Intro to Polarized Light : using polarizers to look at materials in a different light.

Intro to Polarized Light

Equipment setup. P1 is the first polarizing sheet (polarizer), P2 is the second polarizer (analyzer) and on the far right is the camera. The sample is placed between the two polarizing sheets.

The stress created by a large C clap can be seen using polarized light.

Amazing colors can be created in frozen ice crystals. Here ice crystals begin to form as the water freezes. The water was placed in a clear glass petri dish between two polarizing filters. Photographed at about 1x magnification.

For many years, minerals have been identified by the way thin section sections of rock interact with light in a special polarizing microscope. Here is a sample of hornblende photographed at 80x magnification.