How Do Polarized Sunglasses Work?
Quick Questions takes you on a trip with a photon to explain what polarized light is, and how some sunglasses can filter it out to spare you the glare. ---------- Like SciShow? Want to help...
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Remember the last time you were smacked in the face By a glaring summer sunlight reflected off a lake Or maybe cars in traffic Polarized sunglasses are great for blocking that light But they don't really make anything else that much darker. To understand how they work You need to understand what Polarized Light is. And for this it helps to remember that Light behaves both like a particle and a wave. Light particles sometimes described as Packets of light are photons And as photons fly from the sun to your eye They also vibrate, up and down, or side to side, or in any random direction in between Shaking as they travel so that the paths they make look like waves Now, all of these flying light particles, oscillating in different directions at once toge...
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Remember the last time you were smacked in the face By a glaring summer sunlight reflected off a lake Or maybe cars in traffic Polarized sunglasses are great for blocking that light But they don't really make anything else that much darker. To understand how they work You need to understand what Polarized Light is. And for this it helps to remember that Light behaves both like a particle and a wave. Light particles sometimes described as Packets of light are photons And as photons fly from the sun to your eye They also vibrate, up and down, or side to side, or in any random direction in between Shaking as they travel so that the paths they make look like waves Now, all of these flying light particles, oscillating in different directions at once toge...
