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................ 28

Introduction
I choose this topic because I thought it was interesting to know how many different things are in a ray of light and one of the most interesting one for me is the Orientation of the plane of oscillation of the electric and magnetic fields that make up light. So I decided to investigate plane polarized light. Its interesting for me that when light is reflected from a boundary such as glass under a certain angle called the Brewsters angle only plane polarized light is reflected. So I wanted to know at what degree none plane polarized light passes throw the polarized filter. The Brewsters angle is an example of polarization through reflection.

Figure 1Polarization by reflection

The Brewsters angle is an angle at which light enters a new medium causing only plane polarized light to be reflected and all other light to be absorbed into the medium. At an angle of 56 from the normal the Brewsters angle theory should work for the medium of air to glass.

Physics, Mr. Tonkinson

Research essay

Andrs Bereznev

Figure 2Brewsters angle polarization

I think its worth to study this to know if at the Brewsters angle only polarized light is reflected. This experiment involves using the Brewsters angle and Malus law. Brewsters angle states that the angle at which light reflected from a piece of glass is only polarized, this angle is around 53 degrees from the normal. When light enters a medium like glass at the Brewsters angle, part of the light is absorbed into the glass and if the angle is completely exact, plane polarized light is reflected. Malus law is that at a rotation of 90 degrees the plane polarized light passing through a polarized filter should be none. As the plane polarized light that has been reflected from the piece of glass contains transverse waves that go up and down, they can only pass through the filter when the filter is aligned correctly. The light will not pass through the filter if the filter is rotated 90 from the correct position, some light will pass through the filter at half way between 0 and 90.

Physics, Mr. Tonkinson

Research essay

Andrs Bereznev

Figure 3 Polarized light passing through a rotating polarized filter

My aim in the experiment is to measure the amount of plane polarized light passing through a polarized filter and different angles of rotation. The results will show the relationship between the amount of light passing through the filter and the angle of rotation of the filter. In expectation, at the Brewsters angle and at perfect experiment conditions, at an angle of 90 the light passing through the filter should be 0.

Theoretical research
In theory the Brewsters angle for a piece of glass which has a refractive index of 1.515 is 57 from the normal according to http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/polarizedlight/brewster/. So when the light is fired at the piece of glass at that angle, the light reflected from the piece of glass should be completely plane polarized. So when the polarized filter will be rotated 90 from the position where all the light passes, the light should be completely undetectable. If the light entering the polarized filter is completely plane polarized light, then when you rotate the polarized filter, every 90 no light should pass through the filter and every half way between 0 to 90 or 90 to 180 or so on, all the light coming into the filter should pass through.

Physics, Mr. Tonkinson

Research essay

Andrs Bereznev

Figure 4theoretical results of amount of light passing through the polarized filter

Amount of ligh passing thorugh filter

Angle of rotation of filter

Figure 5Expected results

Conclusion
My experiment should give a graph that looks like a sine function when the results plotted go from 0 to 360 degrees. The minimum amount of light passing through the filter should be 0, but as the experiment has lots of background light, the minimum amount is unknown. About half from the light should be polarized. The maximum result must be when the polarized filter is rotated so that the polarization lines are parallel to the filter lines.

Physics, Mr. Tonkinson

Research essay

Andrs Bereznev

Experimental research
Explanation
Normal light is not polarized, which means that the oscillating electric field that makes light up has multiples planes through 360. When light enters a boundary such as glass, some light can be absorbed. This only happens at a certain angle. To make the light reflected polarized the light should enter the glass at the Brewsters angle which is 56.3 from the normal. At this angle only polarized light is reflected. This light passes through the filter completely when the filter line and the lines direction are parallel. As you turn the filter the light amount decreases until the lines of the filter are perpendicular to the light direction, which causes the minimum possible light to pass through the filter. After the minimum is reached, the amount of light increases until it reaches to have the filter lines vertical again. Polarization by reflection

Figure 6 Polarization by reflection

Figure 7 Polarized filter axis explanation

Physics, Mr. Tonkinson

Research essay

Andrs Bereznev

Graph
Amount of ligh passing thorugh filter

Angle of rotation of filter

Figure 8 Theoretical results

Conclusion
My experiment should give a graph that looks like a sine function when the results plotted go from 0 to 360 degrees. The minimum amount of light passing through the filter should be 0, but as the experiment has lots of background light, the minimum amount is unknown. About half from the light should be polarized. The maximum result must be when the polarized filter is rotated so that the polarization lines are parallel to the filter lines.

Physics, Mr. Tonkinson

Research essay

Andrs Bereznev

Body/Methods/Results
Variables spider diagram

Background light Determining the percentage of plane polarized light reflected from a piece of glass at the Brewsters angle

light intensity

type of polarized filter

color of paper below the piece of glass

rotation of the filter

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Physics, Mr. Tonkinson

Research essay

Andrs Bereznev

Introduction
I am investigating how the angle of rotation of a polarized filter affects the amount of polarized light passing through it. To make the light incoming to the filter polarized I reflected it from a piece of glass at the Brewsters angle. The Aim of this investigation is to discover at which angle the polarized filter has to be rotated to let no polarized light through. The independent variable is the polarized filter which I rotated perpendicular to the direction of the light. I rotated the filter 90 anticlockwise and then returned and went past 0 to reach 20 clockwise from the normal. The normal was the position at which the maximum amount possible of polarized light passed through the filter which meant that the plane polarized light is parallel to the lines of the filter.

Aim
To determine the percentage of plane polarized light reflected from a piece of glass at the Brewsters angle.

Variables information
The independent variable in this investigation will be angle of rotation of the polarized filter through which light will travel, it will be measured in degrees, and a recording will be taken every 5 of rotation. The dependent variable will be the amount of light passing through the polarized filter, it will be measured in (Lux) using a light meter set up after the polarized filter. One of the control variables will be the color of the paper below the glass sheet; this will be controlled by pacing 6 A4 black bond papers below the glass in order to cover the lower surface of the glass completely. The Initial light intensity is another control variable which will be controlled by using light source of the next specifications: Brand: Model: Rated voltage: Frequency: Lamp: Fuse: Power consumption: Audio tech pro light AT-CF901 120v 60Hz 4515 6V/30W 125V/1A 30W

Another control variable is the background light, for this experiment we kept the background light as low as possible, but this control variable does not change the results pattern, it only shifts them up and down. A very important control variable is the angle of incidence of the light source into the sheet of glass, and we controlled it by maintaining this angle at 53.6 from the normal. Also a control variable is setting the tube with the filter which reflected light enters to be parallel and aligned with the angle and direction at which the light reflects. Diagram

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Physics, Mr. Tonkinson

Research essay

Andrs Bereznev

Figure 9 Diagram set up

The polarized filter should face the incoming light perpendicular and we control it by setting it like this: Diagram

A very important control variable is the starting rotation of the polarized filter. It should be turned carefully until the light meter shows the maximum possible value. The position at which the maximum value is shown is the position at which the experiment should be started.

Prediction

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Physics, Mr. Tonkinson

Research essay

Andrs Bereznev

I think that when the filter will be rotated 90 from the normal the amount of polarized light should decrease to its minimum. So every 180 from the normal the amount of light should go down to minimum and back to the maximum again.

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Figure 10 prediction graph

Physics, Mr. Tonkinson

Research essay

Andrs Bereznev

Apparatus
Light source- Characteristics: Brand: Audio tech pro light Model: AT-CF901 Rated voltage: 120v Frequency: 60Hz Lamp: 4515 6V/30W Fuse: 125V/1A Power consumption: 30W Piece of glass- Measurement needed 3 clamp stands Protractor Kitchen paper towel tube Polarized filter 6 pieces of A4 black paper A big teacher protractor A light measurement device A results recording computer program Scotch

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Physics, Mr. Tonkinson

Research essay

Andrs Bereznev

Diagram

Method
1) Take a kitchen paper towel tube and make and stick the polarized filter at one end of the tube 2) Stick it without covering any of the filter itself, only the plastic borders of the filter. 3) Put enough scotch when you are sticking it to not allow any light come through holes between the filter and the tube 4) Put the 6 A4 pieces of black bond paper on the desk, and put the glass sheet carefully over them in order for the papers to cover the lower surface of the glass totally. 5) Put a clamp stand at a side of the piece of glass at exactly half the distance between the two corners and as close to the glass as possible until they touch 6) Put the light source on the clamp stand and point it in a way in which the light incomes the glass sheet at an angle of 53.6 degrees from the normal which has to be exactly at the center of the glass sheet. Measure this angle using a big protractor and adjust it by moving the light source up and down and rotating it too.

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Physics, Mr. Tonkinson

Research essay

Andrs Bereznev

7) Put another clamp stand, opposite to the one before also at the midpoint of the corners and as closely as possible to the glass. 8) In this clamp stand you have to attach the prepared before tube with filter. The side with the filter has to face the glass at 53.6 degrees too. This should be parallel to the direction of the reflected light.

Figure 11 Polarized light entering the filter

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Physics, Mr. Tonkinson

Research essay

Andrs Bereznev

Figure 12 Detail of the polarized light entering the filter

9) At the other side of the tube you have to insert the light meter, fixed to record the light intensity at the middle of the filter. 10) Place another clamp stand in order to hold the protractor which will be passes through the tube in order to see the rotation degree of the filter. 11) This protractor should be fixed and must not move when the filter with the tube are rotated

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Physics, Mr. Tonkinson

Research essay

Andrs Bereznev

12) When the apparatus are set up like this:

Then you can place your light meter into the tube and fix it to be exactly in the middle. 13) Connect the Pasco light sensor into your computer and run the Data studio software 14) Launch the recording and rotate the filter slowly until the highest value is reached. 15) Stop the recording

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Physics, Mr. Tonkinson

Research essay

Andrs Bereznev

16) Make a mark on the tube or the filter that will represent the initial position of the filter compared to the protractor 17) Start a recording with the mark set at 0 degrees on the protractor, which should be your maximum value. Record for 10 seconds and then get an average value and put a comment saying angle 0 18) Rotate the filter with the tube 5 to the left and record for 10 seconds and make an average and call it angle 5 19) Rotate it 5 after every recording until you get to 90, this will show as the mark made at the start being moved one quarter of a circle to the left. Remember to put a comment on every result average saying at what angle it was. 20) The return to placing the mark you made at 0 again, this time record the same way but turning 5 to the right this time. 21) Carry recording these results until you get to -20. I called it -20 because moving to the left was positive so dont get confused. 22) Write down the data you have collected in a table of angle of rotation, measured in degrees, going from -20 to 90 in 5 steps. The second column should be amount of light passing through the polarized filter, measured in (Lux); in this column you should fill the results obtained.

Results
Table 1 Results

Angle of rotation of the polarized filter () / Amount of light passing throw the filter (L) / Degrees Lux
-20 -15 -10 -5 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 1711,2 1727,3 1624,6 1543,5 1429 1719,1 1598,5 1355 1326,3 1240,2 1095,1 1031,7 1001,2 930,5 910,6 799,6 760,7 746,8

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Physics, Mr. Tonkinson 65 70 75 80 85 90

Research essay 753,8 771,3 790,8 819 925,2

Andrs Bereznev

Analysis

Light passing through a polarized filter rotated at different angles

2000 1800 Light amount passing through filter lux 1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 -40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100 Degree of turn of the polarized filter y = 0.0024x3 - 0.148x2 - 13.244x + 1543

This graph is plotted using all the data obtained during the experiment. The trend shows that there is a negative correlation from 20 degrees clockwise to 70 degrees anticlockwise and after there is a positive correlation starting to go back to the starting values. This shows that at 70 the polarized light is at its minimum. The highest value was at 20 clockwise. This means that when we rotated the polarized filter to the position of maximum light, we did it wrongly. We should have rotated the filter 20 clockwise before starting the experiment, and then the results would match the theory perfectly.

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Physics, Mr. Tonkinson

Research essay

Andrs Bereznev

Conclusion
The amount of polarized light passing through the filter varies on the angle of the rotation of the filter. When the filter is rotated 90 from the maximum value, the amount of light passing through the filter is at its lowest value. The light calculated from the minimum value to 0 is the background light. This comes from the not polarized light that could have been let through because of an incorrect Brewster angle. It also comes from the room as its not completely dark. The investigation shows that the polarized light passing through a polarized filter varies in quantity depending on the angle of rotation of the filter. When the filter polarizers are parallel to the light wave, the maximum amount of light is allowed to pass. But as these bend, less and less light passes until the polarizers of the filter are completely perpendicular to the plane light wave which causes the minimum amount of polarized light passes through. So at 0 there is all the polarized light passing while at 90 none polarized light passes through the filter. And at 180 again all light passes while at 270 again none polarized light can pass. To work out the percentage of plane polarized light passing through the filter we do the highest value minus the smallest value getting the amount of polarized light. 1727.3 lux 753.8 lux = 973.5 lux of polarized light. The rest of the light is coming from background sources such as windows and reflections from surfaces. Theoretically the results should have been reaching zero when the polarized filter is turned 90, but as the background light is not plane polarized it could pass through the filter at any angle. My experiment worked and the results are correct, the reason for the lowest value not to be zero is because of background light. So the background light does change the results by shifting them up but does no change their pattern. So the percentage of plane polarized light passing through the filter out of the total light passing through the filter is 973.5/1727.3 or 56.36% (rounded to 2 d.p.), therefore we can say that the percentage of background light coming into the filter is 43.64% (rounded to 2 d.p.). So the answer to the research question is that the percentage of plane polarized light reflected from a piece of glass at the Brewsters angle is 56.36%.

Figure 13 Background light effect

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Physics, Mr. Tonkinson

Research essay

Andrs Bereznev

Figure 14 Background light effect 2

The prediction, theoretical and experimental research has completely met the results and the sketch graph looks very similar to the plotted results. But due to the background light the results have shifted up by 700 lux.

Illustrations
Figure 1 Polarization by reflection ................................................................................................................ 4 Figure 2 Brewsters angle polarization .......................................................................................................... 5 Figure 3 Polarized light passing through a rotating polarized filter.............................................................. 6 Figure 4 Theoretical results of amount of light passing through the polarized filter ................................... 7 Figure 5 Expected results .............................................................................................................................. 7 Figure 6 Polarization by reflection ................................................................................................................ 8 Figure 7 Polarized filter axis explanation ...................................................................................................... 8 Figure 8 Theoretical results........................................................................................................................... 9 Figure 9 Diagram set up .............................................................................................................................. 12 Figure 10 prediction graph.......................................................................................................................... 13 Figure 11 Polarized light entering the filter ................................................................................................ 16 Figure 12 Detail of the polarized light entering the filter ........................................................................... 17 Figure 13 Background light effect ............................................................................................................... 21 Figure 14 Background light effect 2 ............................................................................................................ 22 Figure 15 apparatus diagram ...................................................................................................................... 23 Figure 16 Graph sketch ............................................................................................................................... 24

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Physics, Mr. Tonkinson

Research essay

Andrs Bereznev

Figure 15 Apparatus diagram

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Physics, Mr. Tonkinson

Research essay

Andrs Bereznev

Figure 16 Grapa sketch

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Physics, Mr. Tonkinson

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Andrs Bereznev

Filter perpendicular to light direction diagram

Diagram showing correct position of tube towards the incoming light

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Physics, Mr. Tonkinson

Research essay

Andrs Bereznev

Polarized light passing a filter at 90 and at 0

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Physics, Mr. Tonkinson

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Andrs Bereznev

Discussing the setup of the apparatus

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Physics, Mr. Tonkinson

Research essay

Andrs Bereznev

Results of the experiment

Bibliography

Alienryderflex. Alienryderflex polarizer. 2004. http://alienryderflex.com/polarizer/ (accessed December 15, 2013). davidson, webphysics. Polarization by Reflection. n.d. http://webphysics.davidson.edu/physlet_resources/bu_semester2/c27_brewster.html (accessed October 24, 2013). Molecular expressions . Optical microspocy primer specialized techniques. 15 June 2006. http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/polarizedlight/brewster/ (accessed 11 January, 2014).

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Physics, Mr. Tonkinson

Research essay

Andrs Bereznev

Physics classroom. The Physics classroom . n.d. http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/light/u12l1e.cfm (accessed December 15, 2013). Physics hand book. Physics handbook. n.d. http://www.physicshandbook.com/laws/maluslaw.htm (accessed Noviembre 20, 2013). Spie. Optipedia. n.d. http://spie.org/x32370.xml (accessed Noviembre 21, 2013). Tonkinson, Paul, interview by Andrs Bereznev. Brewsters angle, Polarized light, Polarized filter, Malus law (Tuesdays December, October, November 2013). Wikipedia. Brewsters angle. n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewster's_angle (accessed October 24, 2013).

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