The Science Behind Rainbows

Description:
A rainbow appears when sunlight interacts with water droplets in the atmosphere.

Light and water

Sunlight may look white, but it contains many different wavelengths of visible light. When sunlight enters a raindrop, it bends, reflects inside the drop, and bends again as it leaves.

Because different wavelengths bend by slightly different amounts, the colors separate and become visible to our eyes.

Rainbow colors

• Red
• Orange
• Yellow
• Green
• Blue
• Indigo
• Violet