Why does a rainbow appear. The most beautiful and unusual phenomena in our sky What is a rainbow

My friend, have you ever dreamed of walking on a rainbow and getting into fairyland? My mood always improves when I see this very beautiful natural phenomenon. Today I will answer your question “How is a rainbow formed?”

A long time ago, people considered the rainbow as the road to Heaven and believed that it was possible to get to the World of the Gods through it.

Now the rainbow has its own scientific explanation. After rain, some droplets hang in the air, never reaching the ground. The rays of the sun fall on the raindrops and, reflecting from them, as if from a mirror, scientifically refracting, become multi-colored.

My friend, have you heard the saying: "Every hunter wants to know where the pheasant sits"? The first letter of each word denotes the order of colors in the amazing and very beautiful natural phenomenon that you learned about today: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Blue, Violet.

The colors of the rainbow were first identified by Newton. True, at first he identified only five colors - red, yellow, green, blue and purple. But later I also saw an orange color. However, the number 6 in those days was considered for some reason not very good, and the scientist added a blue tint to the spectrum. Seven - the number equal to the number of notes of the musical scale, seemed to Newton very nice. So they left it, although in fact the colors in the rainbow smoothly transition into each other through many intermediate shades.

As far as scientists know, not a single living creature in the world, except for humans, is able to see a rainbow. And yet it exists. You can only see a rainbow if you are strictly between the sun (it should be behind you) and the rain (it should be in front of you). Otherwise, you won't see the rainbow!

It always occurs where the sun's rays meet water droplets. For example, at waterfalls, fountains. Or you can make a curtain of drops from a hand sprayer yourself and, standing with your back to the sun, see a rainbow created by your own hands.

Have you noticed that rainbows vary in color saturation? It depends on the size of the droplets: the larger they are, the brighter the rainbow. If a rainbow appears in the morning or in the evening (when the Sun is close to the horizon), then it will be large, if during the day (the luminary is high) - small.

Rainbows can be observed not only during the day, but also at night, in cirrus clouds and even during fog. And you can see it in its entirety only when you are on an airplane or on a high mountain. That's when it turns out that in fact the rainbow has an absolutely round shape, since the earth's surface completely prevents it from being seen. And all because a drop that has a spherical shape and is illuminated by a beam of parallel sunlight can only create a circle.

inverted rainbow

Have you ever encountered a rare natural phenomenon - an inverted rainbow? This phenomenon is quite rare. It appears under certain conditions, when cirrus clouds consisting of ice crystals are located in a thin curtain at an altitude of 7-8 kilometers. Sunlight, falling at a certain angle on these crystals, is decomposed into a spectrum and reflected into the atmosphere. The colors in an inverted rainbow are reversed, with purple on top and red on the bottom.

Double Rainbow

We already know that a rainbow in the sky appears from the fact that the rays of the sun penetrate through raindrops, refract and reflect on the other side of the sky in a multi-colored arc. And sometimes a sunbeam can build two, three, or even four rainbows in the sky at once. A double rainbow is obtained when a light beam reflects off the inner surface of raindrops twice.

The first rainbow, the inner one, is always brighter than the second, the outer one, and the colors of the arcs on the second rainbow are mirrored and less bright. Seeing a double rainbow is a good omen - this is good luck, wish fulfillment. So if you are lucky enough to see a double rainbow, hurry up to make a wish, and it will surely come true.

Is there a rainbow without rain?

A rainbow can also be observed on a sunny, clear day near waterfalls, fountains, in the garden when watering flowers from a hose, clamping the hose hole with your fingers, creating a mist of water and directing the hose towards the Sun.

I suggest you watch the video and find out what happens if a beam of white light is passed through a glass prism, and who was the first to do such an experiment?

"Why is there a rainbow?"

The material was prepared by Nadezhda Danilova

- I took this photo on September 10 at about six in the evening in Durlesti, - Vadim told Komsomolskaya Pravda. There was no rain, not a cloud in the sky. And suddenly in the east, where the sun rises, an inverted rainbow appeared. It consisted of three colors: red, yellow and blue. Ten people observed this unusual phenomenon. A woman standing next to us said: “This sign is the appearance of Christ to the people. I read in the Bible that the Lord will reveal himself from east to west and everyone will see him.” The rainbow hung for about forty minutes, then disappeared.

We decided to ask the experts if it is often possible to observe an inverted rainbow in the sky.

- No, It is Immpossible! - the head of the State Hydrometeorological Service of Moldova, Ilya Boyan, was categorical. - Most likely, this is an optical illusion or a simple photomontage.

WHERE ELSE WE HAVE OBSERVED THE INVERTED RAINBOW

In Los Angeles, in Cambridge (an unusual rainbow was photographed by a local astronomer), in Sussex in the same UK, in Tyumen, in St. Petersburg above the Tikhvin Monastery, in the city of Layan in eastern China, over Tomsk ...

It is impossible to see the Sun and the rainbow at the same time without the use of mirrors. An inverted rainbow, experts say, is extremely rare and only near large bodies of water - the sun's rays reflected from the water can “turn over” the rainbow. Other conditions are also necessary, which scientists cannot clearly formulate. For the occurrence of this phenomenon, neither rain nor clouds are needed, which are necessary for the appearance of an ordinary rainbow - an arc equal in length to a quarter of a circle appears in a clear blue sky in the presence of ice crystals. An inverted rainbow appears only when the sun shines at a certain angle through a thin curtain of cirrus clouds at an altitude of about 6000-7500 meters. As scientists say, in most cases, an inverted rainbow stays in the sky for no longer than half an hour. Traditionally, this natural phenomenon can be observed by residents of countries with a cold climate, where a huge amount of ice crystals gather in the sky. We can say that the eyewitnesses from Moldova were lucky.

WHAT DOES AN INVERTED RAINBOW MEAN?

It is believed that a rainbow, especially an unusual one, is good luck. Many believe that such a phenomenon is a sign from above. Seeing a rainbow was considered a good omen; driving or walking under it promised happiness and success. The ancient Greeks believed that the rainbow was a bridge to heaven, while the Irish believed that the legendary leprechaun gold was at the other end of the rainbow.

- The rainbow is the covenant of God to people,- Archimandrite Nikodim, a member of the diocesan commission on censorship and book publishing, explains to Komsomolskaya Pravda. - After the flood, a rainbow appeared in the sky. This is a good sign. And an inverted rainbow is already a human symbol, it does not mean anything, in any case, nothing terrible.

And the romantics have already dubbed the inverted rainbow "the smile of the sun" and decided that this is a very good sign.

Our sky is unique and beautiful. In the morning it cheers us up with its bright and light tones, and in the evening its warm coloring acts on us peacefully and soothingly.
Sometimes so unusual beautiful phenomena appear in the sky that you want to admire for hours. Some of these phenomena are very rare or occur only in certain parts of the world. We invite you to take a look at the images of the most magnificent unique phenomena that can be seen in the sky.

This beautiful phenomenon is one of the few that we can observe every day. But there are days when the dawn in the sky looks so amazing that looking at it is simply breathtaking. Like, for example, in this photo. And how does such beauty appear in the sky? In fact, the variety of colors at sunset and at dawn from pink and red to yellow and brown depends on how our sun shines, namely on the length of its rays. At sunset or sunrise, we see only part of the rays, so we can admire such magnificence. The brightness of the dawn is affected by the amount of steam and dust particles in the atmosphere: the more of them, the more saturated the color of the dawn.

An emerald ray that looks like something magical is a rarity. It can be seen in the absence of fog and clouds. At sunrise, it is the first ray of sunshine. Often a greenish ray can be seen over the sea. It looks like a green flashlight. Unfortunately, the duration of this phenomenon is very short - only a couple of seconds. But you can increase the time of observation of this most beautiful phenomenon: climb the mountain or move along the deck of the ship at a certain speed. Thus, the American pilot Richard Baird, during his stay at the South Pole, saw a greenish beam for 35 minutes. As soon as he noticed it, he immediately directed his plane along the horizon, thereby increasing the time of observation of this unusual phenomenon. Since ancient times, the green ray has fascinated people. In the drawings of ancient Egypt, you can see the sun with green rays. In Scotland there is a sign: "If you see a green beam, then you will be lucky in love."

Parhelion is another extraordinary mesmerizing phenomenon, one of the varieties of a halo (a luminous ring around the sun). Parhelion looks like a bright iridescent spot at the level of the sun. The appearance of this amazing phenomenon is due to the fact that light is refracted in ice crystals at a height of 5-10 km. Spots of light may also appear on the parhelic circle.

You can see two suns in the sky during the cold season, when many ice floes form in the air. The light of the sun hits the ice crystals, while being reflected from them, as in a mirror. And then there is the illusion of a second sun. As if the luminary painted itself, showed a self-portrait. In ancient times, people did not know that additional suns were just a reflection in the sky. They were afraid of this phenomenon. At the poles of our planet, you can observe three, and sometimes as many as eight suns.

The appearance of a rainbow in the sky always brings joy. After all, she is very beautiful and completely harmless, like a thunderstorm or lightning. The rainbow does not touch the ground, it starts about two kilometers from the soil. But there is a rainbow and four meters from the ground and even on the grass or in the fountain.

It happens that two rainbows appear in the sky at once. In this case, they say that you can make a wish, and it will certainly come true. We see more than one rainbow as the light bounces off the rain twice. It reverses the order of the spectrum.

An inverted rainbow is a real natural masterpiece. In this case, a zenithal arc is visible in the sky, which arose under certain weather. The light falls on the clouds, reflected in the ice. The color of the spectrum goes in reverse order: red is at the bottom, and violet is at the top. This phenomenon occurs at the North and South Poles.

A fiery rainbow (or ice halo) is a very rare occurrence in nature. It usually occurs in summer. In this case, a number of conditions must be met: the sun's rays must be located at a certain height, reflected from crystal ice floes in the sky, plus cirrus clouds are needed. Then round-horizontal arcs appear, which shimmer with multi-colored colors and give us an amazing landscape.

The northern lights can be observed in the polar regions (more often in spring or autumn). Thanks to this phenomenon, it becomes light at night as during the day. Often the aurora takes the form of a cloud, streak, or spot. Like a real masterpiece, it looks like a ribbon, resembling a curtain in the sky. The auroras appear due to the perturbations of the sun, which, as we know, is constantly bubbling and burning. The fiery particles of the sun, reaching the Earth, form a glow in the sky, releasing a huge amount of energy.

Clouds of silver color appear at the onset of deep twilight. This is a fairly rare phenomenon that can only be seen in summer in northern latitudes. These formations are formed quite high - at an altitude of 70-95 km. They are also called mesosphere. Also, similar clouds can appear on other planets, for example, on Mars.

Sometimes amazing images appear in the sky next to the sun, charming outlines created from clouds of various shapes. It happens that you can see a castle in the sky or huge pillars appear, similar to an inverted tornado. For the formation of such clouds, there must be certain weather conditions. Roll clouds appear with thunderstorm winds with the right amount of moisture, when cold air moves under warm air. The wind during a storm changes its direction and rolls the clouds into tubes.

The appearance of a mirage occurs in the case of refraction of light. We see an image that doesn't really exist. Such a phenomenon can be found in a desert area or during extreme heat. In this case, the light beam is deflected from its path and refracted, so we see imaginary mirages.

The fires of St. Elmo are a bright glow, the accumulation of an electrical discharge that occurs during a thunderstorm. You can see these lights on the yards and masts of ships, near an airplane flying through a cloud, and also on the tops of mountains. According to legend, the fires of Saint Elmo appeared when Saint Elmo died during a storm with a thunderstorm. Before his death, he promised to help the sailors, giving signals about whether they were destined to escape during the storm. Now the appearance of these lights is considered a good sign, as it means the patronage of St. Elmo.

A colored rainbow does not exist, because it is only an illusion that only seems to us. As far as scientists know, not a single living creature in the world, except for a person, is able to see it. And yet it exists.

It is seen by people living on either side of the globe, on islands or continents, on the ground or flying in the air. A bright, colorful rainbow appears before the eyes of enthusiastic spectators, when small raindrops are still falling to the ground, and the sun is behind them - and creates an amazing picture, giving joy to everyone. That's why it's called the Rainbow.

Since ancient times, mankind has thought about the nature of this phenomenon and why rainbows and rain are so connected with each other. Therefore, it is not surprising that a huge number of the most diverse stories and legends are associated with it, most of which are extremely optimistic.

In the Old Testament. God gave people this amazing phenomenon as a symbol of the inviolability of his Word. And He promised Noah and his family that people would never see the Flood again.

For the ancient Greeks. According to ancient Greek myths, the messenger of the gods, Irida, descended to people along the rainbow from heaven to earth.

The ancient Chinese. For the Chinese, the rainbow was a heavenly dragon, which meant the unity of Heaven and Earth.

The ancient Slavs. Our ancestors believed that this amazing phenomenon serves as a magical bridge. Angels descend along it, collect water from the rivers, and then pour it into the clouds - after that they irrigate everything around with life-giving rain. Here rainbow and rain are closely related.

Rainbow for the superstitious. Interestingly, not everyone thought that the appearance of this amazing natural phenomenon was good. Some believed that the appearance of a rainbow brings bad luck. If only because the souls of dead people pass through it to the kingdom of the dead, which means that its appearance signals someone's imminent death.

Rainbow and folk omens. Naturally, folk signs also could not bypass this atmospheric phenomenon - people, focusing on it, tried to predict the weather. For example, if the rainbow was located high and was more arched, then the weather would be good, but if the multi-colored arc was low and turned out to be stretched, you can prepare for bad weather.

What is an enchanting sight

It will be interesting to know that this amazing phenomenon can be observed not only during the day, but also at night, in cirrus clouds and even during fog. At the same time, from the ground, it appears before us in the form of an arch. And it can be seen in its entirety only when we are in an airplane, helicopter, airplane or on a high, high mountain at the time of its appearance.

That's when it turns out that in fact the rainbow has an absolutely round shape, since the earth's surface completely prevents it from being seen. And all because a drop that has a spherical shape and is illuminated by a beam of parallel sunlight can only create a circle.

Sunny

The solar rainbow is the brightest of them all and is the one we see most often. It consists of a huge number of flowers. The main shades of this phenomenon are quite easy to remember, since many poems and sayings were invented specifically for this, in the first letters of which the colors of the rainbow are encrypted:

1. Each is Red (the main one, it cannot be obtained by mixing colors);
2. Hunter - Orange (optional - can be obtained by mixing primary colors);
3. Desires - Yellow (main);
4. Know - Green (optional);
5. Where - Blue (optional);
6. Sitting - Blue (primary);
7. Pheasant - Purple (optional).

Despite the fact that we believe that we see only these seven colors of the rainbow, in fact, the spectrum is absolutely continuous - and our eye distinguishes more than one and a half hundred shades. And all because there is no clear line between these colors - and the same color (white) smoothly passes into another through all shades.

Lunar

Theoretically, the lunar rainbow can be seen everywhere. But in practice, it is most often observed by residents of rainy areas or living near large waterfalls.

It is not as bright as the Sun, you can see it on the opposite side of the sky from the Moon during the full moon (give or take a few nights).

The night star should be low above the horizon, the sky should be almost black and, of course, it should rain on the other side of the moon. There are even parallels, rain and rainbow (if it rains, then it is likely to see a rainbow), rainbow and rain (if a rainbow appears, then the weather may change).

The colors of the lunar rainbow are not easy to see - its light is too weak for our eyes. Therefore, if we are lucky enough to notice it with a look unarmed with the latest technology, then we will see only a white arc.

Foggy

Sometimes a hazy rainbow is confused with a lunar one, as it usually looks like a bright shining wide white arch. On the inside, it can be slightly purple, on the outside - orange.

It can be seen when the sun's rays are in a faint fog, which consists of tiny water droplets (25 microns), which refract and scatter white light. The smaller they are, the whiter the rainbow, since the light beams in this case mix, first become faded, and then completely discolor.

fiery

A fiery rainbow is an extremely rare phenomenon. It is absolutely horizontal and looks out from under the cirrus clouds, which are at a great height - 8-9 km above sea level.

It can only be observed from the ground, while the daylight must be at an angle exceeding 58 °, in the sky - cirrus clouds should float, which consist of hexagonal ice crystals and at this very moment are horizontal (so that the sun's rays can be freely refracted).

inverted

An inverted rainbow is also a rare natural phenomenon. It also needs cirrus clouds to spawn. Only ice crystals must line up at the right degree so that the sun's white rays can decompose into different colors and be reflected in the sky.

Appearance

The bright, multi-colored arch appears mostly either before or after the rain, as the rainbow and the rain are related to each other. At the same time, the solar (lunar) rays must necessarily penetrate the clouds, the luminary is behind the person’s back, and the drizzling rain is in front. If a rainbow appears in the morning or in the evening (when the Sun is close to the horizon), then it will be large, if during the day (the luminary is high) - small.

Why exactly this natural phenomenon occurs was first explained by Descartes at the beginning of the 17th century. In his time, they still did not know anything about the fact that white is capable of disintegrating into different colors. Because of this, the scientist's rainbow turned out to be snow-white.

Newton colored it, discovering dispersion and explaining this process of nature.

Speaking briefly about this phenomenon, it can be explained as an optical phenomenon that occurs when the rays of a heavenly body are refracted and reflected in a huge number (often up to a million) of raindrops, and then rain and a rainbow are visible to the human eye.

1. White rays pass through rain (or mist) drops.
2. Each droplet is a kind of prism (a body of transparent substance bounded by two non-parallel planes, due to which light is refracted).
3. This prism has excellent optical properties, therefore it successfully decomposes white light into the colors of which it consists, and thereby forming a beam of divergent multi-colored rays. Thus, it can be argued that each individual drop of water is a kind of small rainbow.
4. Multi-colored rays come out of the prism at different angles (here it is worth remembering that the surface of the drop is a curve). For example, red is 137°30', purple is 139°20', and the rest are in between. The color is also affected by the wavelength of light - for red it is the longest, for purple it is short.
5. As a result, the white color, which contains absolutely all colors except black, completely disintegrates and forms a multi-colored stripe.
6. Quite often, near one rainbow, you can often notice another second, or even several pieces, though not as bright as the main one. These are secondary rainbows that can be seen when the light in one droplet bounces twice. The colors in such arches are placed the other way around - purple on top, red in the middle.

If someone is constantly unlucky, and he can almost never see this natural phenomenon with his own eyes, you should not despair, because everyone can create a rainbow on their own. Here the question arises, how to make a rainbow.

Option 1. The easiest

Take a glass prism, a sheet of white paper and go out into the sun. Turn your back to him and place the prism so that the light falls through it onto the sheet. The rainbow is ready! By moving the prism closer and further away from the paper, you can increase or decrease the multi-colored miracle.

Option 2. With water-1

In this case, the prism will be a glass of water, three-quarters full. Then you need to proceed as in the first option. As a result, you will get rain and a rainbow.

Option 2. With water-2

Take a bowl, fill it with water, find a white sheet of paper and a small mirror. Put the bowl in the sun, lower the mirror into the water, push it to the edge of the dish and turn it so that light rays fall on it. After that, you need to move a sheet of paper along the bowl in search of a place where a rainbow will be displayed on it.

Option 3. With CD

The rainbow can be seen quite well using the disk. This is due to the fact that its surface has a huge number of grooves that act as small prisms.

It is necessary to approach the illuminated window, close it with a curtain so that there is a small gap for light rays. Take the disc and place it so that sunlight hits it, after which you need to reflect the beam with the disc onto the cardboard. If you tilt the disk in different directions, you can get both a rainbow stripe and a circular rainbow. If you use a flashlight instead of the Sun, the colors of the rainbow will be less saturated.

Option 4. For extreme people who like to swear with neighbors and make repairs

In this experiment, there will be both a rainbow and rain. In the largest room, install a 500-watt flashlight and turn it on. Take a garden hose, run water to a lantern, put a garden watering gun on the hose and set it to spray. Turn on the water, then bring the gun closer to the lantern, but do not fill it. In a few minutes you will have not only a rainbow and rain, but the audience - the neighbors from below, who will definitely appreciate your resourcefulness!

What is a rainbow

A rainbow is an atmospheric optical phenomenon that is observed when the Sun illuminates many water droplets during rain or fog, or after rain. As a result of the refraction of sunlight in drops of water during rain, a multi-colored arc appears in the sky.

A rainbow also appears in the reflected rays of the Sun from the water surface of sea bays, lakes, waterfalls or large rivers. Such a rainbow appears on the shore of reservoirs and looks extraordinarily beautiful.

The arcs of the rainbow are multi-colored, but for them to appear, sunlight is needed. Sunlight appears white to us, but is actually made up of the colors of the spectrum. We are used to distinguishing seven colors in the rainbow - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, but since the spectrum is continuous, the colors smoothly transition into each other through many shades.

A multi-colored arc appears because a beam of light is refracted in water droplets, and then, returning to the observer at an angle of 42 degrees, it splits into its constituent parts from red to purple.

The brightness of the shades and the width of the rainbow depend on the size of the raindrops. The larger the drops, the narrower and brighter the rainbow, the more red saturated color it has. If there is a light rain, then the rainbow is wide, but with faded orange and yellow edges.

What is a rainbow

We most often see a rainbow in the form of an arc, but the arc is only part of the rainbow. The rainbow has the shape of a circle, but we see only half of the arc, because its center is on the same line with our eyes and the Sun. The whole rainbow can only be seen at high altitude, from an airplane or from a high mountain.

Double Rainbow

We already know that a rainbow in the sky appears from the fact that the rays of the sun penetrate through raindrops, refract and reflect on the other side of the sky in a multi-colored arc. And sometimes a sunbeam can build two, three, or even four rainbows in the sky at once. A double rainbow is obtained when a light beam reflects off the inner surface of raindrops twice.

The first rainbow, the inner one, is always brighter than the second, the outer one, and the colors of the arcs on the second rainbow are mirrored and less bright. The sky between rainbows is always darker than the rest of the sky. The area of ​​sky between two rainbows is called Alexander's strip. Seeing a double rainbow is a good omen, it is good luck, fulfillment of desires. So if you are lucky enough to see a double rainbow, hurry up to make a wish and it will surely come true.

inverted rainbow

An inverted rainbow is a rare occurrence. It appears under certain conditions, when cirrus clouds consisting of ice crystals are located in a thin curtain at an altitude of 7-8 kilometers. Sunlight, falling at a certain angle on these crystals, is decomposed into a spectrum and reflected into the atmosphere. The colors in an inverted rainbow are reversed, with purple on top and red on the bottom.

misty rainbow

A foggy rainbow or white appears when the sun's rays illuminate a faint fog, consisting of very small droplets of water. Such a rainbow is an arc painted in very pale colors, and if the droplets are very small, then the rainbow is painted white. A foggy rainbow can also appear at night during fog, when the moon is bright in the sky. A hazy rainbow is a rather rare atmospheric phenomenon.

moon rainbow

Lunar rainbow or night rainbow appears at night and is generated by the Moon. The lunar rainbow is observed during the rain that is opposite the Moon, the lunar rainbow is especially clearly visible during the full moon, when the bright Moon is low in the dark sky. Also, the moon rainbow can be observed in areas where there are waterfalls.

fiery rainbow

A fiery rainbow is a rare optical atmospheric phenomenon. A fiery rainbow appears when sunlight passes through cirrus clouds at an angle of 58 degrees above the horizon. Another necessary condition for the appearance of a fiery rainbow is hexagonal ice crystals, which have the shape of a leaf and their faces must be parallel to the ground. The sun's rays, passing through the vertical faces of the ice crystal, are refracted and ignite a fiery rainbow or a rounded-horizontal arc, as a fiery rainbow is called in science.

winter rainbow

Is there a rainbow without rain?

A rainbow can also be observed on a sunny clear day near waterfalls, fountains, in the garden when watering flowers from a hose, clamping the hole of the hose with your fingers, creating a mist of water and directing the hose towards the Sun.

How to remember the colors of the rainbow

If you can’t remember how the colors are arranged in the rainbow, the phrase known to everyone since childhood will help you: “ To every O hotnik AND does W nat G de FROM goes F azan.