A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky.[1] The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc.[2] Rainbows caused by sunlight always appear in the section of sky directly opposite the Sun. Rainbows can be caused by many forms of airborne water. These include not only rain, but also mist, spray, and airborne dew.
Rainbows can be full circles. However, the observer normally sees only an arc formed by illuminated droplets above the ground,[3] and centered on a line from the Sun to the observer's eye.
In a primary rainbow, the arc shows red on the outer part and violet on the inner side. This rainbow is caused by light being refracted when entering a droplet of water, then reflected inside on the back of the droplet and refracted again when leaving it.
In a double rainbow, a second arc is seen outside the primary arc, and has the order of its colours reversed, with red on the inner side of the arc. This is caused by the light being reflected twice on the inside of the droplet before leaving it.
^Tony Buick (2010). The Rainbow Sky: An Exploration of Colors in the Solar System and Beyond. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 200. ISBN 9781441910530. Archived from the original on 22 June 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
^"Rainbow". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 20 May 2023. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
^Masters, Jeff (14 April 2005). "The 360-degree Rainbow". Weather Underground. The Weather Company. Archived from the original on 29 January 2015.
A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum...
"Over the Rainbow", also known as "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", is a ballad by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Yip Harburg. It was written for the 1939 film...
In Rainbows is the seventh studio album by the English rock band Radiohead. It was self-released on 10 October 2007 as a pay-what-you-want download, followed...
The Rainbow is a novel by British author D. H. Lawrence, first published by Methuen & Co. in 1915. It follows three generations of the Brangwen family...
Rainbow Warrior(s), rainbow warrior(s), or Warriors of the Rainbow may refer to Warriors of the Rainbow (1962), an evangelical religious tract by William...
A rainbow flag is a multicolored flag consisting of the colors of the rainbow. The designs differ, but many of the colors are based on the seven spectral...
"Rainbow Connection" is a song from the 1979 film The Muppet Movie, with music and lyrics written by Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher. The song was performed...
Look up rainbow bridge in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Rainbow Bridge may refer to: Bifröst, a rainbow bridge connecting Asgard to Midgard in Norse...
The rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead...
The rainbow lorikeet (Trichoglossus moluccanus) is a species of parrot found in Australia. It is common along the eastern seaboard, from northern Queensland...
A rainbow table is a precomputed table for caching the outputs of a cryptographic hash function, usually for cracking password hashes. Passwords are typically...
Double Rainbow may refer to: Double rainbow, a variation of the meteorological phenomenon Double Rainbow (ice cream), a brand of premium ice cream, sorbets...
Rainbow Springs, formerly known as Blue Spring, is a first-magnitude artesian spring formation in Marion County, Florida, United States, several miles...
At the Rainbow (re-released as Live at the Rainbow) is the first live album from the Dutch rock band Focus, released in October 1973 on Imperial Records...
deglupta is a species of tall tree, commonly known as the rainbow eucalyptus, Mindanao gum, or rainbow gum that is native to the Philippines, Indonesia, and...
Rainbow Gatherings are temporary, loosely knit communities of people, who congregate in remote forests around the world for one or more weeks at a time...
The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake is a common deity often seen as the creator God, known by numerous names in different Australian Aboriginal languages...
Rainbow Brite is a media franchise by Hallmark Cards, introduced in 1984. The animated Rainbow Brite television series first aired in 1984, the same year...
The Rainbow Series (sometimes known as the Rainbow Books) is a series of computer security standards and guidelines published by the United States government...
Into the Rainbow (titled: 奇迹：追逐彩虹; The Wonder: Chasing Rainbows) is a fantasy adventure film directed by Norman Stone, co-directed by Gary Wing-Lun Mak...
The rainbow shark (Epalzeorhynchos frenatum) is a species of Southeast Asian freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae. It is also known as the ruby...
The Rainbow Family of Living Light is a counter-culture, in existence since approximately 1970. It is a loose affiliation of individuals, some nomadic...
Global Information