5th The Magic of Rainbows
5th The Magic of Rainbows
5th The Magic of Rainbows
Rainbows are beautiful. But they are rare. They don’t happen every day. You
probably know that you need two things for a rainbow to form. You need light and
water. Rainbows often happen when the sun comes out after it has rained. Or there
could be water in the form of mist, spray, fog, and dew. But what makes all these
wonderful colors appear?
You may think that sunlight is white light. This is half true. To our eyes, it does
look white. But inside that light, there are other colors. Can you guess which ones?
It’s the seven colors of the rainbow! We can’t see them with our eyes. When a
beam of sunlight shines down, we see white light. But if that beam of light hits a
raindrop at a certain angle, it bends. This is called reflection and refraction. When
this happens, the colors that make up the beam separate. Then they form a
rainbow.
Let’s get a bit more scientific. Light acts like a wave that vibrates. Every color
has its own wave. The colors slow down at different speeds when they go into the
raindrop. When they get reflected, they bend at different angles. So the light that
These seven colors are also called the spectrum of light. It was the scientist Sir
Isaac Newton who first discovered this. He figured out that white light contains these
colors, and that this causes rainbows. He discovered this in 1672 when he
conducted some experiments.
Another fun fact about rainbows is that they’re not located at a specific
distance. If you try to follow or approach it, it won’t get any closer. The rainbow will
always be visible at the angle the raindrops bend the light. So don’t try to chase a
rainbow, because it’s impossible!
3. When white light enters a raindrop, why does it exit the raindrop in the form of
different colors?
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4. In the article you read, you learned that white light is actually made up of the
seven colors of the rainbow. Why can't we see those colors when the sunlight
is shining down on us on a clear day?
a. The colors are only visible once they've bent and separated by
passing through a raindrop at different speeds.
b. The colors are only visible when the sunlight reflects off glass or ice.
c. You can only see the colors when the sun peeks through a snow storm.
d. You can only see the colors in certain parts of the world, such as the
tropics.
On the lines below, tell about a time when you saw a rainbow.
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3. When white light enters a raindrop, why does it exit the raindrop in the form of
different colors?
Since each color inside the white light has its own wave, the colors slow
down at different speeds when they pass through the raindrop. This
causes them to bend at different angles when they are reflected, and
then they exit the raindrop as separate colors.
4. In the article you read, you learned that white light is actually made up of the
seven colors of the rainbow. Why can't we see those colors when the sunlight
is shining down on us on a clear day? a
a. The colors are only visible once they've bent and separated by
passing through a raindrop at different speeds.
b. The colors are only visible when the sunlight reflects off glass or ice.
c. You can only see the colors when the sun peeks through a snow storm.
d. You can only see the colors in certain parts of the world, such as the
tropics.