What is a rainbow and why does it appear?

The rainbow is one of the most beautiful phenomena of nature. A man from time immemorial thought about its nature and associated the appearance in the sky of a colorful arc with many beliefs and legends. People compared the rainbow to the heavenly bridge from which the gods or angels descended to the earth, then with the road between heaven and earth, then with the gates to the other world beyond.

What is a rainbow

A rainbow is an atmospheric optical phenomenon that is observed when a lot of water droplets are illuminated by the sun during rain or fog, or after a rain. As a result of the refraction of sunlight in drops of water during the rain, a multicolored arc appears in the sky.

The rainbow also occurs in the reflected rays of the Sun from the water surface of sea bays, lakes, waterfalls or large rivers. Such a rainbow appears on the shore of reservoirs and looks extraordinarily beautiful.

Why the multicolored rainbow

The rainbow arcs are colorful, but they need sunlight. Sunlight seems to us white, but actually consists of the colors of the spectrum. We used to distinguish seven colors in the rainbow - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, blue, violet, but as the spectrum is continuous, the colors smoothly pass into each other through many shades.

A colorful arc arises because a ray of light is refracted in droplets of water, and then, returning to the observer at an angle of 42 degrees, splits into components from red to violet.

The brightness of the shades and the width of the rainbow depend on the size of the rain drops. The larger the drop, the brighter the rainbow, the more red the color is. If there is a small rain, the rainbow turns out to be wide, but with faded orange and yellow edges.

What a rainbow is like

We often see a rainbow in the form of an arc, but the arc is just part of the rainbow. The rainbow has the shape of a circle, but we observe only half the arc, because its center is aligned with our eyes and the Sun. Whole rainbow can be seen only at high altitude, from the side of the plane or from a high mountain.

Double rainbow



We already know that the rainbow in the sky appears from the fact that the sun's rays penetrate the raindrops, are refracted and are reflected on the other side of the sky in a multicolored arc. And sometimes a sunbeam can build two, three, or even four rainbows in the sky. A double rainbow is obtained when the light ray reflects off the inner surface of the rain drops twice.

The first rainbow, the inner one, is always brighter than the second, external, and the colors of the arcs on the second rainbow are in the mirror image and less bright. The sky between the rainbows is always darker than other parts of the sky. The section of the sky between the two rainbows is called the strip of Alexander. To see a double rainbow is a good sign-this is to luck, to the fulfillment of desires. So if you happen to see a double rainbow, hurry to make a wish and it will surely come true.

Inverted rainbow



Inverted rainbow phenomenon is quite rare. It appears under certain conditions, when at an altitude of 7-8 kilometers a thin veil is arranged by cirrus clouds consisting of ice crystals. Sunlight, falling at a certain angle on these crystals, decomposes into the spectrum and is reflected in the atmosphere. The color in the inverted rainbow is in the reverse order: on top is violet, and from below - red.

Foggy rainbow



A misty rainbow or white appears when the sun's rays are illuminated by a fog, consisting of very small droplets of water. Such a rainbow is an arc, painted in very pale colors, and if the droplets are very small, then the rainbow is painted white. A misty rainbow can appear also at night during a fog when in the sky a bright moon. A misty rainbow is a fairly rare atmospheric phenomenon.

Moon rainbow



A moon rainbow or a night rainbow appears at night and is generated by the Moon. The moon rainbow is observed during the rain that goes in front of the moon, the moonbow rainbow is particularly visible during the full moon, when the bright moon is not high in the dark sky. Also, a lunar rainbow can be observed in areas where there are waterfalls.

Fiery rainbow



A fiery rainbow is a rare optical atmospheric phenomenon. A fiery rainbow appears when sunlight passes through cirrus clouds at an angle of 58 degrees above the horizon. Another prerequisite for the appearance of a fiery rainbow is the hexagonal ice crystals, which have the form of a sheet and their faces must be parallel to the ground. The sun's rays, passing through the vertical faces of the ice crystal, refract and ignite a fiery rainbow or roundly - a horizontal arc, so in science is called a fiery rainbow.

Winter rainbow


Winter rainbow - this is a very surprising phenomenon. Such a rainbow can be observed only in winter, during a severe frost, when the cold Sun shines on a pale blue sky, and the air is filled with small ice crystals. The sun's rays are refracted, passing through these crystals, as through a prism and reflected in a cold sky with a multicolored arc.

Is there a rainbow without rain?



The rainbow can also be observed on a sunny, clear day near waterfalls, fountains, in the garden when watering flowers from a hose, holding the hose hole with your fingers, creating a water mist and guiding the hose towards the Sun.

How to remember the colors of the rainbow



If you can not remember how the colors in the rainbow are arranged, the phrase " TO every about hunter AS will help you de With goes F azan. "