what makes a rainbow?

Answer 1

white light is made from several different colours i.e the colours of the rainbow. When it rains, the water droplets act as a sort of prism, that causes the white light to disperse into all of the colours of the rainbow

Answer 2

Ordinary white light, like that from the sun, is made up of many different colors all of which have a different wavelength. Normally, when we see light from the sun, it appears colorless. However, Isaac Newton discovered in 1666 that when he passed regular sunlight through a prism (basically, a triangular piece of glass), the prism would split the light up into a band of colors.

The band of colors is called the spectrum which appears in the order of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

When it rains, the air is filled with raindrops. These raindrops act like a prism. If sunlight passes through the raindrops at the proper angle it is split into its spectrum, which is made up of the colors of the rainbow.

You can make your own rainbow at home by filling a plastic box with water and placing it near a sunny window. If the wall next to the window isn’t white, place a piece of white paper next to the window. Next, place a mirror inside the box of water facing the window. The mirror needs to be tilted towards the sunlight. The wedge of water in the front of the mirror acts as the prism and the mirror reflects and image of a rainbow on your wall.Lansing State Journal, July 29, 1992

Answer 3

The sunlight shines through the raindrops and divides into colours(like light through a prism) But the affect only happens at a 45 degree angle so that's why you get the rainbow shape instead of having colours all over the sky.

Hope that makes sense.

Answer 4

A rainbow is an optical and meteorological phenomenon that causes a nearly continuous spectrum of light to appear in the sky when the Sun shines onto droplets of moisture in the Earth's atmosphere.

For the complete definition and reason, see the links below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow

http://eo.ucar.edu/rainbows/

Answer 5

Once up a time there were seven angels, who wore seven different coloured robes, who normally fly together and appear white. The only thing is, the violet angel was more whizzy than the indigo angel, and more than the blue one, and the red one was slowest.

The angels loved flying through the air, but only when its dry. When they suddenly hit rain their robes get all wet and the angels turn round at an angle when they hit the wall of rain. And the fastest violet one turns more than the indigo one, and so on, with the red being slowest turn round the least.

So the seven angels flying through the air are no longer white robed but spread out after they hit the wall of rain. So when you see a rainbow, its only the angels turning a little when they hit the wall of rain.

Answer 6

It is refracted light through rain/moisture in the air, it spearates the colours of the spectrum visibile to the human eye, the result is a rainbow.

Answer 7

Water vapour fragments the suns rays into the colours of the rainbow. The water vapour acts like a prism, showing the constituesnt colours comprising white light. ie light as you normally see it.

Answer 8

It is simply the light refracting through a mist of water (a low cloud). Usually sunshine on a rainy day is the best time to catch one.
I think they start/end out at sea, so unless you have a boat. Good luck finding that gold.

Answer 9

its light refracted from the water in the air, when light is bent in the water, the different colors in the light all move at different speeds and therfore seperate creating the visual image of a rainbow.

Thats what the scientists want you to think. They want the pot of gold for themselves. ;)

Answer 10

sunshine and rain. the droplets of rain reflect the colours of the suns light, which makes a rainbow