Data Analysis

The first part of the experiment includes the neutral density filters which are placed on

the side of the photometer facing light source 2 and the use of the inverse square law. The law

states that a light source will have a fainter intensity the farther it is from the object. It was

observed that when the distance between light source 1 and 2 are analyzed, their intensity of light

can be made equal even if one of them is blocked by the filter. In order to obtain the equal

intensity of light, the filtered light source’s distance from the photometer is shorter as the

unfiltered light source allows a certain percentage of light to enter. For the data acquired, the

percentage maximum of error that can be made on Part 1 is set to 15%. Proof of accuracy can be

found as no data exceeded the limit. Thus, the inverse square law has been proven on the first

part of the experiment.

Moving to the second part, both polarizers and neutral density filters were used. Here it

can be observed that the inverse square law is still being applied as well as the principle of

photometry. The principle of photometry states that when two light sources from certain

distances produce fluxes which are perpendicular or parallel, their illuminations will be the same.

The polarizers work by polarizing the uniformly distributed rays of a light source into one

direction and blocking a percentage of it depending on the angle. When the angle of the

polarizers is placed between [ 0 °−90 ° ] , the intensity of the light decreases, while if it as at

[ 90 °−180 ° ] , the intensity of light increases. In this part, the percent error maximum is set back

to the usual 5%. The experimental value of the angle that will give off a percentage of error less

than that was difficult to find, but the group was able to obtain data which did not exceed the

given limit after a few trial and errors. All in all, it can be stated that both parts of the experiment

do according to the theories.