Wolfram Demonstrations Project

13,000+ Open Interactive Demonstrations
Powered by Notebook Technology »

Rainbows of Multiple Orders

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.

This Demonstration shows the position and colors for the first 10 orders of rainbows formed by the reflection and refraction of the Sun's rays in drops of water.

[more]

The primary rainbow is at 42°, the secondary rainbow at 52° and the tertiary rainbow at 41°, all with respect to the Sun's direction.

[less]

Contributed by: Volodymyr Holovatsky and Elizabeth Orynchuk (August 2022)
(Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, Ukraine, and Vyzhnytsia Gymnasium, Ukraine)
Open content licensed under CC BY-NC-SA

Snapshots

Details

References

[1] J. D. Walker, "Multiple Rainbows from Single Drops of Water and Other Liquids," American Journal of Physics, 44(5), 1976 pp. 421–433. doi:10.1119/1.10172.

[2] R. L. Lee and P. Laven, "Visibility of Natural Tertiary Rainbows," Applied Optics, 50(28), 2011 pp. F152–F161. doi:10.1364/AO.50.00F152.

[3] M. Großmann, E. Schmidt and A. Haußmann, "Photographic Evidence for the Third-Order Rainbow," Applied Optics, 50(28), 2011 pp. F134–F141. doi:10.1364/AO.50.00F134.

[4] M. Theusner, "Photographic Observation of a Natural Fourth-Order Rainbow," Applied Optics, 50(28), 2011 pp. F129–F133. doi:10.1364/AO.50.00F129.

[5] H. E. Edens, "Photographic Observation of a Natural Fifth-Order Rainbow," Applied Optics, 54(4), 2015 pp. B26–B34. doi:10.1364/AO.54.000B26.

[6] D. T. Ivanov and S. N. Nikolov, "A New Way to Demonstrate the Rainbow," The Physics Teacher, 54(8), 2016 pp. 460–463. doi:10.1119/1.4965263.

[7] M. Welter, "Another Rainbow Demonstration with a Glass Sphere," The Physics Teacher, 57(5), 2019 p. 344. doi:10.1119/1.5098931.

Embed Code

Take advantage of the Wolfram Notebook Emebedder for the recommended user experience.

Related Demonstrations More by Author
Browse all topics
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