There are various natural phenomena like blue color of sky, white clouds, red hue at sunrise and sunset and many more. In this article we will discuss about rainbow and its formation in the sky. Rainbow occurs due to result of refraction , dispersion and reflection of sunlight. For its formation, there is need of sunlight in one part of the sky whereas, rain in the other side of the sky.
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Formation of Rainbow
Formation of Rainbow
Refraction of light takes place when sunlight enters into the raindrop. The small raindrop acts as prism. Therefore, white light separate into different color component. Light with large wavelength undergo least bending, whereas, light with shorter wavelength undergo most bending. After refraction when color component strikes the inner surface of the raindrop i.e. 48° then the components undergo reflection. These light components again undergo refraction and come out of the drop. It is found that violet light emerges at angle of 40° to incoming sunlight, whereas, the red light emerges at an angle of 42°. Rest of the colours emerges out of the drop making an angle between 40° and 42° with incoming light.
Formation of primary rainbow
Formation of Primary Rainbow
It can be explained with the help of two drops. We see that red light from drop 1 and violet light from drop 2 reach observers eye. In this case, violet light from drop one and red light from drop 2 are directed at different levels. As a result, the observer sees a rainbow with red color on the top and violet color on the bottom. Primary rainbow results in three step process, which are refraction , reflection and refraction .
Formation of Secondary Rainbow
Formation of Secondary Rainbow
When light rays undergo reflection twice inside the drop, then secondary rainbow is formed. Therefore, its formation is four step process refraction , reflection, reflection and refraction . Hence, intensity of light is reduced at secondary reflection, therefore, secondary rainbow is fainter than primary one. Moreover, the order of colors get reversed in case of secondary rainbow.
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Keywords: Refraction, Reflection, Dispersion
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