What Angle Does the Polarizing Sheet's Axis Make with the Horizontal Direction?

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on determining the angle between the transmission axis of a polarizing sheet and the horizontal direction when 15% of horizontally polarized light is transmitted. The relevant formula for transmission intensity, known as Malus's Law, states that I = I0 * cos²(θ), where I0 is the incident intensity and θ is the angle between the light's polarization direction and the transmission axis. Given that 15% of the intensity is transmitted, the equation can be set up as 0.15 * I0 = I0 * cos²(θ), leading to cos²(θ) = 0.15. This results in θ being approximately 72.34 degrees.

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  • Familiarity with Malus's Law for light transmission
  • Basic trigonometry, specifically cosine functions
  • Knowledge of intensity and its measurement in optics
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Kathi201
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Light known to be polarized in the horizontal direction is incident on a polarizing sheet. It is observed that only 15 percent of the intensity of the incident light is transmitted through the sheet. What angle does the transmission axis of the sheet make with the horizontal?

I am not quite sure how to figure out what the intensity of the light is. I know that I multiply that by .15 but I do not know how to figure out the value.
 
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See the formula for transmission I gave in the other post.
 

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