^Relative velocity
^Relative velocity
Concept of relative velocity is required when some moving body is to be observed by a moving observer. Relative velocity A with respect to B means velocity of A as seen by B, & it is defined as,
^Instantaneous acceleration
^Instantaneous acceleration
Acceleration of a body is always in the direction of force acting on the body.
^Average acceleration
^Average acceleration
^Linear momentum
^Linear momentum
The product of mass & linear velocity is called linear momentum, i.e. 
As mass is a positive scalar, thus linear momentum is always parallel to velocity.
^Brewster’s law
^Brewster’s law
Brewster discovered that when ordinary light is incident on the surface of a transparent medium the reflected light is partially plane polarized.
The extent of polarization depends on the angle of incidence. For a particular angle of incidence (called polarizing or Brewster angle (ip or p)
1. the reflected light is found to be completely polarized with its vibrations perpendicular to the plane of incidence.
2. the reflected & transmitted rays are perpendicular to each other, as shown in figure.
3. μ = tan p [called Brewster law
At i = p Ray 1: Incident ray (unpolarised)
Ray 2: Reflected ray (completely polarised)
Ray 3: Refracted ray (partially polarised)
For a ray incident form air to glass
aμg = 3/2, so p = tan-1 3/2 ⇒ p = 56.30
For a ray incident form air to water
aμw = 4/3, so p = tan-1 4/3 ⇒ p = 53.10
^Malus law
^Malus law
Let I0 be the intensity and ‘A’ the amplitude of the unpolarized light falling on the polarizer & θ be the angle between the pass axis of the polaroid & amplitude vector, then the component Acosθ, parallel to the pass axis (y) of polarizer passes through it & the component Asinθ, perpendicular to pass axis is blocked by the polarizer, thus the intensity of light transmitted by the polarizer is
I = k (A cosθ)2 = k A2 cos2 θ
or I = I0 cos2 θ [called Malus law
Actually the phase angle for a beam of unpolarised light can have any value from 00 to 3600. Now as the average value of cos2 θ for the range 00 to 3600 is 0.5, thus the average intensity of light transmitted by a polarizer is only 0.5 I0. Following observations can be explained on the basis of Malus law.
1. Two polarizes with parallel pass axis (y & y)
2. Two polarizes with crossed pass axis (y & z)
^Light through a polarizer
^Light through a polarizer
Let ordinary light propagating along +x axis falls normally on a tourmaline crystal having pass axis parallel to y axis as shown in the following diagram. On passing through the tourmaline crystal the electric field vibration parallel to pass axis are transmitted while the electric field vibration normal to pass axis are absorbed by the tourmaline.
^How do polarisers work
^How do polarisers work
A Polaroid is a thin commercial sheet containing long chain of hydrocarbons which become conducting at optical frequencies & absorb the electric field parallel to chains & transmit the electric field perpendicular to the chain length. This is why a direction perpendicular to the chain length is called the transmission axis or pass axis of the polarizer. For shown drawing y axis is pass axis.
^Polarisers
^Polarisers
Any device or material that plane polarizes the unpolarised light passed through it is called a polarizer. Nicol prism, Tourmaline crystal, Polaroid etc. are some commonly used Polarisers.
^Plane polarized light
^Plane polarized light
If the electric field vector of a light wave vibrates just in one direction perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation, then it is said to be linearly polarized along that direction. Human eyes can’t distinguish between an unpolarised light and a polarized light, but the eyes of a bee can.
