A Low-Cost Smartphone Polarimeter and Malus’s Law

• Aurelio Agliolo Gallitto ^[1] ; Giuseppe Sancataldo ^[1] ; Onofrio Rosario Battaglia ^[1] ; Claudio Fazio ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Palermo

     University of Palermo

     Palermo, Italia

     
• Localización: The Physics Teacher, ISSN 0031-921X, Vol. 62, Nº. 8, 2024, págs. 653-655
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen

  • The use of smartphones in the introductory physics laboratory has recently received attention since it provides the possibility to perform a variety of didactic experiments. Smartphones equipped with several built-in sensors, controlled by appropriate software, allow students to explore physical phenomena and carry out various measurements of physical quantities. In this article, after a brief historical introduction about the discovery of light polarization and the development of the polariscope/polarimeter, we describe a low-cost and easily constructed smartphone polarimeter that provides a quantitative way of experimenting with light polarization. In particular, we discuss a didactic activity concerning the use of the smartphone ambient-light sensor to measure the intensity of light coming through two properly oriented polarizing filters, which follows the well-known Malus’s law