Patrick Henry Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 Just wondering... what causes a rainbow to curve? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Skeptic Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 According to Stephen Colbert, rainbows are God's way of frowning on gay pride parades Rainbows are an effect of multiple water droplets acting as a prism. This is why you see rainbows at waterfalls. You can make your own rainbow by spraying water on a sunny day. The rainbow's center would be along a line from the sun to your head to the rainbow's center (toward the shadow of your head), and the rainbow itself would be at a radius around that, if there is water droplets there (at least I think that is right). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 The light that can get refracted back to your eye must have a constant angle with respect to the light source. That geometry describes a cone, whose base is a circle. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stereologist Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 A rainbow seen from a plane can be a complete circle. To see lots of information and really pretty photos take a look at this link. http://www.atoptics.co.uk/bows.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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