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by witedevl on May 15th, 2005

witedevl

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How do rainbows form?

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  • by saratchandra on June 3rd, 2005

    saratchandra

    The formation of a rainbow is based on the phenomenon of dispersion of light. When white light passes through a prism,it gets dispersed into seven colours (Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red). In the case of a rainbow,the sun light is the light ray,the rain drop acts as a prism (May not be geometrically a prism,but causes a change in the medium) and the sky acts as screen. So rainbows will be formed only if the sun is at a position so that the light rays after the dispersion fall on the sky and this is the reason why rainbows are formed only during sunrise or sunset. And regarding the bow shape,it depends on the geometry of the raindrop which is generally spherical in shape and so it forms a bow.

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