References to everyday life are important for teaching physics. Discussing polarization phenomena, liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and 3D cinemas provide such references. In this paper we describe experiments to support students’ understanding of linearly polarized light as well as the phenomenon of inverted colors using a secret LCD screen. Moreover we explain how 3D glasses work (when using polarizers) and introduce some experiments to point out why 3D cinemas use circularly polarized light instead of linearly polarized light. When using linearly polarized light, viewers must keep their head level all the time. Using circularly polarized light, this is not necessary.
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2017
American Association of Physics Teachers
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