How far does a rainbow go? I mean, what wavelengths?
2007-07-30 14:27:43 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Weather
A rainbow goes the entire sectrum, from red all the way to blue, or from ultra violet to infra red.
2007-07-31 01:26:59 · answer #1 · answered by trey98607 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The question was, "How far away is a rainbow?" From the diagram, we see that, as we face the image of the rainbow, it is 93,000,000 miles behind us.
This result is so counter-intuitive (except maybe to mathematicians and physicists), that it is instantly rejected by people, even before it enters their consciousness. If you were looking at the image of the sun (or anything else) in a mirror, and triangulated by the same method above, you would find that the actual image of the sun (not just the sun itself, but also its image) was behind you. It makes some sense with a mirror. Well, each rain drop is a little mirror, reflecting an image of the sun. Each rain drop also acts like a prism, to get the colors, and to move the image off to the side a little. [I'm working on this article. The mirror analogy is flawed]
Of course the rainbow shows the colors (top to bottom) red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo (a kind of blue violet), violet. Use the acronym "Roy G. Biv" to remember this (or Roy G. Bv, if you don't want to explain indigo). A fainter rainbow, with the colors reversed can often be seen outside the main rainbow. Further, fainter rainbows can sometimes be seen.
2007-07-31 19:48:18 · answer #2 · answered by christina J 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
If you mean the both ends of the rainbow ,they can go till they come together and complete a circle.If you mean the horizontal distance,the rainbow can go deep into the atmosphere till either the humidity becomes zero percent or as far as your eyes can see.If you mean the wavelength, it contains all the visible wavelenths that the sunlight has.
2007-07-30 23:18:44 · answer #3 · answered by Arasan 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It can go as far as the Earth's atmosphere. It's a prismatic effect caused by sunlight reflecting off of droplets in the atmosphere. As far as wavelengths go, a rainbow has the same wavelengths as any other ray of light from the sun - we only see the visible light, though.
2007-07-30 21:37:40 · answer #4 · answered by The Walking Dead 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
A rainbow is always at the same place depending on what angle you see it from. If you approach it, the rainbow goes farther away.
2007-07-30 21:37:08 · answer #5 · answered by Eniko K 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Far away that you can not see the end of the rainbow where there is a pot of gold
2007-07-30 21:32:04 · answer #6 · answered by kimm 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
From one end to the other.
2007-07-30 21:34:48 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋