AllisonSmith_lab6

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Chattanooga State Community College *

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Physics

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Dec 6, 2023

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docx

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Allison Smith alsmi911@vols.utk.edu Lab 6 GOAL : The goal of this lab is to explore the principles of polarization of electromagnetic waves, specifically focusing on linear polarization and polarization by reflection. Through experiments with polarizers and measurements of light intensity, the lab aims to verify the Law of Malus and determine the Brewster angle to understand the behavior of polarized light in different scenarios. Activity 1: Spend a few minutes exploring what happens to the intensity of the beam spot on the screen as you pass the beam first through one and then through two polarizers. Briefly describe your observations. When passing light through two polarizers with parallel transmission axes, the transmitted light intensity remains relatively constant, and rotating either polarizer has little effect. In contrast, when the transmission axes are perpendicular to each other, initially, no light gets through, but rotating one polarizer allows more light to pass. Place a third polarizer between two crossed polarizers and rotate the transmission axis of the third polarizer while observing the intensity of the beam spot on the screen. Briefly describe your observations. When a third polarizer is placed between two crossed polarizers and its transmission axis is rotated, you will observe a variation in the intensity of the beam spot on the screen. Initially, with the third polarizer perpendicular to the others, the intensity is minimal. As you rotate the third polarizer away from perpendicular alignment, the intensity increases, reaching its maximum when the third
polarizer's axis aligns with one of the crossed polarizers. This demonstrates how the orientation of polarizers affects the transmission of light and allows for control of the transmitted light's intensity. Experiment 1: In Excel create a table. You can download the first row here . Create a plot of I and I 0 *cos 2 (angle) versus angle (rad). Label the axes. Paste the plot into your log. 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 I (mW) versus Angle (rad) Angle (rad) I (mW)
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 l0 * cos2 (angle) versus Angle (rad) Angle (rad) l0 * cos2 (angle) Discuss your result. Have you verified the Law of Malus? How can you tell? No experiment is perfect, there are always uncertainties. Are your uncertainties small enough so that you can tell one way or the other. Make reasonable arguments. The findings indicate that the Law of Malus holds true, as the values of I and I 0 *cos 2 (angle) closely match for nearly every angle, as evident from the graph. Although there is a slight increase in variability as the angle increases, this variation remains minimal and adheres to the same overall pattern. Experiment 2: Iterate until the reflected intensity is practically zero and you can no longer see the beam on the screen with the polarizer transmission axis horizontal, but you can see the beam when the polarizer transmission axis is vertical. Take a screen shot and paste it into your log.
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