Why are rainbow shaped like a semi-circle?

When light is refracted off of droplets of water it enables you to see all the colors that make up white light (sunlight, even light from bulbs.) creating what people more commonly refer to as a rainbow. 


Go outside on a sunny day and spray the waterhose if you have one. 

If you look very carefully, you can see that the rainbow you created is not just a semi-circle, but a full circle! 

The bottom half is harder to see, but it is there. 

The reason rainbows don't look like that when we see them outside is because we are too low to the ground to see the rest.

All comments are reviewed by the administrator, before they are published.

Post a Comment (0)
Previous Post Next Post