Brewster's Angle Calculator

Calculate Brewster's angle, or the angle of perfectly polarized light, for free with this calculator tool.

Required Information

Brewster Angle:

What it is

What is Brewster's Angle?

Create Date: September 30, 2024

Last Modified Date: November 17, 2024

When unpolarized light interacts with a translucent reflecting surface, it splits into two: a refracted beam that travels through the surface at a slightly different angle, and a reflected beam that is perfectly polarized. Brewster's angle is the angle of incidence at which light with a particular polarization is perfectly transmitted through a transparent medium without any reflection.

How do you Calculate Brewster's Angle?

Brewster's angle can be calculated with the following formula:

An image showing the formula for calculating brewster's angle.
Where:
  • BA = Brewster's Angle

  • N2 = Refractive index 2, or the refractive index of the second medium

  • N = Refractive index 1, or the refractive index of the first medium

Understanding Your Results

Your result will be displayed as a single angle that is measured in degrees by default. This can be changed into other units with the click of a button by selecting other options from the dropdown menu next to the result.

How to Use the Brewster's Angle Tool

Calculating Brewster's angle can be tricky but with our tool it can be done very swiftly. There are only a few steps involved with our tool to get your answer. The steps include:

  1. Enter the refractive index of the first medium.

  2. Enter the refractive index of the second medium.

  3. Hit calculate and get your result instantly!

Example Calculation

If you want to calculate Brewster's angle you need to know the refractive index of two mediums. This can be a piece of glass, air, water, or something else. Once you have those values you can use this tool to get the result. Let's say the refractive index 1 is equal to 6 and the second one is equal to 10. We can enter these values into the fields on this tool.

We can now hit calculate and get our result of 59.04 degrees. If we need this in radians instead we can click the dropdown menu and choose radians and get our newly converted answer of 1.03.

Brewster's Angle - Frequently Asked Questions

Brewster's Angle helps us understand how light behaves at the boundary between two different media. When light hits a surface at this angle, it results in perfectly polarized reflected light. This concept is often used in anti-glare coatings and polarized sunglasses.

The refractive index of a material is a measure of how much light slows down as it passes through the material. Every material has a different refractive index, which determines how light bends and refracts when moving from one material to another. Air has a refractive index of about 1.0, while glass has a refractive index around 1.5, meaning light bends or refracts more when reaching glass compared to air.

Polarization refers to the orientation of the oscillations of a light wave relative to its direction of travel. Unpolarized light consists of waves vibrating in multiple planes, while polarized light has waves oscillating in a single plane. At Brewster's Angle, reflected light becomes polarized perpendicular to the incident plane.

Anti-glare coatings are designed to minimize reflections at Brewster's Angle. These coatings work by creating a surface that reduces reflection, especially for light polarized in the plane of incidence.

No, Brewster's Angle only occurs at the interface between two materials with different refractive indices. It is most noticeable when light passes from one transparent medium (like air) to another (like glass or water).

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