- #1
peter.ell
- 43
- 0
I know this may sound like a stupid question, but after reading about and even watching an entire MIT lecture on rainbow formation, I just don't understand how the colors of a rainbow can show up separately.
Given what I learned about the light paths for different colors in a rainbow, I know that red light is not only refracted at the angle where red is seen in a rainbow, but also at all the other angles. Given this, it means that, while green light is not refracted at the top of a rainbow where red is, red happens to be refracted where green is... which should mean that we would not be able to see any of the colors in a rainbow except for red and whatever the combination of red and all the other colors turns out to be. Yet we don't, why not?
As a side note, the fact that at each color in refracted at angles other the minimum angle of deviation is why the sky seems brighter inside of a rainbow--all the colors just happen to be overlapping and thus white light is produced.
Thanks for helping me out!
Given what I learned about the light paths for different colors in a rainbow, I know that red light is not only refracted at the angle where red is seen in a rainbow, but also at all the other angles. Given this, it means that, while green light is not refracted at the top of a rainbow where red is, red happens to be refracted where green is... which should mean that we would not be able to see any of the colors in a rainbow except for red and whatever the combination of red and all the other colors turns out to be. Yet we don't, why not?
As a side note, the fact that at each color in refracted at angles other the minimum angle of deviation is why the sky seems brighter inside of a rainbow--all the colors just happen to be overlapping and thus white light is produced.
Thanks for helping me out!