Unweaving the Rainbow

Initializing live version
Download to Desktop

Requires a Wolfram Notebook System

Interact on desktop, mobile and cloud with the free Wolfram Player or other Wolfram Language products.

Rainbow formation on a disk-like raindrop. Drag the locator up and down to vary where the light ray strikes the raindrop, or right and left to thicken the ray lines.

Contributed by: Borut Levart (March 2011)
Open content licensed under CC BY-NC-SA


Snapshots


Details

Snapshot 1: Unit refractiveness agrees with the experimental data for the refractive index of water as a function of wavelength. (Source: Philip Laven. "The optics of a water drop.")

Snapshot 2: The refractiveness factor exaggerates the differences between the refractive indices of the colors. It also increases the number of rays and their thickness.

Snapshot 3: Extremely high refraction and a low angle of incidence are shown.

The title of the Demonstration is borrowed from Richard Dawkins, who writes: "My title is from Keats, who believed that Newton had destroyed all the poetry of the rainbow by reducing it to the prismatic colors".



Feedback (field required)
Email (field required) Name
Occupation Organization
Note: Your message & contact information may be shared with the author of any specific Demonstration for which you give feedback.
Send