Rainbows

Rainbows are beautiful multicoloured arcs of light in the sky. They appear when it is raining in one part of the sky and sunny in another. Most people think the only colors of a rainbow are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. This is normally memorized by mnemonics for example “Roy G. Biv” – each letter represents the first letter of the main seven colours of the rainbow.

 Rainbows occur when it's both raining and the sun is shining simultaneously. To see a rainbow, you must stand with your back to the sun, otherwise it will not be visible. When you see a rainbow it is after rain. The sun is always behind you and the rain in front of you when a rainbow appears, so the center of the rainbow's arc is directly opposite the sun.  Most people think the only colors of a rainbow are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, but a rainbow is actually made up of an entire continuum of colors—even colors the eye can't see!

“It was Sir Isaac Newton who discovered that sunlight falling upon a prism could split into its component colours. Newton named the component colours: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Most of these are easy to distinguish except for indigo. Legend has it that Newton included indigo because he felt that there should be seven rather than six colours in a rainbow due to his strong religious beliefs.”


We are able to see the colors of a rainbow because light of different colors is refracted when it travels from one medium, such as air, and into another- -in this case, the water of the raindrops. When all the colors that make up sunlight are combined, they look white, but once they are refracted, the colors break up into the ones we see in a rainbow.

People have been asking questions about rainbows since the beginning of time. One question frequently asked is, how far away is that rainbow? That is a tough one. How far away are the raindrops that produce it? It is hard to judge how far away a rain cloud is; especially if it's moving. The rainbow's distance extends from the nearest to the farthest raindrops that contribute any part of the colored light. The closest of these raindrops may be miles away. In the case of water spray from a lawn sprinkler in which a rainbow appears, you can reach right in and "touch it"....or so it seems. Many questions are unique to one's cultural history. Where is that pot of gold? That is a good question too.

The idea that a pot of gold can be found at the rainbow's end originated somewhere in old Europe. In Silesia, an obscure area of eastern Europe, it was said that the angels put the gold there

Can you go under a rainbow's arch and come out the other side? Not according to the laws of physics. A rainbow is all light and water. It is always in front of you while your back is to the sun.

Do two people ever see the same rainbow? No. As the eyes of two people cannot occupy the same place in space at the same time, each observer sees a different rainbow. Why? Well, because the raindrops are constantly in motion so its appearance is always changing. Each time you see a rainbow, it is unique in its own spectacular way! Many people consider rainbows to be an omen of some kind. It is an ancient desire rooted in our cultural mythologies.

The legends of many cultures see the rainbow as a kind of bridge between heaven and earth. One of the most beautiful sights in nature, the rainbow has become in western culture a symbol of renewed hope; something lucky to look upon. To Iranian Moslems, even the brilliance of the colors in a rainbow have significance. A prominent green means abundance, red means war, and yellow brings death. The Arawak Indians of South America recognize the rainbow as a fortunate sign if it seen over the ocean, while tribes in northeastern Siberia see it as the tongue of the sun. The North American Catawba Indians of the Southeast and the Tlingit of the Northwest both regard it as the bridge between the living and the dead.

Rainbows can also be seen during night time! Moonlight can produce enough light to create a rainbow at night. “This is a lunar rainbow or 'moonbow'. Moonbows are rare because moonlight is not very bright. A bright moon near to full is needed, it must be raining opposite the moon, the sky must be dark and the moon must be less than 42º high. Put all these together and you do not get to see a moonbow very often! To the unaided eye they usually appear without colour because their light is not bright enough to activate the cone colour receptors in our eyes. Nonetheless colours have been reported and might be seen when the moon is bright.”

When view from the ground, a rainbow appears as all or part of a great arc of colour. When viewed from a plane it is possible to see an entire circle as you can look down on raindrops as well as up to them!

The rainbow further has a place in legend owing to its beauty. In Greek mythology, the rainbow was considered to be a path made by a messenger between Earth and Heaven. In Chinese mythology, the rainbow was a slit in the sky sealed by goddess Nüwa using stones of five different colors. In Hindu mythology, the rainbow is called Indradhanush, meaning "the bow of Indra", the god of lightning, thunder and rain. Rainbows have held great fascination throughout the journey of humanity.

I would like to end this essay with a quote, 'A rainbow is born of the shower and coloured by the sun'.