Understanding Unpolarized Light: A Scientist's Perspective

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the concept of unpolarized light, exploring its definition, characteristics, and distinctions from polarized light. Participants provide explanations and examples related to electromagnetic waves and their orientations.

Discussion Character

  • Conceptual clarification
  • Technical explanation

Main Points Raised

  • One participant defines unpolarized light as light with randomly oriented waveforms, contrasting it with polarized light where the waveforms are similarly oriented.
  • Another participant elaborates that unpolarized light is typically generated from sources like light bulbs or the sun, where atomic and molecular energy level changes occur independently, resulting in random orientations of the planes of vibration.
  • It is noted that radio and radar waves are examples of polarized light due to their non-random generation from surging dipole charges, leading to preferred orientations of electric and magnetic oscillations.
  • Links to external illustrations of polarized light and polarized sunglasses are provided to enhance understanding, though one participant cautions that the blocking of light at a certain orientation indicates the light is polarized.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the definition and characteristics of unpolarized light, but there is some contention regarding the appropriateness of the thread format and the repetition of questions.

Contextual Notes

Some assumptions about the nature of electromagnetic waves and their generation are present, but these are not fully explored or resolved within the discussion.

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what is unpolarized light?
 
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rojan said:
what is unpolarized light?

Welcome to PF, Rojan. Polarization is a situation in which the waveforms of the EM field are similarly oriented. Normal light (or other EM) has random orientation. That's a lousy explanation, but I hope that it will suffice until someone more knowledgeable can take over.
 
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Unpolarized light, and electromagnetic waves are light and are a transverse wave, is typicaly generated from a light source where the atoms and molecules changing energy levels act independently...randomly... light a light bulb or the sun...and the light propagated in a given direction consists of independent wavetrains whose planes of vibration are randomly oriented perpendicurlarly to the direction of propagation...the random orientation of the plane waves produces symmetry about the the direction of propagation.

Radio and radar waves, also electromagnetic waves, are not randomly generated...resulting from a surging dipole charge up and down... and so are not symmetric...we say these kinds of waves are polarized...such waves have preferred ...non symmetric...orientations of the electric and magnetic oscillations relative to the direction of propagation...


Some good illustrations here on polarized light:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarization_of_light


And see here an illustration how polarized sunglasses work:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarized_sunglasses#Modern_developments

But note that in the illustration, the light is completely blocked at one orientation...the image gets black...this tells us the light being projected is polarized since all light is blocked at that orientation.
 


what is unpolarized light?
 


You asked this before and got two responses. Perhaps it would help if you told us why those responses were not sufficient.

Also, in future, please start a new thread to ask a question- do not "hijack" someone else's thread.
 
I've split this discussion into a new thread.
 

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