The day started with a rainbow peeking out amidst the sunrise, and ended with a huge rainbow ending in our wake. To some we may have looked like the cruise ship at the end of the rainbow.
In between, a rainbow appeared between our ship and one of the islands we were anchored off of — the rainbow seemed like it was close enough to touch.
Have you seen a rainbow? Have you thought about how it is made?
AI offered me this simplified explanation of how rainbows form:
Imagine sunlight as a bunch of tiny painters, each carrying a different colored paint: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
When it rains, the raindrops act like tiny prisms. A prism is a special shape that can bend light.
So, when sunlight passes through a raindrop, it gets bent and splits up into all its different colors, just like a painter spilling all their paints! That’s what makes a rainbow!
Here’s the magic part: You only see a rainbow when the sun is behind you and the rain is in front of you. It’s like the raindrops are catching the sunlight and throwing the colors back to your eyes.
Cool fact: No two people ever see the exact same rainbow! That’s because the rainbow’s position depends on where you’re standing and how the light is hitting the raindrops.
Have you held a prism up to light and seen what happens?
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