Tell me in really simple terms so I can explain to my six year old child who can then show our photo of a rainbow and talk about it in news....nothing technical please....
2006-08-24 22:08:56 · 18 answers · asked by T 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Weather
Sunlight and rain. When the sunlight hits the rain in certain places, all the colours split up. Giving the appearance of a rainbow.
2006-08-24 22:11:48 · answer #1 · answered by JeffE 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When you mix all the different colors of paint you get brown or black. When you mix all the different colors of light you get white light. The sun shines white light. All the colors of the rainbow are there but they're mixed up. When sunlight shines through water droplets of a certain size at a certain angle, the colors unmix and you see a rainbow.
Not entirely accurate but gist of things more technical stuff:
The different colors of light are actually different wavelength with different energies. They travel at different "speeds" in different mediums. When white light enters something like a glass prism, the transition from one speed to another causes the light to change paths..or bend. Blue light bends the most while red light bends the least. This effectivly unmixes the light. A rainbow produced after a storm occures much the same way but the water droplets must be of a certain size and the sun must be a certain height above the horizon.
2006-08-25 05:20:11 · answer #2 · answered by minuteblue 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you have a clear Chrystal hold it up to sunlight near a good backdrop and show your son the colors of the rainbow it will display on the backdrop (wall or whatever).
Tell your son when sun comes out after rain it can do the same thing.
He will get sort of a hands on experience.
(of course its more involved then this, but this is a good start for a 6 year old)
2006-08-25 05:24:50 · answer #3 · answered by Hathor 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
6 is a tough age for this one. Would be good if you could add a prop. Ideally a prism. If you could show a prism splitting light into it's component colours then you could say that the raindrops in the air are acting just like this prism. And just as you have to be in the right spot to see the rainbow from the prism, the raindrops have to be in the right spot for you to see the rainbow they produce.
Or you just say it is because of sunlight on raindrops.
Good luck.
2006-08-26 10:02:48 · answer #4 · answered by Dome Slug 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A rainbow is made by the collection of sunlight relected off moist air [air with water in it]. As the colours of the spectrum are the same calours of a rainbow its logical to say that the light reflecting off the moistended air is cuasing the colours of the rainbow.
2006-08-25 05:12:37 · answer #5 · answered by Foxhound 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The sun makes water drops split the light up into the rainbow.
2006-08-25 05:15:38 · answer #6 · answered by Xefek 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
i'll tell u an experiment when u make bubbles of water watch them care full in light they have rainbow colours on their top
this is the thing when breeze with small rain blows sunlight passes through it thus causing the rain to develop colours in drops since the it rains in larger area we see bigger rainbow
2006-08-25 07:34:44 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The rain drop disecting the sunlight to reveal the whole color spectrum. Sunlight is made of the color spectrum - the colors of the rainbow - all condensed together.
2006-08-25 13:34:38 · answer #8 · answered by Jen H 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
when there is a mist or any kind of water in the air, then the suns UV rays beam into it and then displays all of the colors, because we see colors in wave lengths, and blue is the shortest wave length, it is the most common, that is why the sky is blue, and so when the water is in the air, I figure that the wave lengths have to go through the water, and the wave lengths gets spread out and slowed down, so every color appears
2006-08-25 05:15:58 · answer #9 · answered by Danielle 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sunlight bouncing off the rain.
2006-08-25 07:58:58 · answer #10 · answered by Mann 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋