How many rainbows can be at the same time. Why does a rainbow appear? Why is the rainbow multi-colored and happens after the rain? Rainbow appears at night

There really is something about a rainbow that makes you feel a thrilling feeling. This is a wonderful sight - colored stripes stretching from edge to edge of the vast sky. Once upon a time, people considered the rainbow to be a sign of God. This is not surprising. A rainbow appears out of nothing. And also mysteriously disappears into nowhere.

Components of a rainbow

These are water droplets in the air, the sun's rays and an observer who sees a rainbow. In this case, a whole ritual must be observed. Not only that the sun illuminated the rain. It should be low above the horizon. The observer must stand between the rain and the sun: with his back to the sun, facing the rain. At this moment, he sees a rainbow. How does it happen.

For a rainbow to appear, it must rain.

How a rainbow appears

A sunbeam illuminates a raindrop. Penetrating into the droplet, the beam is slightly refracted. Rays various colors refract in different ways, that is, inside the drop, a white beam breaks up into its constituent colors. After passing the drop, the light is reflected from its wall, as from a mirror. Reflected colored rays go in the opposite direction, being refracted even more strongly. The entire rainbow spectrum leaves the drop from the same side from which the sunbeam entered it. Light from the sun entered the drop from the side of the observer. Now this ray, decomposed into a color spectrum, returns to it. A person sees a huge colored rainbow spread across the entire sky - light refracted and reflected by billions of raindrops.

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It is very rare to see two rainbows in the sky at the same time: behind the usual rainbow, you can see another one. As a rule, the second rainbow is less visible, sometimes even barely noticeable. The colors of this second rainbow are reversed, meaning purple comes first. Its appearance is explained by the repeated reflection of light rays inside the drop.

Light can be refracted with equal success by fog droplets or evaporation from the surface of the sea. Raindrops, like tiny prisms, split white light rays into a color spectrum.

Now we know something about the nature of the rainbow, but this does not prevent us from still admiring it. Scientists who discovered the mechanism of its formation used the achievements of optics and mathematics. They claim that the thematic equations with which they managed to dispel the mystery of the rainbow are very beautiful, although they are very complex.

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The colors of the rainbow are always in the same order from top to bottom: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

The brightest band is red. Each next color is paler than the previous one. Violet is generally hardly distinguishable against the sky.

A rainbow is not a material object like a bird or a cloud. This is a light trick. Each person sees his own rainbow. This is his and only his unexpected joy.

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People have long thought about the nature of this most beautiful natural phenomenon. Humanity has associated the rainbow with many beliefs and legends. In ancient Greek mythology, for example, a rainbow is the road between heaven and earth, along which the messenger between the world of the gods and the world of people, Irida, walked. In China, it was believed that the rainbow is a heavenly dragon, the union of Heaven and Earth. In Slavic myths and legends, a rainbow was considered a magical heavenly bridge thrown from heaven to earth, a road along which angels descend from heaven to draw water from rivers. They pour this water into the clouds and from there it falls as life-giving rain.

Superstitious people believed that the rainbow is a bad sign. They believed that the souls of the dead pass into the other world along the rainbow, and if a rainbow appeared, this means someone's imminent death.

The rainbow also appears in many folk omens associated with weather forecasting. For example, a rainbow high and steep portends good weather, and low and flat - bad.

Where does the rainbow come from?

Please note that rainbows can only be observed before or after rain. And only if the sun breaks through the clouds at the same time as the rain. What is happening? The rays of the sun pass through the raindrops. And each such droplet works like a prism. That is, it decomposes the white light of the Sun into its components - the rays of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Moreover, droplets deflect light of different colors in different ways, as a result of which white light decomposes into a multi-colored band, which is called spectrum.

The rainbow is a huge curved spectrum. To an observer on the ground, a rainbow usually looks like an arc - part of a circle, and the higher the observer is, the fuller the rainbow. From a mountain or an airplane, you can also see the full circle! Why is the rainbow shaped like an arc?

You can only see a rainbow if you are directly 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!

Sometimes you can see another, less bright rainbow around the first one. This is a secondary rainbow in which the light is reflected twice in the drop. In the secondary rainbow, the “inverted” order of colors is purple on the outside, and red on the inside:

To remember the sequence of colors in the rainbow (or spectrum), there are special simple phrases - in them the first letters correspond to the first letters of the color names:

• How once Zhak-Z vonar Head C broke Lantern.
• To every O hotnik AND does W nat G de FROM goes F azan

Memorize them - and you can easily draw a rainbow at any time!

(!) The first to explain the nature of the rainbow was Aristotle. He defined that "a rainbow is optical phenomenon, not a material object."

We have all seen how a multi-colored arc appears in the sky. But what is a rainbow? How is this miraculous phenomenon formed? The mystery of the nature of the rainbow has always fascinated mankind, and people tried to find an explanation for what is happening with the help of legends and myths. Today we will talk about just that. What is a rainbow and how is it formed?

myths

Everyone knows that ancient people were inclined to deify and mystify most natural phenomena, whether it be thunder and lightning or an earthquake. They did not bypass the rainbow. What do we know from our ancestors? What is a rainbow and how is it formed?

• The ancient Vikings believed that the rainbow is the Bifrost bridge, connecting the land of the people of Mitgard and the gods (Asgard).
• The Indians believed that the rainbow is a bow belonging to the thunder god Indra.
• The Greeks did not go far from their contemporaries and also considered the rainbow to be the dear messenger of the gods of Irida.
• The Armenians decided that it was not a natural phenomenon, and the belt of the Sun God (but without having decided, they changed the "specialty" of God and "forced" him to be responsible for art and science).
• The Australians went further and animated the rainbow, making it the patron serpent of water.
• According to African myths, where the rainbow touches the ground, you can find a treasure.
• I wonder what the Africans and the Irish have in common, because their Leprechaun also hides a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

You can still list the myths and legends of peoples from all over the world for a long time, and we would find something interesting in everyone. But what is a rainbow, really?

Story

The first conscious and close to reality conclusions on the atmospheric phenomenon given by Aristotle. It was just a guess, but he became the first person to translate the rainbow from the myth section into the real world. Aristotle hypothesized that a rainbow is not an object or substance, and not even a real object, but simply a visual effect, an image, akin to a mirage in the desert.

However, the first scientific study and justification was carried out by the Arab astronomer Qutb ad-Din ash-Shirazi. At the same time, similar studies were carried out by German researchers.

In 1611, the first physical theory of the rainbow was created. Mark Antony de Dominis, on the basis of observations and experiments, came to the conclusion that a rainbow is formed due to the refraction of light in drops of water contained in the atmosphere in rainy weather. To be more precise, he described the full picture of the appearance of a rainbow due to the double refraction of light at the entrance and exit from a drop of water.

Physics

So what is a rainbow, the definition of which was given by Aristotle? How is it formed? Probably everyone heard about the existence of infrared and ultraviolet radiation? This is the "light" that comes from any material objects in different measurement ranges.

So here it is sunlight consists of rays with different wavelengths and includes all types of radiation from "warm" red to "cold" violet. When passing through water drops, the light is divided into rays with different wavelengths (and different colors), and this happens twice, when it enters the water, the beam is divided and slightly deviates from its trajectory, and when it exits, it deviates even more, as a result of which a rainbow can be seen naked eye.

For kids

Of course, anyone who graduated from high school with a C grade will tell you about the rainbow. But what to do if a child comes up to the parent and asks: "Mom, what is a rainbow? Where does it come from?" The easiest way to explain this is: "These are the rays of the sun, passing through the rain, shimmer." At a younger age, children do not need to know the physical background of the phenomenon.

Everyone knows the colors of the rainbow have a strict order and always the same sequence. As we have already found out, this is the result physical processes. However, for some reason, many adults (parents, kindergarten teachers) require children to know the correct order of the colors in the rainbow. For faster memorization, expressions were invented in which the first letters of words symbolize a certain color. Here are the most famous forms:

As you can see, you can track the correct order of the colors by the first letter (red-orange-yellow-green-cyan-blue-violet). By the way, Isaac Newton singled out not blue and blue colors, but blue and indigo, respectively. Why the color names were changed remains a mystery. In general, is it really so important to know what a rainbow is in order to admire it?

Seeing a rainbow is a rainbow omen that gives hope. Such auspicious signs, which are associated with our ancestors, most often brought good luck to those who had the opportunity to see this phenomenon in many religions, the rainbow had different interpretation for example, a rainbow in the Christian interpretation meant manifestations of heavenly power, and in the local beliefs of individual peoples and paganism, the rainbow also meant happiness.

But the most particular attention to this manifestation in the sky was given to the peoples of Ireland, who ranked this phenomenon as something divine and worshiped it more than once. Based on the beliefs of the Irish, there was a legend that the rainbow personifies the path along which small, but very greedy creatures called gnomes descend to the ground after a thunderstorm.

According to many Scandinavians, if a rainbow fell on one of residential building village, then this family was supposed to be in trouble, or one of the inhabitants of this house would soon die. But among the Scandinavians, the rainbow was far from a terrible phenomenon, although it was a bridge between the world of the living and the dead, but a person who managed to follow this path immediately went to heaven. And then many sins were forgiven him, which was the best thing for the inhabitants of Scandinavia.

Numerous peoples who revered the pagan faith, as it was shackled earlier, considered this phenomenon, a bridge over which the souls of the departed could pass into world of the dead, but in addition to this belief, there were other options for interpreting such a phenomenon among our ancestors, for example, many years ago there were such beliefs in the appearance of a rainbow:

• If the rainbow has a curved appearance and, as it were, hangs above the ground, then our ancestors believed that this means heavy rains.
• If the rainbow, on the contrary, hangs high from the ground and is strongly curved, then our ancestors interpreted this as a strong upcoming drought.
• If predominantly green shades prevail in the rainbow, then this meant that it would rain for a long period
• If there are more shades in the rainbow yellow color, then this manifestation of color meant that in the next time the weather should clear up and stabilize
• If the rainbow is dominated by a large amount of red, strong winds can be expected.
• Sometimes we can observe a rainbow without rain, this phenomenon contradicts the very nature of the origin of the rainbow and, therefore, it was most often explained that there would soon be a cold and harsh winter.
• But if a woman wants to give birth to a boy, then in this case she must find where the rainbow starts from and in that very place wish to conceive a son.
• For lovers, a rainbow can symbolize how phenomena personifying strong family, happiness and good luck for a young couple, which is why the halls and the wedding table of lovers are decorated with balls of different colors in the form of an arch that resembles a rainbow, which in itself personifies the luck of the spouses in life together.

The meaning of finding a double rainbow in the sky

One rainbow is good, because it in itself personifies good luck, but what does it mean when two rainbows appear in the sky at once. For any person who believes in signs of a rainbow, a phenomenon with two rainbows is an incredible success, and according to people, it is at this moment that you can make any wish. Regardless of the scale of the desire, it will certainly come true. But even such a successful phenomenon has its own laws, a wish can be fulfilled only when the person who made the wish does not want to harm other people, if this desire is negative, then it is unlikely to come true.

In different religions, both one and two rainbows had different meanings, for example, in the religion of ancient Christians, it was believed that two rainbows are used by God as appeals to people, that all their sins are forgiven and that there will be no end of the world.

Various artists of the medieval period preferred to depict the throne of the ruler in the form of a rainbow, which symbolized the divine origin of the ruler, and the manifestations of the three primary colors of the world, red, green and blue, meant a reminder to our ancestors of the need to pass on the teachings of the great flood and fire to the younger generation, and also the new earth. Also in the religion of Christians, the main colors personified not only the legends of the ancients, but also the reigns divine gifts people.

But in addition to the religious view on the manifestations of two rainbows, there is also a scientific point of view, most often this personifies the impending bad weather and bad weather.

The appearance of the rainbow in different months

• For the most part, people before Special attention April rainbow. This was marked by the fact that it was previously believed that it was the first thunderstorm and the rainbow that followed it. It meant that spring had really established itself on earth, and the time of winter was over.
• Also, our ancestors showed more attention to the thunderstorm itself, considering it a manifestation of the confrontation between white and dark forces, and in other words between winter and spring, which is fighting for leadership over the weather. And the manifestation of a rainbow in the sky after such a phenomenon was considered a victory for the white forces and the defeat of the dark ones, and if the rainbow was absent, it was believed that the evil forces won and bad weather will stay for a long time.
• Rainbow Appearances in winter time means that the winter will be accompanied by severe cold and frost, but all this will pass without consequences.
• But in Siberia, such a phenomenon meant that a magical creature called the Silver Hoof was running nearby, from the blows of whose hooves are born different kinds gems and gold
• The formation of a rainbow in autumn foreshadowed our ancestors that it would still rain for a certain period of time and the weather would be cold, but soon all this would pass and autumn would delight with warm weather.

How can you predict the weather with a rainbow?

In order to predict the weather using a rainbow, you do not always need to have a huge amount of knowledge, you need to know a few elementary rules that will help with this.

• If a rainbow appears in the sky early in the morning, expect rain.
• But if you observe a rainbow as an evening phenomenon, then we can say that the weather for the coming day will be good.
• If a rainbow appeared during the rain and disappeared at the end of the storm, then variable weather can be expected.
• If it's raining for a long time, and the rainbow does not appear either during the rain or after it, then you can expect trouble.
• But if there are several types of rainbows in the sky at once, then the weather should soon stabilize.

Why does a rainbow appear after rain? After all, a rainbow is one of the most beautiful natural phenomena. For a long time, people have pondered over its nature and believed that its appearance in heaven is associated with many legends and beliefs. In ancient times, people attributed to the rainbow different meanings, for some it was a road between earth and sky, for others it symbolized the gate to the other world, for others, the multi-colored arc was a heavenly bridge that let gods and angels into our world.

But what is a rainbow, really? A rainbow is an optical phenomenon observed in the atmosphere. Appears when sunlight is refracted in water droplets during fog or rain and as a result a multi-colored arc appears.
Sometimes a rainbow appears not only after rain, but is also born in reflected sunshine from the water surface big rivers, lakes, sea bays. Such celestial arcs are extraordinarily beautiful and they appear on the banks of water bodies.

Sunlight is needed for the multi-colored stripes of the rainbow to appear. The light of the Sun consists of various colors of the spectrum - green, yellow, red, blue, violet, indigo, orange. In the rainbow, we see seven colors that smoothly blend into each other and give many beautiful shades.

Multi-colored stripes appear when a beam of light in water drops is refracted and returns to the observer at an angle of 420 ., and splits into several parts from red to purple.
The width and brightness of the rainbow corresponds to the size of the raindrops. The larger, the larger the drops, the brighter and narrower it will be, moreover, such a rainbow has a rich red color. If the rain is shallow, then the arc will be wide, but faded dull edges of orange and yellow.

We are used to the fact that a rainbow is an arc, but in reality, an arc is only a part of the rainbow. In fact, the rainbow has the shape of a circle, but we see only half of the arc, since its center is located on the same line with the Sun and our eyes. The entire rainbow can be seen only at high altitude - from high mountain or from an airplane.

inverted rainbow

An inverted rainbow is a fairly rare phenomenon. It happens under certain conditions: if at an altitude of about 7-8 kilometers a loose thin curtain is placed Spindrift clouds formed by ice crystals. The light of the sun falls on these crystals at a certain angle, and breaks up into a spectrum, reflecting into the atmosphere. The colors in an inverted rainbow are in the opposite order, with red on the bottom and purple on top.

misty rainbow

A foggy rainbow, or as it is also called - white, occurs when illuminated by the rays of the sun, a weak fog, which consists of tiny drops of water. It is painted in very pale faded colors, but if the drops are completely small, then the entire rainbow is painted white. A foggy rainbow appears on a foggy night when a bright moon shines in the sky. But this is a rather rare atmospheric phenomenon.

moon rainbow

The moonbow, or as it is sometimes called, the nightbow appears at night and is caused by the moon. The lunar rainbow is celebrated during the rain that pours against the moon, it is especially clearly visible on the full moon, when the bright round moon is low in the dark night sky. It can also be seen in areas where there are waterfalls.

fiery rainbow

A fiery rainbow is an unusually rare optical phenomenon in the atmosphere. It appears when the light of the Sun penetrates through cirrus clouds above the horizon at an angle of 58 degrees. But another prerequisite for the formation of a fiery rainbow is the presence in the atmosphere of hexagonal ice crystals, which have the shape of a sheet, besides, their faces must certainly be parallel to the earth. The rays of the Sun, penetrating through the vertical facets of a cold ice crystal, are refracted and form a fiery rainbow or, as scientists say, a rounded horizontal arc.

winter rainbow

The winter rainbow is an extremely amazing phenomenon. It can only be seen in winter, when it is standing outside. hard frost, and when the Sun shines in a light blue sky, and the air is filled with tiny ice crystals. The rays are refracted, as if penetrating through these crystals through a prism and are reflected in the sky in a multi-colored arc.

A multi-colored rainbow can also be seen on a bright sunny day near waterfalls or fountains. In the garden, when watering plants from a hose, you can also see a rainbow, while you need to clamp the hole of the hose, as if creating a mist of water, and direct the hose towards the Sun

"Every Hunter Wants to Know Where the Pheasant Sits"- this phrase will help you remember the colors of the rainbow and their sequence.