How Rainbows Are Formed and How To Make Your Own Rainbow
As the fabulous Dolly Parton once remarked:
"The way I see it, if you want a rainbow, you've got to put up with the rain."
Photo by Nicholas T
A rain shower's aftereffect which produces that beautiful bow-o-color is all sorts of fun to spy. Have you ever wondered just HOW a rainbow appears?
What Is A Rainbow?
- A rainbow is an arched light which is separated into bands of parallel color stripes.
- When the sun's rays are bent and reflected by drops of rain, the rainbow appears.
- A rainbow is composed of the colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
How Does It Get Its Colors?
The colors of a rainbow form by the dispersion of light, as the light passes through a prism. The prism distributes the different colors of light according to their wavelengths; so it appears as a spectrum as it travels from the prism to the air.
The sun's white light is made up of a spectrum of colors that act like a wave.
Sir Isaac Newton illustrated this by letting sunlight beams pass through a prism and proved that sunlight consists of many colors that the human eye cannot see separately. These colors are the same that compose a rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet).
So Why Do The Colors Appear In That Order?
Light is bent at different angles for each different wavelength. They appear in the order they do because of the color band.
- Red is least refracted
- Violet is most refracted
- The other colors left are found between red and violet
Where Do Rainbows Begin?
A rainbow will always appear directly opposite the sun from the person viewing it. So a rainbow always appears in front of a person whose back is to the sun.
Rainbows don't sit at one particular place in the sky. One's perception of a rainbow depends on where the person stands and where the sun's position is in conjunction.
All raindrops reflect and refract light in the same way, but not all of the light from the raindrop will reach the observer's eye, so the light that reaches each person constructs the rainbow for that person.
Why Are Rainbows Shaped The Way They Are?
The arc shape that rainbows appear like in the sky are really formed as a circle. The rainbow is circular because when a raindrop bends light, the light exits the raindrop at a 40-42 degree angle away from the angle it entered the raindrop.
Blues and violets bend at a 40 degree angle.
- Reds and oranges bend at a 42 degree angle.
Rainbows don't actually have ends to them, because they are full circles. We can't observe this because the horizon of the earth is in our way.
If the sun is low in the sky, we can see a half circle. If the sun is high in the sky, we see less of the rainbow.
Make Your Own Rainbow
To make your own rainbow, use a garden hose or spray bottle. Spray the water in bright sunlight with the sun behind you and the spray in front of you. If the entire circle is not visible you can move the hose around to see the rest of the circle.
Photo by me'nthedogs'
"Life is like a rainbow. You need both the sun and the rain to make its colors appear."
Photo by Nicholas T
Saturday, December 5, 2009 at 12:24PM
Reader Comments (8)
awesome...i love rainbows...i try to snap a picture of 1 everytime i'm lucky enough to see it, especially if it's double they are my fav
Wait...what? I thought god made rainbows, no?
Quoted: Wait...what? I thought god made rainbows, no? by Tiger
Tiger, for clarification, I think what you really meant with the above question is, "does God make each rainbow". The answer to this question is of course no, as you suggest. However, since God created the universe, including light, and all of the laws of nature we observe today, then one could say God makes rainbows, or at least the laws of light that produce rainbows.
Your post is not a good argument to use if your goal is to make Christians look/sound/seem to be stupid. And your logical response to me saying so will likely be something along the lines that I am a stupid christian, especially if I believe that God created the universe. How naive of me.
Scripture clearly states that even though you may have convinced yourself that God doesn't exist, deep down inside you know the truth. This is an idea known as "general revelation" and comes from the following scripture (see below). You too can know God personally. He loves you very much, even if you hate him. His love far exceeds our understanding, and is not the same kind of love we're familiar with. It is an unfailing, unending love, and God desires you to know Him. And you can. If you'll simply trust Him. Here's that scripture I mentioned.
"For what can be known about God is plain to them, (or, to all) because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse; for although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened (Romans 1:19-21)
Here's how you can know Him:
Rom 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Rom 10:8 But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach):
Rom 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
Rom 10:10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Rom 10:11 For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."
Rom 10:12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.
Rom 10:13 For "whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved."
This is reiterated in John 3:16, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
I hope you accept His free invitation. As it says in the book of Revelation (3:20), He stands at the door or your heart, knocking, waiting for you to let him in: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me."
hahaha Mr. Heme, you got us all with that one. God created everything in the universe because you said so, good argument.
Tiger now that you did not worship Mr. Heme's god you are now going to be gay. Um, I guess we need to read the verses surrounding the ones around those which Mr. Heme quoted.
Romans 1:27 "And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet."
Oh and I do have to ask the obvious. What exactly is the "natural use of the woman?" It would appear as though the implication here is that the natural use of a woman is to be a man's sexual toy.
My personal favorite in chapter one of Romans:
Romans 1:32 "Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them."
- so lets get this straight, even though god loves everyone so much even if we do not love him back, however, if you are gay, then you should be put to death and sent to hell. hmmmmm, interesting.
Mr. Heme, you quote Romans 10:13 For "whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved." and John 3:16.
So is faith alone enough to gain entrance into the kingdom of heaven? If that is what you think than how do you explain:
Matthew 7:21 "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."
It would appear as though having faith is not enough, you must do god in heavens will. Um, so does that mean we should kill all the gays as Romans 1:32 says. What the fuck are we in Uganda (where they actually kill you if you are gay.)
Should you really be telling people that all they have to do is have faith and the will know your god. Perhaps you should read the rest of the book before you give our spiritual advice to people.
What a fucking ridiculous book.
One more for you Mr. Heme,
In the Book of Mormon 2 Nephi 9:42 "And who so knocketh, to him will he open; and the wise, and the learned, and they that are rich, who are puffed up because of their learning, and their wisdom, and their riches -- yea, they are they whom he despiseth; and save they shall cast these things away, and consider themselves fools before God, and come down in the depths of humility, he will not open unto them."
- according to this scripture you would not be allowed into heaven because you are all puffed up because of your learning and wisdom (or alleged learning and wisdom when you come to this site and post the holier than though comment above). Now I quote this scripture because I am looking forward to you throwing it out because it is in the Book of Mormon, which I assume you think is a fraudulent scripture, um, welcome to my world when people like you quote out of the oldest book of fraudulent scripture around. When are you going to understand that using bible quotes to back up your argument means you fail before you start.
Mr. Heme, which bible are you using? The words used in the scriptures you quote look like the 1984 version of the NIV. I bet you are waiting with baited breath for the the new version that is coming out in a year or so. Christian apologetics at its best.
Mr. Heme:
I understand the point you make about your god creating the universe, therefore having a lot to do with nature/rainbows. Cool, believe what you want. Unlike you and other people, I'm not pushing "no god" on you. And as far as throwing down a bunch of verses from the bible, that's cool too. I am reading the bible right now...it's a great novel. But I will say, I'm quite scared of this god guy. So far he kills whatever he feels like killing. I hope the ending turns out to be full of beautiful love and generosity.
I was not making an argument to make Christians look/seem/sound stupid. And I will not call you stupid no matter what you believe. I'm free to make any kind of jokes I want, just like you are free to witness to me. But for you to "know" what my response will be is a little weird, and to tell me that I know your "truth" deep down inside is quite disturbing. I don't hate your god, I just don't believe in stories made up by people who never hung out this so called "god". BTW, why does he only talk to maybe one or two people at a time? Why not just come out and yell "Hey everyone, check me out!!! I'm the man with the plan and if I feel like it, I may spare some of your lives." ??
I don't really want to get into a scripture debate with you, (I know someone else on here who would probably love to) but you used this:
Rom 10:11 For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame." --I'm not even halfway through the bible and I've already seen millions of people put to death by gods "hand", and a lot of them, I'm sure, believed in him. But they may have accidentally had an impure thought or lived in the wrong place at the wrong time. Hmm...
Just because you quote a bunch of verses does not mean you "know" how I feel deep down. That's kind of freaky when people say that stuff. Not calling you stupid, others can make up their minds about that. I live my life the way I think it should be lived. I probably have a lot of the same morals that are mentioned in some parts of the bible. I'm nice to everyone I meet and if you came up to me on the street and asked "can I talk to you about god?" I would politely tell you, with a smile, "no thanks".
So, to sum it up...no thanks. =)
Steve: If his god turns me gay, then I will accept my sexuality. Unlike some other christians who would hide behind a wife, kids and the bible. Politicians come to mind.
And thanks for the info about the updating of bibles. It's crazy* that the bible is like a computer program or my PS3. I wondered about that when I opened my bible and a screen popped up saying I needed to update. I suppose they want money for the update too?? Shysters!!!
*one of many crazy things about this subject.
Rainbow was very pleasant to the eyes...the color blends well and the very awesome part here is the meaning behind those lovely colors VIOLET- High spiritual attainment for and love for humanity...INDIGO-it symbolizes self mastery, wisdom and infinity..BLUE-very relaxing color of the skies and even ocean it is also known as divinity. GREEN-for good health, balance, growth it also signifies harmony. YELLOW-for full energy, bright and happy it also improves the mind of decision making skills. ORANGE-for wisdom and lots of energy.RED-signifies passion, energy, vibrancy and success. Now you already know its color meaning of the rainbow its very nice to see rainbow specially when it comes after the rain. Lovely and stunning!
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