How beautiful are rainbows and how children like to capture their image in their drawings. It seems something unreal and full of fantasy and yet it is only an optical phenomenon that has a meteorological explanation.
Surely many children have not yet begun to give in school how the rainbow is formed And it is something complex to explain for some little heads, but you can try to give small guidelines of how it can be very easy to understand at the same time.
How the rainbow is formed
The light emitted by the sun, light bulbs or any object that transmits it it is white light. Within this light there are different colors that are what we can see in the rainbow, what happens is that are fused and form this white light. However, this light can break down and we are going to find out how it does it and by what means.
For it to break down into its 7 colors it is necessary that pierce a transparent object we already call this physical phenomenon Refraction of light. This phenomenon works very well with a prism that causes the light to decompose on one side.
A very particular example that we can always see on rainy days And it's just the formation of a rainbow The raindrops that fall on the ground are what will create this effect.
All these raindrops and all together will make the light pass through and decompose in this rainbow It seems unimaginable, but it is true, it is also surprising that the more light the sun is spreading towards the raindrops the sharper it will look.
This effect can be seen on sunny days, but mixed with times of rain. Sunlight enters through the drops and inside this white light breaks down giving rise to an incredible rainbow. Its colors: Red-Yellow-Green-Blue-Indigo and Violet.
Where else can we see the rainbow?
To observe this phenomenon in nature and on a rainy day, both conditions have to be met, in this case it happens when we have ahead the rain and behind us is the sun.
There are areas on the planet where we can see this phenomenon and it is possible see it in rivers or waterfalls when your water runs down at high speed. The rapid movement of the water causes them to suspend many water particles in the air and that together with the incidence of light causes the rainbow to form. In this way we find the same phenomenon as with rain. We will find the raindrops in front of us and the source of the light (the sun) behind us.
Little experiment to do at home
We can do a little experiment at home with materials as simple as a glass full of water, a small mirror that goes into the glass and a flashlight. We have to place all the objects on a table and be in a totally dark room. We locate the glass full of water on the table and we introduce the mirror inside.
The idea is that the white light emitted from the flashlight has to be deflected for the rainbow to be produced. Therefore, direct the light towards the mirror and you will see a rainbow projected outwards. If you want to see it better, you can put a sheet to one side or have it projected onto a wall.
After this experiment, it will be much easier for you to explain how it has been possible to form a rainbow with the method of light reflection and refraction. It will be something curious, but children will experiment with science and will be able to observe how white light decomposes In all these pretty colors