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El_Cadejo's avatar

Some questions about rainbows.

Asked by El_Cadejo (34610points) September 25th, 2012

So I saw a really nice rainbow yesterday and I got me thinking about how exactly a rainbow is made which made me realize just how many questions I have about them.

First, why is a rainbow arced the way it is? I understand that light is refracted as it hits the water molecules which causes it to bend but why do we get the more flat bit at the top? Shouldnt it just be a ray of bent color coming down from the sky?

Why is it when we view a rainbow it always looks flat and is perpendicular to us? Why don’t we ever see rainbows that look like they’re coming in our direction?

If light is being refracted by the water molecules in the air that cause it to bend and split into those colors why isnt it further refracted by the next water molecule it hits changing the color further or sending the light in a different directions instead of the flat line we see?

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