EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -A rainbow is not a chemical reaction, but is an optical illusion due to sunlight passing through water droplets in the atmosphere. A rainbow occurs due to refraction and reflection, which are behaviors of light waves.

Detailed explanation-2: -Rainbows are formed when sunlight is scattered from raindrops into the eyes of an observer. Most raindrops are spherical rather than the often depicted ‘teardrop’ shape and it is this spherical shape that provides the conditions for a rainbow to be seen.

Detailed explanation-3: -The light rays from the sun enter the water droplet and undergo refraction at the surface, then it hits the other end of a droplet and gets internally reflected showing dispersion into seven colors. Hence rainbow formation is the combined phenomena of refraction, internal reflection, and dispersion as shown in figure.

Detailed explanation-4: -A rainbow is a natural spectrum appearing in the sky after a rain shower. It is caused by dispersion of sunlight by tiny water droplets, present in the atmosphere. A rainbow is always formed in a direction opposite to that of the Sun. The water droplets act like small prisms.