11 ms·

The "magic" explanation doesn't satisfy me. Any physicists in the crowd who can explain why rotating the film 90 degrees creates a negative display?

• bri3d 12y ago
  Polarization. This article contains helpful diagrams and an obtuse but reasonable explanation: http://www.gizmag.com/stealth-computer-display-lcd-polarizing-glasses/29700/ http://www.gizmag.com/stealth-computer-display-lcd-polarizin...
• Retr0spectrum 12y ago
  Perhaps this will help: http://qxwujoey.tripod.com/lcdworks.gif http://qxwujoey.tripod.com/lcdworks.gif
• acjohnson55 12y ago
  Another decent source: http://www.howstuffworks.com/lcd.htm http://www.howstuffworks.com/lcd.htm
• darkmighty 12y ago
  It's actually really simple. The display works in a way that you control the polarization of outgoing light (but the intensity is constant). Then you filter whichever polarization you want. So a black dot on a white screen could be achieved with a small vertical polarization region on a horizontal pol. background, and filter out the vertical pol., with a polarizer horizontally aligned. Align it vertically, and you swap the intensities. Note: In this case the light whose polarization is controlled is the reflected incoming ambient light, which isn't polarized; in a computer monitor it's the back light.