What is polarized light?
Light travels from the sun in the form of waves to the earth. The light waves are unpolarized and travel in all directions – both horizontally and vertically.
When these unpolarized light waves hit reflective horizontal surfaces – such as water, the road, wet surfaces, shiny surfaces, sand and snow – the light is transformed into polarized light.
This polarization of light occurs when the horizontal and vertical light waves hit the horizontal reflective surface. The reflective surface absorbs only the vertical light waves, while the horizontal waves bounce off the surface. This is the polarization of light.
When the polarized horizontal waves that have bounced off the reflective surface hit the eye, it produces blinding glare. This can obscure or block vision.
Only a quality polarized lens can remove blinding glare produced by horizontal polarized light. The difference between polarized and non-polarized lenses is how they handle glare, particularly this blinding glare from reflective surfaces.