Two observers standing apart from one another do not see the “same” rainbow. Explain.?

Answer 1

One could go with something as basic as how they comprehend what they see

Answer 2

A rainbow is formed by the backwards reflection of the sun's rays. As an observer stands with his or her back to the sun looking at a rainy region he sees this reflection. The pattern backscattered from a drop of rain has a complex structure that depends on the wavelength (color) of the light and the angle from which it is observed.

For example, suppose the observer is at ground level and observes a rainbow that is a half circle. If he or she got in an elevator he would see the rainbow describe more and more of a circle. If you have ever seen a rainbow from an airplane you might see a complete circle.

Since the rainbow depends on the observation angle and no two observers can have exactly the same observation angle, no two rainbow observations will be exactly alike.

Sir Readalot is wrong about the rainbow being only in the mind. It is a physical phenomenon, demonstrated by the fact that you can take a photo of a rainbow.

Ashely's sacred texts have got it completely wrong, also. Their "explanation" has to do with the spherical emanation of light by the sun. The fact is that the rainbow pattern is observed when a spherical object, such as a raindrop, is illuminated by a plane wave also.

The theory of the rainbow and associated phenomena, such as the glory (a glowing halo), is a well understood and an extremely elegant theory was first worked out by a physicist named Mie. It has many applications in the illumination of small objects by lasers. If anybody is interested, I'm sure a search of Mie Scattering would give a lot of information.

Sllieder's reference from Wikipedia shows why you shouldn't place too much confidence in that source. It is not an optical illusion - the "illusion" part suggests that is is not really there. As the different wavelengths of white light are backreflect to the observation point, they have undergone slightly different paths in the raindrop. In a similar manner to the slit experiment, there is constructive and destructive interference, which is a function of the observation angle. This is what causes red light to be a maximum at one angle and blue at another, and so on.

Also, the phenomenon is much more complicated than a prism. It has to do with light being backward from a transparent spherical object.

As I mentioned above this is real phenomenon, not an illusion, since it can be photographed. The location of the peaks for each wavelength can be calculated by Mie theory (for a given size sphere) and shown to experimentally verified.

Answer 3

are you looking for a physical answer about why we see rainbows?

physically, water droplets in the air act as a prism, which split light into it wavelengths, which we see as red, orang yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. this is a process we call "refraction".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prism_%28optics%29

as far as why no two people ever see the "same" rainbow, here is the reason:
"A rainbow does not actually exist at a particular location in the sky. It is an optical illusion whose apparent position depends on the observer's location and the position of the sun. All raindrops refract and reflect the sunlight in the same way, but only the light from some raindrops reaches the observer's eye. "

this is from here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow

by the way, i read this before i posted it as a reference. i already understood the reasons behind this, but couldn't explain it well enough myself, and i think wikipedia did a pretty good job.

Answer 4

Aside from the slightly different angles at which they view the rainbow, there are the differences in perception between individuals. The rainbow exists in reality, but the image of the rainbow exists in the mind.

Hey idiot JeffT: read again what I wrote above. I wrote that the rainbow exists in reality (what the hell do you think that means?), but that the IMAGE of the rainbow exists in the mind. What part of that do you not understand?

A physical image of the rainbow is focused on the retina, but a perceptual image is constructed in the visual cortex of the brain.

Answer 5

Two reasons: No two people perceive the same thing the same way ever, and the appearance of the rainbow is the result of refracted light and is therefore visible relative to the vantage point of the viewer. Two different vantage points equals two different perceptions of the rainbow.

Answer 6

It's simply looking at something from a different angle or perspective. Supposing, for example, a group of people witness an accident or bank robbery. Trying to get them to agree on what they saw is like trying to mate an elephant with your pet dog. It just doesn't work.

Answer 7

What do you mean by the 'same' rainbow? It's like a difference in opinion or being biast, however you choose to look at it.
Example: I like green, he likes blue. I'm more likely to see green in the rainbow and he is more likely to see blue.

Answer 8

They are each facing different directions and so see different rainbows.

Answer 9

They are looking diffrent ways

Answer 10

I think you can find your answer in this article, about half way through.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/earth/cc/cc14.htm