The photo is a picture of a rainbow although only a fraction of the rainbow is visible on the left hand side. The picture was taken on the third floor of Kennedy Apartments on a cloudy day after it has just rained. The picture also shows water droplets rolling down the window and in this paper I will be talking about how these water droplets are crucial to the formation of the rainbow. Rainbows are very beautiful and the process on how it’s created is very intriguing. In this paper I will be talking about the properties of light and how it travels through different mediums. The interaction of light with water droplets from the rain is the key element to the formation of the beautiful rainbow that we see.
The human eyes are very specific and …show more content…
Within these ranges of wavelengths are visible colors. The human eyes interpret these wavelengths as different colors with the shortest wavelength being violet and the longest wavelength being red. White light is the mixture of all these colors and black light is the absence of these wavelengths. Light has the properties of a waves so it has energy, velocity, and frequency. The energy of light is proportional with its frequency having the equation E=hf with h being Plank’s constant 6.625 x 10-27 m^2kg/s. The speed of light is also proportional to the frequency having the equation c = λf. The maximum speed of light is observed in a vacuum having the velocity of 2.99 108 m/s. As light travels through a substance, the speed decreases with regard to the composition of the medium. When light passes through a substance, the frequency remains constant but the wavelength decreases. As light travels from one medium to another, it strikes the interface of the substance and will either be reflected or refracted. Reflection occurs when an incident of light strikes an interface at a certain angle along the substances normal line and reflects off the interface at the same angle. The angle of incidence is the same angle as the angle of …show more content…
As white light enters a medium, the different spectrum of the light is refracted at different angles depending on the wavelength. White light is then separated to different colors in an effect called dispersion. The longer wavelengths are refracted at a greater angles compared shorter wavelengths. A rainbow is a perfect model to demonstrate the dispersion of light. Each droplet of rain is a medium and acts as a prism that refracts light and disperses it to different colors that reach the human eye. The process begins when the light from the sun strikes the rain drop. Depending on the angle of incidence, some light is reflected and the rest of the light is refracted. The light that enters the rain drop is then split into separate components based on the wavelengths. The most significant path of light is the light that is refracted, experiences a total internal reflection, and refracts again as it exits the water droplet and colors are further dispersed. The specific angle of incidence causes this and the optimal amount of light that experiences these refractions angle towards the ground at the earth’s surface. As stated before, due to the different wavelength white light disperses into the spectrum of colors. In order to see the rainbow, the sun has to be behind the person. An individual often sees the rainbow as a half-circular arc with the red on the top and the violet
The human eyes are very specific and …show more content…
Within these ranges of wavelengths are visible colors. The human eyes interpret these wavelengths as different colors with the shortest wavelength being violet and the longest wavelength being red. White light is the mixture of all these colors and black light is the absence of these wavelengths. Light has the properties of a waves so it has energy, velocity, and frequency. The energy of light is proportional with its frequency having the equation E=hf with h being Plank’s constant 6.625 x 10-27 m^2kg/s. The speed of light is also proportional to the frequency having the equation c = λf. The maximum speed of light is observed in a vacuum having the velocity of 2.99 108 m/s. As light travels through a substance, the speed decreases with regard to the composition of the medium. When light passes through a substance, the frequency remains constant but the wavelength decreases. As light travels from one medium to another, it strikes the interface of the substance and will either be reflected or refracted. Reflection occurs when an incident of light strikes an interface at a certain angle along the substances normal line and reflects off the interface at the same angle. The angle of incidence is the same angle as the angle of …show more content…
As white light enters a medium, the different spectrum of the light is refracted at different angles depending on the wavelength. White light is then separated to different colors in an effect called dispersion. The longer wavelengths are refracted at a greater angles compared shorter wavelengths. A rainbow is a perfect model to demonstrate the dispersion of light. Each droplet of rain is a medium and acts as a prism that refracts light and disperses it to different colors that reach the human eye. The process begins when the light from the sun strikes the rain drop. Depending on the angle of incidence, some light is reflected and the rest of the light is refracted. The light that enters the rain drop is then split into separate components based on the wavelengths. The most significant path of light is the light that is refracted, experiences a total internal reflection, and refracts again as it exits the water droplet and colors are further dispersed. The specific angle of incidence causes this and the optimal amount of light that experiences these refractions angle towards the ground at the earth’s surface. As stated before, due to the different wavelength white light disperses into the spectrum of colors. In order to see the rainbow, the sun has to be behind the person. An individual often sees the rainbow as a half-circular arc with the red on the top and the violet