Why do polarized glasses decrease glare from the road?

Question

This is for a physics lab writeup. I need a concrete scientific explanation, please.

Answer 1

Polarized glasses only allow light waves oriented in a vertical plane to pass through. Those reflecting off of the road will be in a horizontal plane, so they will be blocked out.

Answer 2

Reflection from road surface is typically partially polarized, so polarized spectacles, with the polarization angle perpendicular to that of the light, block the polarized part of the reflected light. The maximum effect is seen when looking toward the sun, and the light is incident on the road at what is called Brewster's angle, which depends on what the road is paved with.

Answer 3

Conductive surfaces like metal and water will suppress polarization parallel to the plane of the surface. That means that horizontal metal and water surfaces will reflect light polarized in the vertical direction; polarizing glasses are oriented to block vertically polarized light, and therefore block the reflection from these horizontal surfaces.

Answer 4

Light as an electromagnetic radiation has electric and magnetic field vectors oscillating perpendicularly to the direction of light propagation. Polarizing means cuttting down some of these fields and so reducing the beam intensity

Answer 5

Light is coming off the road at all angles. Only light within a very small range of angles (probably near the vertical) can get through. So only a small percentage of the total light hits your eyes.