How do rainbows form in the sky after rain?

Rainbows appear in the sky after rain because light from the sun plays a game with water droplets in the air.

Imagine you're playing catch with your friend. When the ball hits your hand, it bounces back in different directions. In a way, water droplets act like your hands, when sunlight hits them, they send the light off in many directions.

But here’s the fun part: each color of light moves at its own speed through the water droplet. Red light is the slowest and bends the least, while violet light is the fastest and bends the most. This bending, called refraction, makes the white sunlight split into a beautiful mix of colors.

Now picture this: after it rains, there are lots of tiny water droplets floating in the air like millions of little mirrors waiting to play catch with the sun's light. As the sunlight goes through these droplets and bends, we see them as rainbow colors, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

So next time you see a rainbow, remember it’s just the sun playing hide-and-seek with raindrops!