There’s nothing so welcome on a hot day as summer rain. And where there’s sunshine and rain together it usually means a beautiful, clear rainbow! Why? Let’s find out by making a rainbow of our own.
Rainbow over Carnarvon Reserve in Queensland. Photo Wayne Lawler/EcoPix.
What you’ll need:
- A dish of water (not too deep)
- A small mirror
- White paper
- A sunny day
Procedure:
- Place the mirror in the dish of water so that the sun shines onto it
- Hold up your sheet of white paper facing the mirror and adjust position until a shimmering rainbow appears on it.
How it works:
When sunshine hits water drops it slows down and is bent because water is more dense than air. The water acts much like a mirror, reflecting light, but at slightly different angles, which causes light to be split and reflected back in different colours of the rainbow.
You can only see a rainbow if the sun is behind you and you’re facing the rain.