The Photographer's Polarizing Filter · AI Generator #GEN-2F366777
Physics · optics
Problem
A nature photographer is taking pictures of a calm lake surface on a sunny day. She notices that when she looks at the lake through her polarizing filter and rotates it, the reflected glare from the water surface varies dramatically. At one particular angle of rotation, the reflected light is completely eliminated.
The photographer measures that when the polarizing filter completely eliminates the reflection, her line of sight makes an angle of 37° with the vertical (normal to the water surface).
(a) What is the refractive index of water?
(b) At what angle should she position her camera relative to the horizontal water surface to achieve this polarization effect?
Use sin(37°)=0.6 and cos(37°)=0.8.