The Science Behind Beautiful Rainbows (no pink!)
We all love beautiful rainbows, that appear when it’s raining and sunny. But what are they, and how much do you know about them? Rainbows are simply a natural physics phenomenon, which happens when sunlight passes through raindrops, to act like tiny prisms, breaking the light into different hues.
Due to England having such changeable weather, we have more rainbows than most countries (they are common during short showers).
Understanding the Colours of the Rainbow
We all know that a rainbow has seven colours, which always appear in the same order. This is because when light passes through water droplets, it bends and separates into wavelengths:
Red has the longest wavelength (through orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet, which has the shortest wavelength).
If sunlight bends and reflects light twice, you may see a double rainbow, the second one has its colours reversed.
Rainbows only contain pure colours. So that’s why you’ll never see pink, as this is a mix of red (long wavelength) and blue/violet light (shorter wavelength).
Rainbows are actually a full circle, but we only see an arc. Pilots in aeroplanes see them as circles.
Hawaii has the world’s most rainbows, as it has so much sun and rain!
Poetry Break: The Rainbow by Christina Rossetti
Boats sail on the rivers,
And ships sail on the seas;
But clouds that sail across the sky
Are prettier far than these.There are bridges on the rivers,
As pretty as you please;
But the bow that bridges heaven,
And overtops the trees,
And builds a road from earth to sky,
Is prettier far than these.
