ANALYSIS

The experiment consists of two parts: A. Inverse square law. B. Polarization. The
first part of the experiment determines the experimental value of r2. To do this part, we
need the optical bench. Then place a light source at the 20cm mark on in. We set the light
source to act as a point source and label it as light source 1. Next, Place the other light
source at 90cm mark on the optic bench then set the light source to act as a point source
as well and label it as light source 2. The two light source should be facing each other to
do the experiment accurately. Then we place a photometer at the 50cm mark on the optic
bench after that we attach the neutral density filter to the photometer on the side facing
light source 2. The filter should be in 100% remittance. It is time to turn on the light
source 1 and 2 then observe into the eyepiece of the photometer as we slowly adjust the
position of light source 2 until the two sides of the indicator in the eyepiece appear in
equal color and brightness. Then we record the position of the light source 2 after
attaining the equal color and compare it to that light source 1 using the inverse square
law. Then we repeat the same procedure but this time with different remmitance. Again,
we repeat the steps but this time the light source 1 will be moved. Percent error of the
radii is computed.

For the second part of the experiment, it is an observation of intensity of light

when it exhibits polarization and it also determines the angles. Just like the first part, we
used the same set-up but this time we add polarizers between the light source 1 and the
photometer. Then adjust the polarizers such that the angle between their axes is zero.
Next, turn on the light sources and look into the eyepiece of the photometer. Move the
light source 1 closer to the photometer until both sides of the photometer have the same
brightness and color. Then we adjust the polarizers such that the angle between their axes
is 90° and record observe what we saw. While looking into the eyepiece, we rotate the
polarizers and observe what happened to the light. After that, we set the angle between
the axes of the polarizers back to zero and adjust the neutral density filters for 75%
transmittance. Then, we slowly increase the angle between the axes of the polarizers until
the two sides of the orange indicator in the eyepiece appear equal in colour and
brightness and record the angle and calculate the percent error using the equation

Then we repeat the procedure but this time we use 50% transmittance and 25%
transmittance. After that, we now calculate the percent error of the computed values.

Conclusion

The Concepts used for the activity are the principles of Inverse Square Law and
Polarization which were investigated in procedures. The Inverse Square Law and the 1st
procedure aims to explain how the Intensity varies per distance from a light source. The
evidence to prove this claim is given in table A: Inverse Square law. In Table A, it is
given that when Transmittance of light is decreased, intensity could still be compensated
by decreasing the distance between the light source and the screen. But if intensity is
desired to be decreased, then we can therefore add distance between the light source and
the screen or add a filter that will decrease transmittance.
The Second part aims to explain how Polarization affects the transmittance of
unpolarized light dependent to the angle between two polarizers. This was proven to have
an effect because it it’s seen on table B that during in order for the unpolarized light to
match the intensity with the transmitted light, the polarizers must be moved. Whereas by
increasing the angle between the Polarizers, we can match with the intensity of the light
affected by the filters. With the Answers from both part A and part B, we can therefore
conclude that Intensity of Light is Dependent on the filter type which the light passes
through and the Distance of the light source to the Point we want to measure it.
 A practical application in real life for this experiment would obviously be about
photography. If a person is to consider the lighting for a shot, one should recommend that
a polarizer is better to use than a filter because its main function is to filter or block the
horizontal or vertical components of light if two polarizers were placed vertically or
horizontally. Photographers used a two-ring polarizer to vary the lighting they need to
take a good shot by rotating the polarizer at a certain angle.