Question

Bright sunlight is reflected from an icy pond. You look at the glare of the reflected light through polarized glasses. When you take the glasses off, rotate them 90°, and look through one of the lenses again, the light you see becomes brighter. Explain why the light you see changes.

a) Polarized glasses block certain orientations of light waves, reducing glare.

b) Polarized glasses amplify certain orientations of light waves, increasing brightness.

c) The glasses alter the color spectrum of light.

d) The glasses induce interference patterns in the reflected light.

Answer 1

Polarized glasses work by blocking certain orientations of light waves; when rotated 90°, they align differently with the light's polarization, allowing more light through and making the view brighter.

Step-by-step explanation:

When bright sunlight is reflected from an icy pond, the light tends to be partially polarized, usually horizontally. Polarized glasses are designed to block this horizontally polarized light to reduce glare. When you rotate the polarized glasses by 90°, the orientation of the polarizing filter changes relative to the light's polarization. This allows more light to pass through since the filter is now aligned with the vertical component of the light's polarization rather than the horizontal one. As a result, the light you see becomes brighter because the glasses are no longer blocking the same amount of glare as before.

Therefore, the correct answer to the question is a) Polarized glasses block certain orientations of light waves, reducing glare.