SCIENCE in your LIFE
Rainbows! Rainbows! Rainbows!
By T.W.
Did you know that four rainbows can form in the sky at once? How cool is that for a quadruple rainbow to be able to form in the sky like it is no big deal. Rainbows form in the sky by reflecting light. It is reflected through the water droplets in the air left after a rain. It is reflected in such a way that you see the different colors that make up a beautiful rainbow.
So how can you see a quadruple rainbow? Well this happens when the light is reflected as it usually is but instead it reflects back on itself causing the process to start all over again until it forms a quadruple rainbow. This is basically like a picture within a picture within a picture kind of deal since it is getting harder to see each time. Each time this happens though the rainbow gets dimmer and dimmer to where a person can only really observe two in a picture. So this is something to witness in person to get the full effect of all the rainbows in the sky in all their glory. These are best seen when there are super dark thunder clouds in the sky and when it basically downpours outside.
So rainbows why are these possibly important? They show everyone how we are able to see all these gorgeous colors every single day of our lives. For example the green of the grass or the red of a cardinal, or even the pink color a person turns when they blush from talking to someone they get particularly nervous around. Without light, color would not exist so remember this the next time it rains, there is bound to be a spectacular rainbow that forms somewhere in the big and wonderful sky after that makes the rain not so bad
Please send any questions or comments to Dr. Spitzer (spitzern@marshall.edu )
Note: Any opinions expressed in these articles are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent those of Dr. Spitzer, the Department of Biological Sciences, or Marshall University.