Why Rainbows Appear

After it rains and the sun shines, beautiful rainbows sometimes appear in the sky. Rainbows are formed through the process of light refracting and reflecting when sunlight meets raindrops. Although sunlight appears to be made of a single color, it's actually a mixture of various colors. When sunlight enters a water droplet, refraction occurs, changing the direction of light. After reflecting once inside the droplet, it exits, causing the colors to separate. Because each color of light refracts slightly differently, the various colors spread out in different directions. In the rainbows we commonly see, colors appear in the order of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Rainbows also depend on the positions of the sun and the observer, so they can't be seen just anywhere. Generally, you need the right conditions where it's raining and the sunlight is shining from the appropriate direction. It's fascinating that scientific principles like refraction and reflection of light are hidden within something as ordinary as a rainbow.