How do rainbows form, and why are they always curved?

Rainbows are colorful arcs that appear in the sky after it rains and the sun comes out.

Imagine you're playing with a spray bottle on a sunny day. When you spray water into the air, the sunlight hits those tiny drops of water like little mirrors. The light goes inside each drop, bends, just like when you look at a pencil in a glass of water and it looks bent, then reflects off the back of the drop before bending again as it leaves.

Each color in the rainbow bends a bit differently, so they spread out into a curved shape. It’s like when you shine a flashlight through a prism, the light splits into different colors because each one bends just right.

Think of the raindrops as tiny helpers painting the sky. But instead of drawing straight lines, they all work together to make an arc, like a smile on the sky. You can only see this arc if you're standing in the right spot, between the sun and the rain.

So next time you see a rainbow, imagine little water drops bending light into a colorful curve just for you!