LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) - Can’t get “Roy G. Biv” out of your head? Neither can we!
Here are a few fun rainbow facts to go along with our new favorite song, thanks to meteorologist Mariel Ruiz.
How does a rainbow happen?
Rainbows occur when sunlight is refracted through rain droplets. Sunlight contains all the colors of the visible spectrum, ROY G BIV. Light travels at a certain speed through the air and slows down when it travels through water. Because of the speed change, light leaves water droplets at a different angle than it enters them creating what we call a rainbow!
11 fun facts about rainbows:
- Rainbows are full circles, but you only see the top part of the arc.
- Rainbows only happen if the sunlight is coming from behind you and it is low in the sky.
- Each raindrop creates its own rainbow.
- It takes millions of raindrops for us to see a rainbow.
- No two people see the exact same rainbow. A person standing next to you sees a rainbow in a slightly different place. The rainbows will look the same, but the person next to you sees light refracting from a different set of raindrops.
- Rainbows are most common in the last four hours of sunlight.
- A double rainbow happens when sunlight is reflected twice and the second rainbow will have the colors reversed, VIB G YOR.
- The word rainbow is Latin for “rainy arch.”
- Rainbows can occur in fog, sea spray, mist, waterfalls, and anywhere light meets water in the sky!
- The lower the sun is in the sky, the higher the rainbow will look to the observer.
- No rainbows in winter? It is possible but less likely. That is because water droplets freeze, so fewer raindrops fall.