POLARISATION

Light from reflections on water has a special property – it’s polarised. This means that the light has been filtered so that all the light waves are travelling in the same orientation. The same effect can be achieved with a piece of polariser (like you find in 3D glasses), it works a bit like a tiny sieve that filters out any light waves that are the wrong orientation. Polarised light can be blocked using a polariser that’s rotated in the correct way. The Expedition Severn crew use polarised lenses to reduce reflections from the water. This experiment will show you what we can learn about materials by using polarisation.