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

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

Solution: When unpolarized light passes through a polarizer, its intensity is reduced to half of its original value.

Steps: 6

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.