what do polarize sunglasses do?

[PHiuR]

^?

 

[Zenmervolt]

They block certain organizations of light waves (i.e. waves of certain polarities). Some waves travel horizontally, some travel vertically, and some at all other angles. Polarized lenses only allow certain waves to pass through. They cut down on glare more than other kinds because when light reflects and is scattered, the organization of waves is scattered and less coherent.

ZV

 

[Amorphus]

They point you north.

 

[DannyBoy]

Originally posted by: Amorphus
They point you north.

ROFLMAO!

 

[PoPPeR]

go to a sunglasses hut. They have a little special plate that shows you "the difference" between polarized and non-polarized sun glasses. Put on non-polarized, then polarized and you'll see the difference, although it's kind of hard to relate that to what kind of glare will be blocked in regular usage.

I had a pair of ray-bans with polarized lenses, and I have a new pair of Oakley's non-polarized. For my face, the Oakley's look a lot better, but there's no question the ray-bans have better lenses.

 

[Farbio]

after having a set of polarized costa's, i won't wear anything else - i'm looking into buying a set of polarized oakley's right now actually

 

[Pantoot]

Mine make it hard to see certain LCD displays, like the ones on car stereos.

 

[ElFenix]

like that reflects off of cars and pavement and golf courses is generally horizontally polarized, so the polarized lenses block out light that reflects that way, reducing glare. it's pretty neat how you can rotate your head a bit while driving and see the difference... the really bright points of light reflecting off of cars lose lots of intensity.

 

[SethK28]

See

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Pantoot
Mine make it hard to see certain LCD displays, like the ones on car stereos.

That's because the black on grey displays rely on polarization of light to work. If two polarized lenses are 90 degrees out of phase, then they prohibit all light from passing. So if your polarized lenses are at just the right angle (or just the wrong angle) to the polatized lens in the LCD panel, the whole thing gets blacked out.

ZV

 

[jadinolf]

Originally posted by: Amorphus
They point you north.

........or south.

 

[LongCoolMother]

what they said above. very basically, they eliminate and filter out one vector of light. usually horizontal right? anyway, if you want to see for yourself, take two polarized sunglasses and put one behind another. turn one vertical and one horizontally. the lenses will not allow any light to pass through, so you will just see black. once ou rotate them the same way again, the light will come through.

they help a lot in sports, like tennis and especially fishing. you can see the fish swimming sometimes because the glare is eliminated.

 

[tigerbait]

Oakley's Explanation

 

[myusername]

Originally posted by: SethK28
See

I don't remember praseodymium from chemistry class

 

[Sluggo]

They make some car windows look really funny, like they have spots all over them.

In all seriousness, once you get used to having them, you cant do without them. I used to buy $5 shades thinking that they were all the same. My wife bought me some polarized Ray-Bans and I was amazed. Gots to have the good shades now.