Chapter 16, Problem 64A

To determine

To explain:The reason for the clouds to remain white, while the sky looks darker.

Explanation of Solution

Introduction:

Polarized light is the light ray in which particles are vibrating merely in one direction. Scattering is one of the polarizing methods used to convert unpolarized light in to polarized light. When unpolarized light gets scattered in air, it becomes polarized. This occurs in such a way that, as the light rays (electromagnetic waves) incident on atmosphere, it causes electron in the air medium to vibrate which produces radiation and causes the polarization of light.

The light scattered from the Earth’s atmosphere is polarized. But, the light which is scattered by the clouds is not polarized. Therefore, photographers often used polarizing filters over camera lenses to make clouds in the sky more visible. This can be done in such way that a photographer can rotate the polarizing filter in order to decrease the quantity of polarized light reaching the light sensitive film of the camera.