Complete annihilation of light through polarizers

quietrain

Hi,

when i am doing an experiment that uses two polarizers (Cross) to achieve complete annihilation of light,

why am i not able to see complete darkness when i look at the light source from the end of the polarizers, but rather the light source changes to a different color

for example, if i have a blue light source, i see it become dark blue, but never really black.

so is there a reason? theoretically i am suppose to kill 100% of the light right?

thanks!

Antiphon

The polarizers are imperfect.

quietrain

so its a fault on the experiment apparatus?

jtbell

Yes. Perfect polarizers are in the same category as frictionless surfaces.

You might suggest to the Ideal Scientific Equipment Company that they add perfect polarizers to their catalog.

quietrain

haha ok thanks!