Polarized Sunglasses

I just so happened to be looking out one of the windows in my house and noticed the brightness of the sun on the hibiscus tree in my yard. The sun contains light waves that travel in different directions in many planes and reflect off objects to create glares. Since we just covered polarization in physics, I thought it would be a good idea to take a picture of the effect polarized sunglasses have on blocking some of the light waves from the sun.

Polarized sunglasses reduce the amount of light passing through by only admitting certain light waves that move in a certain plane. After trying on my sister's polarized sunglasses, the hibiscus tree didn't appear to be as bright as before. The unpolarized sunlight becomes polarized as certain light waves are blocked by the sunglasses. The polarized light oscillates in a single plane unlike its random movements in many planes when it was unpolarized.

Some examples of unpolarized light are the sun and incandescent light bulbs. When these lights are filtered, only certain light waves are admitted and become polarized.