question about rainbows?

Question

why does a rainbow show after it rains. first to get it correct will receive 10 pts

Answer 1

The sunlight spectrum is made of all colors of the rainbow, and seen as light because all the colors are present at the same time.

Water magnifies the visibility of this light and we are able to see the colors of light distinct and separated into the actual colors of sunlight.

Answer 2

The rainbow effect can be observed whenever there are water drops in the air and sunlight shining from behind the observer at a low altitude or angle.

A rainbow does not actually exist at a location in the sky, but rather is an optical phenomenon whose apparent position depends on the observer's location. All raindrops refract and reflect the sunlight in the same way, but only the light from some raindrops reaches the observer's eye.

Answer 3

Because of the mist in the air. When the sun comes out directly after a rain storm, the light of the sun shoots through the mist that acts as a prism. And the resulting colors is the colors of the rainbow

Answer 4

A rainbow shows when it rains and when the sun comes out. Just like if you were to water your flowers at sunset you can see a rainbow in your hose water. It's simple a magical wonder of nature, when the water refracts the sunlight thus producing a beautiful rainbow.

Answer 5

Well we had this debate in my science class a couple weeks ago. I kept on arguing with my science teacher that 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. He wouldn't belive me so i continued to explain to him that a rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured arc, with red on the outside and violet on the inside. (The whole ROYGBIV thing) Even though a rainbow spans a continuous spectrum of colours, traditionally the full sequence of colours is most commonly cited as red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. The color i didnt mention was indigo because its very faint in the rainbow and not as visual as the other colors, however it still exists.

Answer 6

REfraction of light takes place between two medium.While raining there is no sun light.So at the time after rain refraction of light through the drstle drops.Results in rainbow.

Answer 7

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. It takes the form of a multicoloured arc, with red on the outside and violet on the inside. Even though a rainbow spans a continuous spectrum of colours, traditionally the full sequence of colours is most commonly cited as red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. It is commonly thought that indigo was included due to the different religious connotations of the numbers six and seven at the time of Isaac Newton's work on light, despite its lack of scientific significance and the poor ability of humans to distinguish colours in the blue portion of the visual spectrum.

The rainbow effect can be observed whenever there are water drops in the air and sunlight shining from behind the observer at a low altitude or angle. The most spectacular rainbow displays when half of the sky is still dark with draining clouds and the observer is at a spot with clear sky overhead. The rainbow effect is also commonly seen near waterfalls or fountains. Rainbow fringes can sometimes be seen at the edges of backlit clouds and as vertical bands in distant rain or virga. The effect can also be artificially created by dispersing water droplets into the air during a sunny day.

In a very few cases, a moonbow, or night-time rainbow, can be seen on strongly moonlit nights. As human visual perception for colour in low light is poor, moonbows are most often perceived to be white.

The rainbow's appearance is caused by dispersion of sunlight as it is refracted by (approximately spherical) raindrops. The light is first refracted as it enters the surface of the raindrop, reflected off the back of the drop, and again refracted as it leaves the drop. The overall effect is that the incoming light is reflected back over a wide range of angles, with the most intense light at an angle of about 40°–42°. This angle is independent of the size of the drop, but does depend a lot on its shape and refractive index. Due to the surface tension waterdrops are always round and the refractive index of pure water is always 1.33. Seawater, on the other hand has a higher refractive index, which results in a smaller angle. This is easily measurable when a 'rain'bow is created from splashing up seawaves.

Since the water is dispersive, the amount that the sunlight is bent depends upon the wavelength, and hence colour, of the light's constituent parts. Blue light is refracted at a greater angle than red light, but because the area of the back of the droplet has a focal point inside the droplet, the spectrum crosses itself, and therefore the red light appears higher in the sky, and forms the outer colour of the rainbow. Contrary to popular belief, the light at the back of the raindrop does not undergo total internal reflection; however, light that emerges from the back of the raindrop does not create a rainbow between the observer and the Sun. The spectra emitted from the back of the raindrop do not have a maximum of intensity, as the other visible rainbows do, and thus the colours blend together and do not form a rainbow.

A rainbow does not actually exist at a location in the sky, but rather is an optical phenomenon whose apparent position depends on the observer's location. All raindrops refract and reflect the sunlight in the same way, but only the light from some raindrops reaches the observer's eye. These raindrops are perceived to constitute the rainbow by that observer. The position of a rainbow in the sky is always in the opposite direction of the Sun with respect to the observer, and the interior is always slightly brighter than the exterior. The bow is centred on the shadow of the observer's head, or more exactly at the antisolar point (which is below the horizon during the daytime), appearing at an angle of approximately 40°–42° to the line between the observer's head and its shadow. As a result, if the Sun is higher than 42°, then the rainbow is below the horizon and cannot be seen as there are usually not enough raindrops between the horizon (that is: eye height) and the ground, to contribute. One exception is when the observer is at the top of a mountain or a similar vantage point, for example an aeroplane (see below). Another exception occurs when the rainbow is produced by a garden sprinkler. Although in this case to get sufficient drops they must be very small, resulting in a quite colourless bow. It is difficult to photograph the complete arc of a rainbow, which would require an angle of view of 84°. For a 35 mm camera, a lens with a focal length of 19 mm or less would be required, whilst most photographers are only likely to have a 28 mm wide-angle lens. From an aeroplane, one has the opportunity to see the whole circle of the rainbow, with the plane's shadow in the center. This phenomenon can be confused with the glory, but a glory is usually much smaller, covering only 5°–20°, as opposed to over 80° for a full circle rainbow. Speed and direction of light in materials?

In a vacuum all frequencies of light travel at the same speed but in a material, the speed is reduced.
The ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum, c, to the speed of light in a material, v, is the index of refraction, n = c / v.
n equals about 1.333 in water
The change in speed causes the direction of a light beam to change. There is a relationship between the angles at which light enters and leaves a boundary between materials with different indices of refraction called Snell's law. It is: n1 * sin (theta1) = n2 * sin (theta2)

Answer 8

rainbow dont show up after it rains sun light must pass through rain to create a rainbow it forms druing rain

Answer 9

When the sun comes out after the rain has fallen it is so bright with so much glare that it makes finding the pot of gold at the end more of a challenge. Sneaky leprechauns!

Answer 10

when it rains there are tiny droplets of water in the atmosphere when light falls on these droplets,they act as a prism and light seperates into its constituent colors forming rainbows