Circularlypolarized light

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Light can also become polarized as it passes from one type of material into another. This is a process called refraction. And light can become polarized when it bounces, or scatters off atoms as it passes through a substance. This happens to moonlight and sunlight that travels through Earth’s atmosphere.

Unpolarized and polarized lightdifference

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angle: The space (usually measured in degrees) between two intersecting lines or surfaces at or close to the point where they meet.

Unpolarized light

Another way to polarize light is to pass it through a filter. Such filters are made up of molecules that are all aligned the same way. This allows only light waves wiggling at specific angles to pass through. For example, some sunglasses contain polarizing filters. These glasses help reduce the amount of reflected light — or glare — that reaches a wearer’s eyes. That can block out glare from roadways or puddles to help protect drivers’ eyes and allow them to see more clearly.

Unpolarized and polarized lightin physics

refraction: The change in direction of light (or any other wave) as it passes through some material. For example, the path of light leaving water and entering air will bend, making partially submerged objects to appear to bend at the water’s surface.

Light can become polarized when reflecting off flat surfaces like puddles and pavement. Polarized sunglasses can then specifically block out those polarized light waves, reducing the glare that reaches a driver’s eyes.

Unpolarized lightexamples

Without tools like sunglasses, humans typically can’t detect the polarization of light. But other animals can. Examples include mantis shrimp, fiddler craps and some beetles, birds and fish.

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Linearlypolarized light

Light can become polarized when it bounces off of a surface. The amount that it is polarized depends on the angle at which the light hits the surface. It also depends on what the surface is made of.

molecule: An electrically neutral group of atoms that represents the smallest possible amount of a chemical compound. Molecules can be made of single types of atoms or of different types. For example, the oxygen in the air is made of two oxygen atoms (O2), but water is made of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom (H2O).

Unpolarized and polarized lightformula

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mantis shrimp: A marine animal related to crabs and lobsters. Mantis shrimp use armlike body parts to kill prey. They are often multicolored and have a very complex vision system.

Light is made up of waves. They wiggle as they zip through space. They can wiggle up and down, left and right, and any angle in between. Light is polarized when its waves all wiggle at the same angle.

Light sources from lamps to stars typically give off light waves that wiggle at a range of different angles. This jumble of waves is known as unpolarized light. Polarized light, on the other hand, is unjumbled: its waves all wiggle the same way, at the same angle. (For help picturing this, check out the artist’s depictions at 1:30 in this PBS video.)

Unpolarized and polarized lightexamples

polarization: (in physics) The condition — or creation of a condition — in which rays of wavelengths of light exhibit different properties when viewed from different directions.

Maria Temming is the Assistant Managing Editor at Science News Explores. She has bachelor's degrees in physics and English, and a master's in science writing.

beetle: An order of insects known as Coleoptera, containing at least 350,000 different species. Adults tend to have hard and/or horn-like “forewings” which covers the wings used for flight.

filter: (n.) Something that allows some materials to pass through but not others, based on their size or some other feature. (v.) The process of screening some things out on the basis of traits such as size, density, electric charge. (in physics) A screen, plate or layer of a substance that absorbs light or other radiation or selectively prevents the transmission of some of its components.

glare: Also called direct glare, it is light that travels directly from a light source and into someone’s eyes. It reduces the ability to see at night. Direct glare is one of three types of light pollution.

Sunlight reflecting off water, for instance, can become polarized. The incoming light waves from the sun wiggle all different ways. But the light waves that bounce off the surface of the water are all mostly wiggling at the same angle. Pavement is another surface that can polarize reflected light.