Скачать или смотреть How Rainbows Form: Light Refraction, Reflection, and Dispersion Explained

In this video we explore how a rainbow is created when sunlight interacts with water droplets. You’ll learn why white sunlight actually contains all visible colors and how each color behaves differently as it passes through a droplet. The explanation covers three key steps: refraction as light slows and bends entering the droplet, internal reflection off the back surface, and a second refraction on exit that separates the colors—a process called dispersion. We discuss the specific angles that produce the familiar red‑on‑top, violet‑on‑bottom arc and why the bow appears opposite the sun. The video also explains the geometry of the 42‑degree cone of light that makes a rainbow visible, how the sun’s height changes the bow’s position, and why a fainter secondary rainbow sometimes forms with reversed colors after a second internal reflection. A simple home demonstration using a garden hose spray illustrates these principles in real time. By the end, you’ll understand the physics that turn sunlight into the colorful arcs we see in the sky.