• Question: why does a randow appear after it rains?

    Asked by stormmoolman to Wei on 21 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Wei Xun

      Wei Xun answered on 21 Jun 2011:

      hi there!

      The sunlight that we see as white is actually made up from many many different coloured lights, when it travels through something transparent and more dense than air, it’s bent by the material and seperates out into the different colours each at slightly different angles, you can see this clearly using a triangular prism: http://is.gd/0WSP2i

      After it rains, there are lots and lots little tiny raindrops hanging in the air which acts like tiny prisms and combine to produce lovely rainbows. If you want to try making one yourself take a look here:

      http://is.gd/SoV7ox

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