Rainbows Different types of rainbows There are five
Rainbows
Different types of rainbows! There are five different types of rainbows. Primary Secondary Spurious bows Fog bow Lunar rainbow
Primary Rainbows we see frequently. These are the normal red to violet arcs that appear after it rains.
Secondary Ones that are reflected twice inside of the rain drop. They have the colors reversed and are next to the primary rainbow.
Spurious bows They are faint colour arcs that sometimes are seen next to the primary or secondary bow because of interference.
Fog bow They are circles of light that are sometimes seen in clouds and fogbanks.
Lunar Rainbows Are formed when the moon emits white light that raindrops can refract and reflect into the atmosphere. They are not very bright because moonlight is much fainter than sunlight. They also appear as a white arc because loss of light sensitivity at night makes it hard to distinguish the correct colour.
How are rainbows made? Rainbows are caused by another aspect of refraction called dispersion. Light waves of different frequencies (colors) bend different amounts. It is usually noticeable, but prisms make use of this to spread out the spectrum so we can see all of the colors. Violet light bends the most, with each color bending a little less up to red, which bends the least.
Where is the sun when you see a rainbow The sun is always behind you when you face a rainbow, and the center of the circular arc of the rainbow is in the direction opposite to that of the sun. The rain, of course, is in the direction of the rainbow.
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