If unpolarized light passes through a polarizer, what is the intensity of the transmitted light?
Practice Questions
1 question
Q1
If unpolarized light passes through a polarizer, what is the intensity of the transmitted light?
Zero
Half of the original intensity
Equal to the original intensity
Twice the original intensity
According to Malus's law, the intensity of transmitted light is half of the original intensity when unpolarized light passes through a polarizer.
Questions & Step-by-step Solutions
1 item
Q
Q: If unpolarized light passes through a polarizer, what is the intensity of the transmitted light?
Solution: According to Malus's law, the intensity of transmitted light is half of the original intensity when unpolarized light passes through a polarizer.
Steps: 5
Step 1: Understand that unpolarized light consists of waves vibrating in many directions.
Step 2: Know that a polarizer is a special filter that only allows light waves vibrating in a specific direction to pass through.
Step 3: When unpolarized light hits the polarizer, it gets filtered.
Step 4: According to Malus's law, the intensity of the light that comes out of the polarizer is half of the intensity of the incoming unpolarized light.
Step 5: Therefore, if the original intensity of the unpolarized light is 'I', the transmitted intensity will be 'I/2'.
