If no one sees a rainbow, does it exist?

Answer 1

Of course it does. The cool thing though - saw this on ZOOM a couple of years ago - is that even if you are head-to-head with someone looking at the same rainbow, you are each technically seeing different rainbows. Because even though your right up next to your friend, your sets of eyes are still a couple of inches apart, which means you're looking at the rainbow from different angles: different rainbows!

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. 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.

Want to know more go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow

Answer 3

Yes. There are lots of things we can't see that exist, such as the earth's core or the far side of the moon. But we know they exist. If the rainbow happens, it existed, regardless if anyone saw it or not.

No. If no one sees the rainbow, no one will ever know it existed, especially since there is no evidence of it. No one ever saw a dinosaur, but we know they exist since we have evidence. Rainbows don't leave that.

Answer 4

Yes rainbows do exist because I have seen one just a few weeks ago.

Answer 5

I think everyone who has answered this question so far has had too much juice and not enough sleep. don't be smart and say "if someone gets murdered and no one sees it happen, does it happen."etc...... of course it is logical to think this BUT only for people thinking inside the box. ask yourself this does an invisible rainbow exist?

Answer 6

rainbows, like light refracted in a prism are aspect perception. you need to be standing in the right position for the light to be separated properly.

sure they exist, even if nobody notices them.

here's a more interesting quandry:
have you noticed that children see more rainbows than adults? why is that? do we lose the ability to see them as we become older and hardened by life? or do we become too busy and distracted? i, personally, still look for rainbows, but i never see them anymore. for me, they've all dried up and gone away.
sad isn't it?

Answer 7

Technically, your question answers itself. You have presupposed the existence of the rainbow in the question by assuming that it is there and asking whether its existence needs to be confirmed by the visual perception.

To test this question of whether human perception defines existence (solipsism), I would suggest a different question. Something like:

"Can money exist in my bank account, if neither I nor anyone else can see it?"

Answer 8

a rainbow is made when light passes through water in the air, therefore your asking if the sun and water and air do not exsist if you dont see it but, u cant see air most of the time and your breathing it every second so i would have to say that yes it still exsists even if you dont see it!

Answer 9

everybody sees a rainbow but some dont

Answer 10

** I flew over a rainbow once. It was either in a Cessna or one of those 18-seater planes. We couldnt have been more than 8-10,000 ft high. Wish it would happen again.

Answer 11

yes. if your father dies and everone forgets about him does that mean he never existed before? existence is independent of consciousness because existence is not a human concept. the brachiosaurus knows that a t-rex exists. a rock doesnt know it exists but it still exists even if all the animals and people in the world perish overnight.