Everyone enjoys the sight of a rainbow. One of natures most beautiful gifts. Although the full spectrum of colors are present, typically seven colors are attributed to being contained in a rainbow - red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue and violet. These fundamental rainbow colors were first mentioned by Sir Isaac Newton way back in 1704. [See, e.g. Alvarez, J. Why Does the Rainbow have 7 Colors?. (Accessed August 2,2021)].
While you and I look at a rainbow and go WOW, scientists look at the spectrum of colors in a different way. They take all of the fun out of a rainbow by having to analyze it using terms like photons, electromagnetic spectrum, wavelength, and the like. Then they have to reach lofty conclusions such as:
Since the photon can be modeled as a sinusoid traveling at the speed of light c, the length of a complete cycle is called the photon wavelength l, so the photon can be characterized either by its frequency or its wavelength, since l=c/n. But it is common to use the term color as a synonym for frequency, since the color of light perceived by humans is a function of frequency.
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Damn scientists, they tend to diminish the grandeur in nature's gift of the spectrum of colors in a rainbow. Instead of going outside after a rain storm and spotting a rainbow, when scientists think of a rainbow, this is what they see:
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Two words for scientists' failure to recognize nature's beauty come to my mind: damn shame! They just don't know the wonder they are missing out on by reducing everything to formulas, mathematical equations. and whatever other scientific babble they feel like impressing us with.
Well now, personally I'm not impressed with the hyper-scientific nonsense, not when there are much more simplistic ways to explain the spectrum of colors that fill the sky following a rain storm if the conditions are right.
Come on now, weren't you ever (even as a child) curious how a rainbow was formed? Or were you happy thinking this:
Lets see if I can simply describe how the spectrum of colors appear in the sky, well maybe with the help of a couple diagrams borrowed from the internet. OK, ready? Lets see what makes a rainbow.
For a rainbow to be formed and visible, the conditions outside must be right. It is required that it must have rained shortly before there can be a rainbow as there must be droplets of water in the air. All of the clouds must be cleared away from the sun and for you to be able to see a rainbow, the sun must be behind you.
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Now for the fun stuff. Sunlight is actually made up of multiple colors. When the sunlight hits a water droplet in the air, the light is bent because water is more dense than air. But the light in the water droplet does not pass straight through. Rather, the light bounces off the back of the droplet at an angle, passing through the droplet again. Upon exiting the droplet and reentering the less dense air, the light speeds up again causing it to bend even more. Confused? Don't be, just look at the following diagram showing this explanation:
Now, if you are like me, you want to know why the colors are separated. Here I have no choice but to get a little scientific with you - nothing too complicated, don't worry.
Before I said the sunlight is made up of multiple colors, well, the colors are actually wavelengths of light. And when the sunlight enters the water droplet some of these wavelengths are bent more than others. The shorter the wavelength (violet) the more the wavelength is bent. The longer the wavelength (red) less bending occurs.
If you look at the preceding diagram and trace the violet line and the red line you can see this bending phenomenon in action. And, as this bending phenomenon never changes, when you look at a rainbow, red will always be the top color and violet on the bottom, with the rest of the spectrum of colors in between.
One last item to dispose of before I'm done, and I apologize in advance to all my Irish friends who may read this. The Legend of the Leprechaun - sorry, no way. You see, that although we see a rainbow occasionally in the sky, a rainbow is merely an optical trick. Being an illusion, a rainbow has no substance and is not a material thing - therefore, a rainbow does not exist in one particular place. Sorry Mr. Leprechaun, there is no end of the rainbow for your pot of gold.
Now, I'll leave you with this thought. For the same reason as the Leprechaun, there's no way Dorothy could find the magical Land of Oz over the rainbow. Great song though - enjoy!
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Great post! Very nicely explained from all ...erm ...angles :-) It was a really enjoyable read.
Glad you enjoyed it from all angles of its contents. Thank you.
Wow! Pretty impressive. I never knew all this cool stuff about the rainbow not until you mentioned it. So I can boldly go out there now and explain to anyone who cares to listen on how the rainbow is formed. Such insight. Thanks. !PIZZA
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I'm glad you enjoyed the post. Happy explaining!
Ah yes this is where my mind went first when I read Spectrum. But I couldn't think of a sufficient post. Wonderful work putting this together. Well done
Thank you for your kind words. This one was a lot of fun to work on.
I think this is one of the beauty of nature and it believes to be a good sign.
Yo flow so good!! Yo got cool stuffs about the rainbow ... Such a colorful glory the rainbow is . Pleasant to sight too!!
Only one thing comes ma mind each time I see the rainbow ; The Lord of creation have set d rainbow in the clouds, the sign of the covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.
I loved how you could relate the formation process too !!
You've simply shown how the spectrum could possible be explained.
So it's the interaction of the sun with the droplets of water in the aiir that gives rise to rainbow.
I enjoy the song🥰
But aren't you doing the same thing the scientist are doing to us by this not so complicated explanation... Lol
Well, let me tell you a simple story we enjoy as a child when we are talking about the rainbow
We are told that the Almighty flooded the earth with water, and wiped off the entire humanity except Noah, and his family, along with animals in pairs, in the Ark he instructed Noah to build
So, after the downpour, Noah offered a Thanksgiving sacrifice to the Almighty
The Almighty was pleased, and he sent a rainbow as a sign of covenant between him and Man
He said, whenever he sees the rainbow, he will remember the covenant he made with us and that is to never destroy humanity with flood anymore
Here, I'll quote it for you
I hope you enjoyed it 🙂
Yes, very much so. Thank you>
You're welcome