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Chapter 5: Problem 47

Search the World Wide Web for information about rainbows. Why do rainbows form? Why do they appear as circular arcs? Why can you see different colors?

Short Answer

Expert verified
Rainbows form when sunlight is refracted, or bent, and then internally reflected by raindrops, causing the light to spread out into its spectrum of colors. They appear as circular arcs because each raindrop reflects the light back towards the sun, creating a circular path of light. The different colors occur because each color in the light spectrum is bent by a different amount when it is refracted by the raindrop.

Step by step solution

01

Understanding the Formation of Rainbows

A rainbow occurs when sunlight and rain combine in a certain way. When sunlight passes through raindrops in the air, the light is refracted, or bent, and then reflected off the inside surface of the raindrop. After reflecting off the surface, the light is refracted again. This double refraction causes the different colors in the light spectrum to spread out and form a circle of colors.
02

Rainbows as Circular Arcs

Rainbows appear as circular arcs because of the way light is refracted and reflected in the droplets of water. Rainbows always appear directly opposite the sun because each raindrop is reflecting the sunlight back towards the sun. As a result, an observer on the ground sees the collection of refracted light as a circular arc in the sky.
03

Colors in a Rainbow

The different colors of a rainbow are due to dispersion of light. When sunlight is refracted by a raindrop, the different colors in the light spectrum are bent by different amounts. This is due to the fact that each color has a slightly different wavelength. Shorter wavelengths (like blue and violet) are bent more than longer wavelengths (like red). So, when the light exits the raindrop, it is spread out into a spectrum of colors.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

You are given a traffic ticket for going through a red light (wavelength \(700 \mathrm{~nm}\) ). You tell the police officer that because you were approaching the light, the Doppler effect caused a blueshift that made the light appear green (wavelength \(500 \mathrm{~nm}\) ). How fast would you have had to be going for this to be true? Would the speeding ticket be justified? Explain.

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