When unpolarized light passes through a polarizer, what happens to its intensity

Practice Questions

Q1
When unpolarized light passes through a polarizer, what happens to its intensity?
  1. It doubles
  2. It remains the same
  3. It is halved
  4. It is reduced to zero

Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions

When unpolarized light passes through a polarizer, what happens to its intensity?
Correct Answer: Intensity reduces to half
  • Step 1: Understand what unpolarized light is. It consists of light waves vibrating in multiple directions.
  • Step 2: Know what a polarizer does. A polarizer is a filter that allows only light waves vibrating in a specific direction to pass through.
  • Step 3: When unpolarized light hits the polarizer, it can only pass through the polarizer if its waves align with the direction of the polarizer.
  • Step 4: Since unpolarized light has waves in all directions, only some of those waves will align with the polarizer's direction.
  • Step 5: The result is that the intensity of the light that passes through the polarizer is reduced.
  • Step 6: Specifically, the intensity of the light that comes out of the polarizer is half of the intensity of the unpolarized light that entered.
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