The Science of RAINBOWS


       
      The speed of light, which is equal to 3 x 108 meters per second in air or space,but when light passes through other materials like water or glass (known as mediums), the speed can change and slow down. Light we experience from the Sun is something known as white light. White light is composed of all different colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) that the human eye can see. This kind of light is known as visible lights. These visible colors all have unique characteristics known as wavelengths. Going from red through violet the wavelength goes from greatest to smallest. It’s this wavelength that will determine how the different colors react when they go through a medium (for example a raindrop).  
     A rainbow is created when white light is bent (refracted) while entering a droplet of water, split into separate colours, and reflected back. A rainbow is actually round like a circle. On the ground, the bottom part is hidden, but in the sky, like from a flying airplane, it can be seen as a circle around the point opposite the Sun.You definitely can’t see it during the rainstorm because clouds block most of the light. You also can’t see it long after a rainstorm, because then all of the water vapor in the air has evaporated. The best time to see a rainbow is just after a rainstorm has ended.Notice that the colors will be inverted from the original rainbow; that’s because these light rays have undergone a second reflection inside the droplet!

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