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Re: POLARIZATION

On 28 May 1998 19:33:24 Hugh Logan <hlogan@ix.netcom.com> wrote:

There is also a series of lecture demonstrations of elliptical and
circular polararization (mechanical analogies, microwave, and optical)
from the University of Maryland starting at
(http://www.physics.umd.edu/deptinfo/facilities/lecdem/m9-01.htm ).
Just press the "next demo" button to see successive demonstrations.

I did just this. Who is supposed to benefit from such pictures, and from
short descriptions below them? I suppose this stuff is for teachers who
are already familiar with physics not for students who want to learn it.

As I wrote before, I have a conceptual difficuly with the so-called
"rotation of the plane of polarization" in some transparent materials.
Each layer of oscillating electrons turns the vector E by a small
angle, always in the same direction. Why? The usual answer "this is
caused by molecular structures of atoms" is not sufficient. What
prevents electrons from oscillating in the plane of E, as in glass or
in water? We add some sugar to water and the vessel behaves differently.

Ludwik Kowalski

P.S. To know what happens is one thing, to explain it in terms of what
we already know is another.