Rainbows
⭐ MasteredSunlight is made of many colours. Raindrops bend and split the light, creating a rainbow with red on the outside and violet on the inside.
A rainbow is actually a full circle, but the ground blocks the bottom half.
All about Rainbows
A rainbow appears when sunlight shines through raindrops. Each raindrop acts like a tiny prism. The light bends when it enters the drop, splits into different colours, reflects off the back of the drop and bends again as it leaves.
The colours always appear in the same order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Red light bends the least, so it appears on the outside of the bow, and violet bends the most.
Sunlight looks white, but it is actually a mixture of many colours. You can see them when light passes through raindrops. This bending is called refraction, and it spreads the colours out into a band in the sky.
A rainbow has seven main colours, from red on the outside to violet on the inside. To see a rainbow, the Sun must be behind you and the rain must be in front of you. Rainbows often appear when a shower ends and the sun comes out.
🎮 Try it yourself!
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Real-life uses of Rainbows
- Understanding how prisms split white light into colours
- Explaining how fibre-optic cables carry light
- Using spectroscopes to find out what stars are made of
Frequently asked questions about Rainbows
Why do we see a rainbow only sometimes?
You need sunshine behind you and rain in front of you. The angle has to be just right for the light to reach your eyes.
How many colours are in a rainbow?
Most people describe seven colours, but a rainbow is really a smooth blend of many shades.
Can you see a rainbow at night?
Yes, very occasionally. A moonbow forms when moonlight shines through rain, but it looks faint and mostly white.