This study aims to measure Brewster’s angle of glass and acrylic brick with an easy-to-obtain mobile application (app) by changing the tungsten light source to a red laser. The popularization of the smartphone has inspired many to use its various built-in sensors to carry out general physics experiments. Many others have adopted both a laser and a light sensor to perform such measurements. In Refs. 10 and 11, the devices required specific software and are not widely available in physics laboratories. In this paper, we present a similar study, but one that has the advantage that it uses the ambient light sensor of the smartphone. In this work, a simple and inexpensive experimental setup is proposed to quantitatively measure Brewster’s angle.

1.
Martín
Monteiro
,
Cecilia
Stari
,
Cecilia
Cabeza
, and
Arturo C.
Martí
, “
The polarization of light and Malus’ law using smartphones
,”
Phys. Teach.
55
,
264
(
May
2017
).
2.
Shin
Lee
,
Dau-Jeng
Lwo
, and
Chun-Ming
Chiang
, “
Innovation of general physics experiment – Measurement of Earth’s magnetic field by a mobile phone
,”
Chin. Phys. Educ.
18
(
2
),
83
98
(
2017
).
3.
Yi-Jing
Hsieh
and
Chun-Ming
Chiang
, “
Innovation of general physics experiment – Verification of Malus’ law by a mobile phone
,”
Chin. Phys. Educ.
18
(
2
),
99
106
(
2017
).
4.
Dany
Lopez
,
Isidora
Caprile
,
Fernando
Corvacho
, and
Orfa
Reyes
, “
Study of a variable mass Atwood’s machine using a smartphone
,”
Phys. Teach.
56
,
182
(
March
2018
).
5.
Unofre
Pili
,
Renante
Violanda
, and
Claude
Ceniza
, “
Measurement of g using a magnetic pendulum and a smartphone magnetometer
,”
Phys. Teach.
56
,
258
(
April
2018
).
6.
Christoph
Fahsl
and
Patrik
Vogt
, “
Determination of the drag resistance coefficients of different vehicles
,”
Phys. Teach.
56
,
324
(
May
2018
).
7.
P.
Klein
,
M.
Hirth
,
S.
Gröber
,
J.
Kuhn
, and
A.
Müller
, “
Classical experiments revisited: Smartphone and tablet PC as experimental tools in acoustics and optics
,”
Phys. Educ.
49
(
4
),
412
418
(
July
2014
).
8.
K.
Hochberg
,
S.
Gröber
,
J.
Kuhn
, and
A.
Müller
, “
The spinning disc: studying radial acceleration and its damping process with smartphone acceleration sensors
,”
Phys. Educ.
49
(
2
),
137
140
(
March
2014
).
9.
J.
Kuhn
,
A.
Molz
,
S
,
Gröber
, and
J.
Frübis
, “
iRadioactivity — Possibilities and Limitations for Using Smartphones and Tablet PCs as Radioactive Counters
,”
Phys. Teach.
52
(
6
),
351
356
(
Sept.
2014
).
10.
P. J.
Ouseph
,
Kevin
Driver
, and
John
Conklin
, “
Polarization of light by reflection and the Brewster angle
,”
Am. J. Phys.
69
,
1166
(
Nov.
2001
).
11.
Raymond E.
Benenson
, “
Light polarization experiments with a diode laser pointer
,”
Phys. Teach.
38
,
44
(
Jan.
2000
).
12.
See https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fresnel2.png. By p-polarized light we mean light for which the direction of the electric field is parallel to the plane formed by the incident direction of propagation and the reflected direction of propagation; thus p-polarized light in Fig. 1 is horizontally polarized.
AAPT members receive access to The Physics Teacher and the American Journal of Physics as a member benefit. To learn more about this member benefit and becoming an AAPT member, visit the Joining AAPT page.