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Guide Questions 1.

How does varying the locations of the light sources with respect to the photometer affect the results of the experiment? If the light source is near to the photometer it makes the indicator brighter. In the first part of the experiment we must balance the brightness of the indicator; since the distance of first light source is fixed it produces the same brightness in one side of the indicator, and if the second light source becomes dimmer it must be placed closer to the photometer.

2. How are the neutral density filter and polarizer different? In what way/s are they the same? The neutral density filter is dependent to the transmittance while the polarizer is dependent to the orientation. If the neutral density filter is at 100% transmittance and if the polarizer is at 0 degrees they can produce equal intensity of light at equal distance.

3. If you have two pairs of sunglasses, how would you test whether the sunglasses use polarized lenses or not without using polarizers? If we positioned the lens of two pairs of sunglasses perpendicularly facing each other and theres no light passes through it we can say the sunglasses use polarized lenses.

Analysis 1. At 100% transmittance, are the distances of the two sources from the photometer equal? Is this the expected result? Explain. The distances of the sources must be equal at 100% transmittance because at 100% transmittance the light source has equal intensity of light as the light source without neutral density filter but the result of the experiment didnt satisfy the theory it is because the apparatus is not that clear and it makes the indicator dimmer.

2. At transmittance below 100%, how do the distances of the sources from the photometer compare? At transmittance below 100% the indicator becomes dimmer; since the distance of the first light source is fixed, the second light source facing the photometer with neutral density filter must be placed closer to the photometer to balance the brightness of the indicator.

3. If the neutral density filter is set to a transmittance below 100%, how should the orientation of the polarizers be changed to produce the same illumination on both sides of the photometer? If the transmittance of neutral density filter is below 100% the orientation of the polarizer must be greater than 0 degrees to produce the same illumination on both sides of the photometer.

Conclusion:

In this experiment we observe the intensity of light using photometer. In the first part of the experiment we used the photometer and neutral density filter to explore the phenomenon of inverse square law and according to this theory the intensity of light is inversely proportional to the square of distance of the source, and based on the experiment if the light source is far from the photometer the indicator becomes dimmer, therefore the experiment satisfies the theory of inverse square law. In the second experiment we used neutral density filter and polarizer to explore the phenomenon of polarization and according to the theory if the first and second polarizer is at 0 degrees, all the light will be transmitted through the second polarizer and if the first and second polarizer is at 90 degrees no light will be transmitted through the second polarizer, based on the experiment if the neutral density is at 100% transmittance and if the polarizer is at 0 degrees the brightness and color of the indicator appears to be equal. If the polarizer is at 90 degrees the indicator appears to be darker or almost no light coming from the light source and if the polarizer is rotated at any angle the indicator appears to be dimmer than the polarizer at 0 degrees.

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