Rainbow

A rainbow is a multicolored arc made by light

striking water droplets.
The most familiar type of rainbow is produced
when sunlight strikes raindrops in front of a viewer at a
precise angle (42 degrees). Rainbows can also be
viewed around fog, sea spray, or waterfalls. iI
°A rainbow is an o ip—it does not his t
actually exist in a specific spot in the sky. The
appearance of a rainbow depends on where you are
standing and where thsun (or other source of Ight) is
ion ng. "" ” , , ,
The sun or other source of liyht is usually , /„ ;,i ‹ u.]
behind the person seeing the rainbow. In fact, the „, ,
,
$r, center o/ a primary rainbow is the antisolar point, the imaginary point exactly opposite the sun. ,‹, s < r , „ i,
° 1+ ’. Rainbows are the resutof the ation and reflection of light. Both refraction and reflection are ”
phenomena that involve a change in a wave's direction. A refracted wave may appear "bent", while a reflected
°!u/* •. wave might seem to "bounce back" from a surface or other wavefront.
' Light entering a water droplet is refracted. It is then reflected by the back of the droplet. As this reflected ’- ' “"
light leaves the droplet, it is refracted again, at multiple angles. “!
The radius of a rainbow is determined by the water droplet' refractive index. A refractive index is the
measure of how much a ray of light refracts (bends) as it passes from one medium to another—from air to water,
for example. A droplet with a high refractive index will help produce a rainbow with a smaller radius. SalMater
has a higher refractive index than freshwater, for instance, so rainbows formed by sea spray will be smaller than
rainbows formed by rain.
, Rainbows are actua!!y full circles. The antisolar point is the center of the circle. Viewers in aircraft ’a ! ’r‘)'
sometimes see these circular rainbows. ¿ ¿
Viewers on the ground can only see the light reflected by raindrops above the horizon. Because each " "”"*
person's horizon is a little different, no one actually sees a full rainbow from the ground. In fact, no one sees the
same rainbow—each person has a different antisolar point, each person has a different horizon. Someone who
appears below or near the "end" of a rainbow to one viewer will see another rainbow, extending from his or her
own horizon.
COIOTS

A rainbow shows up as a\§g I : a band of familiar colors that include red, orange, yellow,
blue, and violet. The name "Roy G. Biv" is an easy way to remember the colors of the rainbow, and the
'l, qt\1 order in which they appear: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. (Many scientists, however, think
y„›, ri' "indigo" is too close to blue to be truly distinguishable.)
" White light is how our eyes perceive all the colors of the rainbow mixed together. Sunlight appears white.
When sunlight hits a rain droplet, some of the tight is reflected. The electromagnetic spectrum is made of
light with tjja differeat wavelen ths, and each is reflected at a different angle. Thus, spectrum is separated,
\, ,t* producing a rainbow.
"" *' ’ ’, .\ "
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- *’ EAPP, 1*t Sem, AY 2021-2022
"' Prepared by: A.J. Vilches — SHS, CPU
 Red has the longest wavelength of visible light, about 65O nanometers. It usually appears on the outer
part of a rainbow's arch. Violet has the shortest wavelength (about 4t I nanometers) and it usually appears on the
inner arch of the rainbow.
At their edges, the adors of a rainbow actually overlap. This produces a sheen of "white" light, making the
inside ofa rainbow much brighter than the outside.
— Vi ible i ht is only part of a rainbow. Infrared radiation exists just beyond visible red light, while
ulaviolet is just beyond violet. There are also radio waves (beyond infrared), x-rays (beyond ult veira
gmma radiation (beyond x-rays) Scientists use an instrument called a spectrometer to study these invisible parts
of the rainbow.
Rainbow Variations
The atmosphere opposite a rainbow, facing the sun, is often glowing. This glow appears when rain
@»1‹{’{'+"“ or drizzle is falling between the viewer and the sun.
!i/ | ,p {+ The glow is formed by light passing through raindrops, not reflected by them. Some scientists call this
y¿ „t glow a zero-order glow.
^* * " Double Rainbow. Sometimes, a viewer may see a "double rainbow." In this phenomenon, a faint,
$o0i‘ secondary rainbow appears above the primary one.
Double rainbows are caused by light being reflected Mice inside the raindrop. As a result of this second
reflection, the spectrum of the secondary rainbow is reversed: red is on the inner section of the arch, while violet
is on the outside. {
Higher-Order Rainbows. Light can be reflected from many angles inside the raindrop. A rainbow's "order"
is its reflective number. (Primary rainbows are first-order rainbows, while secondary rainbows are second-order
rainbows.) Higher-order rainbows appear to viewers facing both toward and away from the sun.
A tertiary rainbow, for example, appears to a viewer facing the sun. Tertiary rainbows are third-order
rainbows—the third reflection of light. Their spectrum is the same as the primary rainbow.
Tertiary rainbows are difficult to see for three main reasons. First, the viewer is looking toward the sun—
the center of a tertiary rainbow is not the antisolar point, it's the sun iuelf. Second, tertiary rainbows are much,
much fainter than primary or secondary rainbows. Finally, tertiary rainbows are much, much broader than
primary and secondary rainbows.
Quaternary rainbows are fourth-order rainbows, and also appear to viewers facing the sun. They are even
fainter and broader than tertiary rainbows.
Beyond quaternary rainbows, higher-order rainbows are named by their reflective number, or order. In
the lab, scientists have detected a 200th-order rainbow.
Twinned Rainbow. A Minned rainbow is two distinct rainbows produced from a single endpoint. Twinned
j§ § g ainb a th e ult of light hitting an air mass with different sizes and shapes of water droplets—usually a
raincloud with different sizes and shapes of raindrops.
VArt{i on
ryjgp' Supernumerary Rainbow. A supernumerary rainbow is a thin, pastel-colored arc usually appearing below
the inner arch of a rainbow. Supernumeraries are the result of the complex interaction of light rays in an air mass
with small, similarly sized water droplets.
In supernumerary formation, reflected rays interact in ways called constructive and destructive
interference. Light is either reinforced (constructive interference) or canceled out (destructive interference).
Interference is responsible for the lighter hues and narrower bands of supernumeraries.

EAPP, 1*t Sem, AY 2021-2022

Prepared by: A.J. Vilches — SHS, CPU
Reflection Rainbow. A reflection rainbow appears above a body of water. A primary rainbow is reflected r
by the water, and the reflected light produces a reflection rainbow. Reflection rainbows do not mirror the primary a
 inbow—they often appear to stretch above it.
Reflected Rainbow. A reflected rainbow appears directly on the surface of a body of water. A reflected
ainbo is c eated b a s of light reflected by the water surface, after the rays have passed through water
‘° droplets. Reflected rainbows to not appear to form a circle with a primary rainbow, although their endpoints
it 3 r seem to meet in an almond-shaped formation.
"’Cf tt Red Rainbow. A red rainbow, also called a monochrome rainbow, usually appears at sunrise or sunset. g/f
¢ /•t|g8 During this time, sunlight travels further in the atmosphere, and shorter wavel ngth (blue nd io et) h e been
scattered. Only the long-wavelength red colors are visible in this rainbow. *
fl cu
Fogbow. A fogbow is formed in much the same way as a primary rainbow. Light in a fogbow is refracted
i °v I
and reflected by fog (water droplets suspended in air). A fogbow seen in the clouds is called a cloudbow.
Because the water droplets in fog are much smaller than raindrops, fogbows have much fainter colors
than rainbows. In fact, some fogbows have few detectable colors at all and appear mostly white, with a reddish
tinge on their outer edge and a bluish tinge on their inner edge.
Moonbow. A moonbow, also called a lunar rainbow, is a rainbow produced by light reflected by the Moon.
The Moon itself does not emit light, of course. his sutmed ht a well as some starlight
and "Earthlight." Because moonlight is so much fainter than sunlight, moonbows are dimme than am o s

Reference:
"Rainbow." (2019). Notional Geographic. Retrieved from
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/rainbow/

EAPP, 1“ Sem, AY 2021-2022

Prepared by: A.J. Vilches — SHS, CPU