0
Rainbows
Rainbows are an optical phenomenon that can be seen in the sky when the sun reflects off the water droplets from rain or the mist of a waterfall. This causes a spectrum of light known as a rainbow. Questions about rainbows can be directed here.
1,087 Questions
What is the best angle to see a rainbow?
The sun just has to be behind you in order to see a rainbow. The middle of the arc is
in the direction that is the opposite to the sun. The rain also (of course) has to be
falling in the direction of the rainbow, and the sun (of course) has to be shining in a
clear piece of sky.
Rainbows are formed when sunlight is refracted, or bent, as it passes through raindrops in the atmosphere. This refraction separates the sunlight into its component colors, which are then visible as a spectrum of colors in the sky.
Are rainbows actually circles without an end?
Yes, but those circles are only observable from above under certain circumstances. Rainbows are the result of the refraction and reflection of light through droplets of water in the air. And they do form complete circles. A ground based observer will see only the arc (or possibly two, if conditions are right), but an observer in an aircraft or on a really, really high tower could possibly see a complete circle if (again) conditions are right.
Rainbows are caused by sunlight being refracted, or bent, as it passes through raindrops in the air. This refraction separates the sunlight into its different colors, creating the arc of colors we see in a rainbow.
Because when it rains, and it stops raining, the sun comes out.... that's what forms a rainbow!
What do leprechauns and rainbows have in common?
Both offer a pot of gold, however after many years of searching I recently found out that Leprechauns are mythical creatures who don't really exist and it's just not possible to locate the base of a rainbow whenever you move toward one it moves away. They are both mysterious.
Biblical way of how rainbows are formed?
In the Bible, rainbows are seen as a sign of God's covenant with humanity. According to the Book of Genesis, after the Great Flood, God placed a rainbow in the sky as a symbol of his promise to never again destroy the earth with a flood. Scientifically, rainbows are formed when sunlight is refracted, reflected, and dispersed by water droplets in the atmosphere, creating the spectrum of colors we see.
Why are rainbows the colors that they are?
Rainbows are made up of different colors because of the way sunlight is refracted and reflected through water droplets in the atmosphere. Each color corresponds to a different wavelength of light, causing the separation of colors in the visible spectrum.
Rainbows are formed when sunlight is refracted, reflected, and dispersed by water droplets in the atmosphere. The sunlight is broken down into its component colors as it passes through the water droplets, creating the optical effect we see as a rainbow.
Rainbows appear as arcs due to the bending of light in raindrops, creating a circular pattern. However, when viewed from the ground, only a portion of the circle is visible, resulting in an arc shape.
Rainbows are caused by light refracting off moisture drops in the air and the colors are caused by the fact different colors ( wavelengths) of light are refracted by different amounts.
A rainbow is caused by light being refracted from tiny water droplets in the air. When it rains or there is a mist all the tiny water droplets refract sunlight like a prism (a triangular piece of glass). Refracted means the light of the sun is split up into its basic colors. Sunlight is actually a combination of Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple. When these colors are all combined they look white, which is what sunlight usually looks like to us. There is also other light energy from the sun like Infrared which makes sunlight hot and Ultra Violet which makes you tan or sunburn. You can not see Infrared or Ultra Violet because the human eye is not designed to see them. But some creatures can.
To see a rainbow, there should be a little rain or moisture in the sky and the Sun should be shining behind you.
Are rainbows only formed after the rain?
Rainbows are typically formed after rainfall when sunlight is refracted and reflected by water droplets in the atmosphere. However, they can also be seen in other conditions, such as mist, fog, or spray, where light is similarly refracted by water droplets.
How far back do rainbows go in time?
Rainbows have been observed and noted throughout history, with references dating back to ancient civilizations. The phenomenon of rainbows occurs when sunlight is refracted, reflected, and dispersed by water droplets in the air, leading to the formation of a spectrum of colors in the sky.
Rainbows occur when sunlight passes through drops of water. This is why you see rainbows after rain or at fountains and waterfalls. Light moves at different velocities through air and through water. So when sunlight passes through water, it is dispersed. It is first refracted when it enters the droplet, reflected of the back of the drop, and then it is refracted again as it leaves. This refraction of the light into angles within the drop leads to it being visible, and the wavelength of the light is what depends its colour. After rain when sky is clear from the clouds and there is water everywhere. The sun shines on this water and reflects on the sky as rainbow.
Can you see a rainbow overhead at noon?
Yes. If the water moisture in the atmosphere is just right, you can see a rainbow anytime of the day. It is possible to see full circular rainbows or halos around the sun in the daytime, or even multiple ones.
Do the colors of rainbows have to be in order?
Yes, the colors of a rainbow are always in a specific order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. This order is due to the refraction and dispersion of sunlight through raindrops.
Rainbows fade out because the tiny water droplets in the atmosphere that create the rainbow gradually change position or evaporate, causing the refraction and reflection of light to disperse. As a result, the rainbow becomes less vivid until it eventually disappears.
No one invented Rainbows. They are a natural phenomenon that have been occurring since long before humans existed on this planet.
R O Y G. B I V stands for: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet
Why do rainbows have only seven colors?
Because "color" is an interaction between the visible light portion of the
electromagnetic spectrum and the light sensitive parts of our eyes.
Our eyes have evolved 4 different receptors--one each for Red, Green and
Blue and another for violet.
A rainbow actually contains millions of colors, but we have evolved to
categorize most of the wavelengths in the visible spectrum as one of the
primary colors and their combinations.
A rainbow is merely a large band of parallel stripes, blended at the rims, which
displays the full spectrum of colors that make up the sun's white light. This
brilliant display appears to the naked eye when the sun's light breaks up as it
passes through, the prism-like raindrops during a rain-shower.
This immense, curved spectrum of light appears only when both the elements
of sunshine and rainfall present. As the sunlight enters the falling raindrops, it
breaks up into its true colors of red, orange, yellow, blue, and violet. These
colors are always arranged according to their wavelengths, with red being at
one end of the spectrum, and violet at the other. Once inside the droplet, the
particles of colored light bounce from side to side, reflect off of the far side of
the droplet, exit the droplet, and reassemble, according to their wavelengths,
to form a rainbow.
Simply because you happen to be in the right place at the right time, when
both elements necessary to form a rainbow are present, does not mean that
you will actually see one. For the human eye to see these multi-colored bands,
ranging from red to violet, his body must be strategically positioned between
the sun and the rain, with his back to the sun.
If the sun, the eye, and the center of the rainbow's arc are not in a straight
line, the show is over, before it began. This explains why we only see rainbows
in the early morning or late afternoon…it is physically impossible for us to align
our eyes with the sun at other times of day, as it is high above our heads!
Logically, a morning rainbow appears when the sun shines in the east, and the
rain falls in the west, and an afternoon rainbow appears when the sun shines in
the west, and the rain falls in the east. If lucky, and a bit superstitious, and
you do find a pot of gold somewhere over the rainbow, please let us know.
After all, we gave you the directions!
Those are the 7 main colors of the light spectrum.
===================================
Answer #2:
They don't. Rainbows have ALL of the colors. Every shade of fabric ever dyed,
every nuance of paint ever mixed, every hue ever perceived by the eye of a
human or any other creature, they're ALL in the rainbow. A huge number of them
have been given names, an even larger number have no names.
But a topic that involves infinities is a bit much to handle in the second grade,
when it's time to start talking about rainbows. So seven colors were selected,
that span the rainbow from end to end, are easy to see in it, and have names
familiar to young children just learning their colors, and that's the way the rainbow is taught.
Rainbows are created when sunlight is refracted, or bent, as it passes through water droplets in the air, such as rain. The sunlight is then reflected inside the droplets before exiting and creating the spectrum of colors we see in a rainbow.
What is the earliest documentation of rainbows either artistic literary or scientific?
The earliest known documentation of rainbows can be found in ancient texts such as the Bible, in which the rainbow is described as a sign of God's covenant with Noah. Scientific descriptions and explanations of rainbows date back to ancient Greek and Roman times, with Aristotle and Seneca making early observations and theories about the formation of rainbows. In terms of artistic depictions, rainbows have been featured in various cultural artworks throughout history, such as in ancient Egyptian and Chinese art.
light from the sun is know as 'white light'. it is made up of all of the colours seen in the rainbow. when it rains, the light is split up into these different colours in the same way it would if you passed light through a glass prism. Therefore light splits up into its individual colours when it rains, and this is what a rainbow is.
Can a rainbow in the sky be seen from space?
No
Rainbows are caused by sunlight glinting off tiny water particles in the sky, bouncing the light back towards the observer. In other words, any time you see a rainbow directly in front of you, the Sun is directly behind you, and your shadow points at the center of the circle the rainbow is describing.
Does the rainbow touch the ground?
A rainbow is a trick of the light and has no physical properties. The water drops that cause the light to show up as a rainbow can come down and touch the ground, so a rainbow can look like it is touching the ground around waterfalls and similar water features, and is so high up in the air that it appears to touch the horizon. But the rainbow will move as the observer's eyes move, so you can never get to the rainbow, but it may appear to someone else that you have reached the end of the rainbow.
If you were in a plane looking down on a rainbow you would see a complete circle. From below we only see part of it because of the Earth's curve etc. And as described above only you can see the particular rainbow that you are seeing. It looks different to anyone else because of the way the millions of raindrops reflect light individually and so differ even to someone next to you.
