What Causes a ‘Rainbow’ and How Is It Formed?

Rainbows happen when sunlight meets water droplets in the air, like tiny prisms that split light into colors. After a rain shower ends, sunlight hits these droplets and creates a magical arc of colors in the sky.

How It Works

Sunlight is white light, but it's actually made up of many different colors. When this light enters a water droplet, it bends, or refracts, and splits into its individual colors. The light then reflects off the inside of the droplet and exits, bending again. This process creates the beautiful rainbow we see.

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Examples

A rainbow appears after it stops raining because sunlight hits water droplets in the air and splits into colors.
If you’re standing outside on a sunny day with rain still falling behind you, you might see a rainbow arching across the sky.
A child might draw a rainbow using crayons, showing red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet in order.

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Categories: Science · optics,weather,light