Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => The Environment => Topic started by: Lewis Thomson on 06/09/2022 15:11:25
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Thomas is curious to find answers to this question that he submitted.
"On a rainbow red is on the outside, violet on the inside. Why is it the other way on the second rainbow (second reflection in the waterdrop)? How would the third rainbow look like?
Discuss your findings in the comments below...
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The second and more faint rainbow is called the secondary rainbow. It occurs when refracted light does not escape the raindrop after being reflected the first time.
Instead, the refracted light reflects off the raindrop's surface a second time as well, producing a secondary rainbow with its colors reversed compared to the primary rainbow.
Unfortunately, fewer light rays are available to undergo the additional refraction process, so the resulting secondary rainbow appears less vivid.
Theoretically, triple and even quadruple rainbows are possible, depending on how many times refracted light is reflected within a rainbow. These additional rainbows are much more rare, since the concentration of light rays available for reflection and refraction decreases with each optical process.
Source - https://weather.com/science/news/skywatching-double-rainbow-20130513
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