Question

A person riding in a boat observes that the sunlight reflected by the water is polarized parallel to the surface of the water. The person is wearing polarized sunglasses with the polarization axis vertical.

Part A
If the wearer leans at an angle of 19.5 degrees to the vertical, what fraction of the reflected light intensity will pass through the sunglasses?

Answer 1

I / Io = 0.8886

Step-by-step explanation:

For this exercise we will use the law of Malus

I = I₀ cos² θ

Where t is the angle between the lenses and the plane of polarization, the reflected light is horizontally polarized,

I / I₀ = cos² 19.5

I / Io = 0.8886