Thursday, January 19, 2012

Random Rainbows

Wikipedia defines a rainbow as a "an optical and meteorological phenomenon that causes a spectrum of light to appear in the sky when the Sun shines on to droplets of moisture in the Earth's atmosphere. It takes the form of a single arc. Rainbows caused by sunlight always appear in the section of sky directly opposite the sun."  In the primary rainbow, red appears on the outer side of the arc, followed by orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.   Of course, we all know that there are also double rainbows.  This occurs when the light is reflected twice in the water droplets.  However, in the second rainbow, the colors are reversed, with indigo in the outer part of the arc and red in the inner arc. Faint third and fourth rainbows can also appear in the direction of the sun.

Source:  Wikipedia

In a double rainbow, the second rainbow is usually outside of the primary rainbow.  The darker area between the two rainbows is known as Alexander's band.

A rare supernumerary rainbow, also called a stacker rainbow, occurs when there is interference between the rays of light striking the water drops and several faint rainbows can be seen on the inner arc of the primary rainbow.

Source:  Wikipedia

Rainbows can also be seen near waterfalls and fountains, or in this case, waves in the ocean.

Source:  Wikipedia

And, of course, everybody knows there's a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow.  I'm headed off to find this one!

Source:  Wikipedia

Maybe I'll see you there.

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