82 - The Law of Malus

In this lab assignment, you will investigate the law of Malus which states the following: For a polarized light beam, which passes through a polarizer, the intensity after the polarizer depends quadratically on the cosine of the angle between the light's initial polarization direction and the axis of the polarizer.

Requirements:

• Smartphone with the Physics Toolbox Sensor Suite (see manual for more information)
• Source of Polarized Light (eg flat-screen monitor)
• Polarizing lens (eg 3D cinema goggles, sunglasses)