How does refraction form a rainbow?

Answer 1

Different wavelengths refract at different angles when they pass through an interface (the meeting surface of two different media, or objects through which light passes) according to a variation of Snell's law. Because the light encounters two interfaces - one going in, one going out of the prism - it is refracted twice. The first refraction spearates the colours initially and the second spreads them even further apart.

Answer 2

Going through a prism, light is decomposed into every color in it.

The sunlight shining through the droplets of moisture in the Earth's atmosphere make the spectrum of light appear in a semi-circular form.

Keep in mind that the colors you can see is only the colors that can be seen by the human eye - infra-red and infra violet will be present in a rainbow but will not be visible to us.

Answer 3

Refraction of sunlight through raindrops causes the light to bend and disperse into its component colors. Each color is refracted at a slightly different angle, resulting in the separation of the colors that form a rainbow. The sunlight is then reflected off the back of the raindrop and back toward the observer, creating the beautiful arc shape that we see in the sky.

Answer 4

Water droplets separate the colors of sunlight, producing a rainbow.

Answer 5

Rainbows are caused by refraction of sunlight through raindrops.