Two people observing a rainbow cannot see the same colors from the same rainbow, and it is possible to use polarized glasses to make a “rainbow” disappear. These are just a couple of the fascinating facts about this beautiful natural phenomenon.
>>> Rare Moments of Rainbows Appearing Around the World
1. Rainbows Rarely Appear at Noon
Rainbows are typically seen in the morning and late afternoon. This phenomenon occurs due to the dispersion of sunlight when it refracts and reflects through raindrops at a temperature of about 42 degrees Celsius. Temperatures are often higher than this ideal level at noon, which is why rainbows rarely form during that time.
2. Rainbows Can Appear at Night
A rainbow that appears at night is called a lunar rainbow. This occurs because the rainbow is created by light reflected on the surface of the moon, rather than direct sunlight.
Image: scienceblogs.com
3. Two People Do Not See the Same Colors of the Rainbow
The sunlight refracts with specific raindrops to create the image of a rainbow in one person’s eyes, but at the same time, these rays of light also refract with other raindrops at a different angle in someone else’s field of vision. This is why the colors of the rainbow seen by each person can be different, even when standing in the same position and observing the same rainbow.
4. You Cannot Get Close to a Rainbow
A rainbow moves as the observer moves. This is because the light that creates the rainbow forms at a specific distance and angle from the observer’s eyes. This distance always exists between the viewer and the phenomenon.
5. Not All Colors of the Rainbow Can Be Seen
Aside from the seven basic colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, a rainbow is made up of more than a million continuous shades of colors, including those that the human eye cannot perceive.
6. Multiple Rainbows Can Form at the Same Time
An observer may see more than one rainbow when the light refracts within a raindrop, dividing into its component colors. A double rainbow occurs when this happens inside a raindrop twice, triple when it occurs three times, and even quadruple if it happens four times.
7. You Can Make a Rainbow Disappear
Discovery Magazine points out that we can use polarized glasses to block a rainbow. This is because polarized glasses are coated with vertically aligned molecules, while light reflected from water is polarized horizontally.
