MIT Physics Demo -- Microwave Polarization
A polarized microwave emitter and a polarized microwave receiver face each other on a table. At first, the emitter and receiver are polarized in the same direction (up-down), and all the emitted signal gets received.
When a metal comb in inserted between them, with the teeth pointed down, the signal is blocked. This is because the microwaves are polarized in the same direction that the teeth are pointing, creating small currents in the metal that reflect the microwaves backwards. When the comb teeth are turned horizontally, the signal passes through undisturbed.
When the receiver is turned 90 degrees, no signal is received. However, when the comb is inserted at a 45 degree angle, some signal passes through. This is because light waves are made up of two perpendicular components that add up to form the polarization of the wave. When one component is knocked out, the wave changes polarization. Read more about polarizers here.
Comments (1)
You need to log in, in order to post comments. If you don’t have an account yet, sign up now!
- Created
- May 15, 2008 11:26
- Category
- Tags
- License
- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (What is this?)
- Formats
- H.264 Video (mp4)
- Additional Files
- Viewed
- 28223 times
More from MIT Department of Physics Technical Services Group
Bell Labs Wave Machine: Superposition
Added 1 year ago | 00:00:34 | 7388 views
Spray Paint Oscillator
Added over 3 years ago | 00:00:51 | 22527 views
Hero's Engine
Added over 1 year ago | 00:01:38 | 15004 views
MIT Physics Demo -- Centrifugal ver...
Added over 3 years ago | 00:01:18 | 27112 views
Potential Energy to Kinetic Energy
Added over 3 years ago | 00:01:11 | 25632 views
Ripple Tank: Interference of Two Po...
Added almost 3 years ago | 00:01:41 | 39823 views

I could not understand the relationship between comb pin spacing and wavelength. The signal is 3cm and pin spacing is 1 cm. Can any body throw some light! amitecltd@gmail.com
Posted over 3 years by Anonymous User