BSB directory | BSB Education | BSB lectures | BSB Mission | Patient Earth |
![]() |
Under the Rainbow |
![]() |
Search BSB |
![]() Rainbows are beautiful natural phenomena created by millions of raindrops. Light from the sun enters the raindrop and is refracted and reflected off the back of the raindrop into our eyes. One special angle shows only one color to the observer. The wavelength makes the difference. It reflects at different angles. For the human eye sunlight contains the colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. The technical term is 'visible light spectrum'. When the sunlight, that we see in the color white, passes from the air into the drop of water, the component colors of light slow down to different speeds depending on their frequency. When one sees a blue light, the sunshine is reflected by about 40 degrees. Close to 41 degrees the yellow can be seen. When one sees a red color, the sunshine is reflected by about 42 degrees. A little bit more than 42 degrees and the color changes to violet. If one could see ultra violet, the rainbow would show this color too. |
Imagine your position is above the rain. What would you see? A rainbow as a full circle, because the light would bounce back from all around you. This "bending" of light is called refraction. But "bending" is not quite accurate. When light travels trough different media it changes directions. WHY? Imagine swimming = moving through a pool with clean water. Now imagine swimming through a swamp. Would you agree that the moving speed is different? Additionally think about - you are still in the swamp - one arm digs into heavy mud, the other hits clean water. Your pathway would change its angle. The swamp medium has just more resistance. It needs more energy. ![]() A glass prism can create a rainbow by the same principle, it separates white light into its component colors. Light shines into a glass prism and one side of the light wave slows down before the other. Glass gives more resistance than air. The wave of light turns at the boundary between the air and the glass. A few waves are reflected, but most passes through. The light has to turns when it exits the prism, because one side of it speeds up before the other. Different colors of light have different frequencies or wavelengths, which causes them to travel at different speeds when they move through different matter. A color that travels more slowly in glass will change direction more sharply when it passes from air to glass, because the speed difference is more severe. A color = wavelength that can move more quickly in glass is not slowed down as much, so its direction will change less sharply. Colors that make up white light are separated according to frequency when they pass through glass. The glass prism changes the direction of the light twice. The different colors of our sunlight are seen. The technical term is dispersion. Sometimes, there are double rainbows, not always, but it happens. The second rainbow is produced in the same way as the main rainbow, but instead of the light reflecting once inside the raindrop, it's reflected twice. A double reflection causes the light tp exit the raindrop at a different angle. And because of the different angle the colors in the upper rainbow are in reverse of the primary rainbow. |
BSB Education BSB preserves - - Lectures - Keep Earth Beautiful - - Join BSB - - Address |
BSB Information on Water: Water Facts Water Data About Water Why Earth has water Water testing Water Filter Water pH Salinity Hydrogen The H in H2O Water Pollution Water life Earth Oceans Ocean acidification PH scale Ocean currents Watershed divide Riparian Areas Power from Water Water conservation Tips how to save water Water Conservation/kids Water + Energy Water + Trees Water journey 1 Thirsty for water Water Drought article Rainwater Why Rainbows? |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() - Why does all life on Earth depend on water? - Why are the oceans salty? - Why Water is a very special 'juice'? - Humans can live without food for weeks, but - without water we will die after 3 days. - Why do Humans use huge amounts of water to produce electricity? - Is salt-water more heavy? - Why can water dissolve so many substances? - Does water expand when it gets warmer? |
Earth facts + numbers Earth Map Info Maps of Earth Earth Atmosphere Earth's Geology Solar system Earth Climate Change Global Warming Global Dimming Patient Earth Life on Earth Trees for Earth Keep Earth clean Why Keep Earth? Earth's Oceans Earth's population Glob. statistics Global Issues Earth's future? Solar Eclipse Earth's Spheres Info about NASA Earth from Space |
BSB Information on Earth:![]() - Why is Earth called the blue planet? - Why Earth has continents? - Why Earth has earthquakes? - Earth, the only home for Humans? - Earth's solar system is special - Why is Earth sick? - Earth climate is changing - Earth uncountable species - Astonishing photos from Earth - ..... |
Conservation Education CE is the only solution to give the majority of human beings a better life on Earth. Search BSB with your search phrase Copyright Bear Springs Blossom Nature Conservation International charitable nonprofit organization 501(c)(3) All rights reserved Peter Bonenberger - president Marianne Bonenberger + director of education BSBNCG POB 63295 Pipe Creek 78063 TX USA edu@keepearthbeautiful.org See graphics of Earth's solar system - Facts on Earth's Atmosphere Read more about Life on Earth - - Importance of the Gulf stream current Quiz Earth Oceans 1 - - Bacteria - uncountable in numbers Hear and feel the wonders of Earth BSB tries to be as accurate as possible, but we are not responsible for broken or false links or misinterpretation Privacy Policy: Your privacy is very important to us. We don't collect information from you! + BSB was founded 2002 + As a nonprofit organization, BSB is always grateful for donations in support of our mission. ![]() |
More questions? |
Fair Use Notice All material on over 1000 BSB web-pages is intended to advance understanding of the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of Nature conservation. We believe this constitutes a "fair use" of any copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed an interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from our websites for purposes of your own that go beyond "fair use," you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. If you are the owner of copyrighted material(s) appearing on this site, and wish it to be removed, please contact us directly. |