Ordinary light is the effect on the eye of vibrations of the ether. These vibrations occur in all directions, but by certain optical devices they may be confined to a single plane, and light thus confined is called polarized. If rays of polarized light pass through a layer of certain bodies, e. g., quartz, sugar and many others, the plane in which the vibrations occur is rotated, and the polariscope has been devised for the purpose of measuring the rotation of the plane of polarization.
Polarized light, as used in the polariscope, is obtained from the Nicol prism or some development of it. Ordinary light passing through crystals of certain bodies, of which Iceland spar is an example, is split into two rays, one of which is known as the ordinary and the other as the extraordinary ray. A Nicol prism is made of two wedge-shaped pieces of Iceland spar, cemented together with a film of Canada balsam.
The accompanying sketch gives a good idea of the arrangement of an ordinary polariscope.
POLARISCOPE
A strong white light, e, enters the instrument through a lens at f, to the Nicol prism b, by which it is polarized. The ordinary ray is dispersed, while the extraordinary or polarized ray passes straight through and enters the sugar solution contained in the tube c, which has glass ends. In passing through this solution it is given a rotary motion to the right or to the left, according as the sugar in the solution is sucrose or levulose. When it emerges from the tube containing the sugar solution, the now rotated polarized ray encounters a second Nicol prism, of which one of the wedges is fixed and the other movable. This prism is called the analyzer. A pointer, controlled by a thumb screw, is attached to it, and when the correction of the polarized ray’s rotation has been made with precision by adjustment of the wedges, the pointer will indicate directly and accurately on a scale the amount of sucrose in the solution under test, because the polarized ray was rotated in exact proportion to the amount of sucrose contained in the solution through which it passed.
The polariscope is made and set so that a standard weight of pure sugar (C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁), dissolved in a standard quantity of pure water, and placed in a tube of given length, will rotate the ray of polarized light in passing through, to a point on the scale marked one hundred degrees, the equivalent of per cent. Also, that by using the same quantity of water, but twenty-five per cent, fifty per cent, or seventy-five per cent less weight of sugar, the rotation will show seventy-five degrees, fifty degrees or twenty-five degrees of pure sugar, as the case may be.
A sample is drawn from each bag of sugar and all of these go to make up a general average sample. The standard quantity is carefully weighed, dissolved with the standard amount of water, clarified, filtered and poured into a tube with glass ends, which is then inserted in the polariscope between the eye of the operator and a strong artificial light. When the operator making the test applies his eye to the instrument, he sees a distinct shadow on a lens in the line of vision, one side being light and the other dark. He then turns the thumb screw which adjusts the analyzer until the whole field of vision is neutral, which indicates that the rotation of the polarized ray has been corrected. The pointer on the scale now shows the exact percentage of sucrose present in the raw sugar, ninety-four, ninety-five, ninety-six degrees, or whatever it may be. This test determines the real value of the sugar, based on the market quotation for ninety-six-degree sugar. If the polarization should show exactly ninety-six degrees, the price to be paid for the sugar and the market quotation will be identical.
In most sugar-producing countries the government imposes an import tax on all foreign sugars, in order to obtain revenue to defray governmental expenses and to protect the domestic industry, if any, against competition with other countries in which cost of materials and labor may be lower. Commodities produced in a country naturally add to its development and wealth, and this explains the fostering of the sugar industry by various governments.