Science · 6 pages · 12 min
How polarized sunglasses cut glare
Glare from a flat road or water is partly polarized, and the lens blocks that direction.
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From the opening
Polarized sunglasses cut glare by blocking light whose electric field is shaking in one direction. The dark tint lowers everything a bit, but the polarizing film is what singles out the bright reflection from a horizontal surface. The opening covers why road glare is polarized, what the vertical pass axis blocks, and why the sky can darken too.
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Inside
- Why road glare is polarized
- What the vertical pass axis blocks
- Why the sky can darken too
- When a screen goes black
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- Polarization by reflection near Brewster's angle
- A sheet polarizer and its pass axis