On a somewhat foggy day my walking group saw what had to be a white rainbow. No color at all. It had the typical arch, but of white only. Appeared to be a concentration of light like a rainbow, but without the prismatic effect. How come?
2006-11-30 16:28:43 · 5 answers · asked by Ed 6 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Weather
Because rainbows are not an actual formation but a trick of the light in water, it is not usually possible to have a 'colorless' rainbow.
However, AT NIGHT and only then, there are things known as Moonbows. These are typically white. But they are rare and seldom seen.
2006-11-30 18:06:16 · answer #1 · answered by ? 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm going to take a wild guess on this one. Rainbows are fomred when there is a band of raindrops between the sun and clear sky which can act as a projection screen of sors for the rainbow to appear on. The sunlight shines through the raindrops, and they act like little prisms to break up the white light into colors.
Now, suppose there were two such bands of raindrops that the light passed through. Would the second one revese the action of the first and recombine the colors into white light again, and only keep the arc shape...? It seems unlikely, but that's the best idea I can come up with.
I know a guy who is a professional pilot and has a reference book filled with all sort of unusual cloud formations and weather conditions, since they see a lot and have to be familiar with such things so they don't become confused or lose their way. I don't suppose you tried searching on line on the term white rainbow, or colorless rainbow...?
The closest thing I can remember from looking in that book is that moonlight can also sometimes from rainbows, and the colors are very pale then. Good luck finding out more!
1 DEC 06, 0550 hrs, GMT.
2006-11-30 16:46:20 · answer #2 · answered by cdf-rom 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A rainbow's color comes from the diffraction of white light through water droplets into its constituent colors. If the light is not diffracted but just reflected then you would only see the white "color".
2006-11-30 16:37:56 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Any chance it could be clouds? I know that sounds crazy, but I guess since I didn't actually see it...I'm not sure I would know
2006-11-30 16:37:43 · answer #4 · answered by wyomingirlie16 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
FADED RAIN BOW?
2006-11-30 17:15:31 · answer #5 · answered by R Purushotham Rao 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋