What exactly is a rainbow?

Question

and how is one formed?

Answer 1

A rainbow is the prismatic reflection of the sun light when you have it behind you and water drops in front of you. The effect gives all the colours of the spectrum in a diameter that is ... 22.5 degrees, if I remember correctly.

As the pilot of my little aircraft I sometimes see rainbows that are round. That happens when e.g. I fly over the fog or low laying clouds. On the ground, you see the rainbow as a half circle because in order to have rain and sun at the same time, the sun must be low over the horizon for its rays to come under the clouds.

Answer 2

agree with awais salman

Answer 3

sunlight shines through prisms (a.k.a raindrops), refracting the white light, separating the color spectrum, making all the colors of the "rainbow" visible.

Answer 4

Rainbows are optical and meteorological phenomena that cause a spectrum of light to appear in the sky when the Sun shines onto droplets of moisture in the Earth's atmosphere. They take the form of a multicoloured arc, with red on the outer part of the arch and violet on the inner section of the arch. More rarely, a secondary rainbow is seen, which is a second, fainter arc, outside the primary arc, with colours in the opposite order, that is, with violet on the outside and red on the inside.

A rainbow spans a continuous spectrum of colours. Traditionally, however, the sequence is quantised. The most commonly cited and remembered sequence, in English, is Newton's sevenfold red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. "Roy G. Biv" and "Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain" are popular mnemonics.

Rainbows can be caused by other forms of water than rain, including mist, spray, dew, fog, and ice. Moreover, rainbows can have shapes other than a bow (arc), including stripes, circles, or even flames.

Answer 5

light fractured by water, the light shines through and breaks into the colors seen

Answer 6

Sunlight comes in many different colors but all we see is the white light.  When the sun shines through the water molecules in the air the light bends and shows all of the different colors that it is made of, this creates the rainbow that you see which shape is effected by how the sun hits the molecules  Some rainbows actually just circle around the sun and don't touch down anywhere.

Answer 7

a rainbow is fractured white light. when it rains the water acts like a prism which in turn breaks the white light into the colors you see in a rainbow.hope that helps,sparky.

Answer 8

A rainbow is what is formed when light is reflected and bent through a prism.  You see a rainbow usually after it rains because the moisture in the air actually contains water particles and it acts as a prism and you see the colors of the spectrum, ROYGIBV.  That's red orange yellow green indigo blue and violet.  you can also see rainbows formed on a sunny day like when you're washing you car and spray the hose with a gentle mist.  With the right amount of sun you can see it easily.  Mirrors also act as prisms.  to do this, place a rainbow at an angle into a pan of water.  Shine a flashlight at the mirror and you can see the colors of the rainbow on the ceiling.  Works best obviously indoors and in a dark room

Answer 9

rainbows are arcs of coloured light formed when the Suns rays are reflected and refracted (bent) by drops of water in the air - falling rain or spray. the colours in rainbows are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. a rainbow with red on the outside and violet on the inside is called a primary bow. sometimes, the light is reflected twice and the colours are reversed in a secondary bow. it is possible to see a complete rainbow from an aeroplane.