There are many legends and stories regarding rainbows. This makes sense considering how prominent they are and how easily misunderstood. Skittles often talk about tasting the rainbow, but that is just a marketing slogan because their candy has many colors. Actually tasting the rainbow would be impossible (or else just be the equivalent of drinking rainwater). There are those who believe that if you find the end of a rainbow you will find a pot of gold. This isn’t entirely untrue as it could never be proven false, because there is no end to a rainbow.
Rainbows are beautiful arcs through the sky with the same colors shown; Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet. So why these colors? Why always in the sky after a rain shower? And why can’t we catch them? The reason is of course very simple. It is because rainbows are not physical, tangible objects, they are optical illusions, and as beautiful as they are, they are just that and nothing more.
Rainbows are formed when the light goes through raindrops. The transparent rain acts as a prism for light. When light passes through a prism it is refracted into the visible spectrum of colors mentioned above. This light refraction is what is on the cover of the Pink Floyd album and used in many scientific experiments as well as physical applications. When you see a rainbow it is because you are standing in the right position relative to both the light and the rain. If you are too close or too far away the rainbow will not appear. The perfect angle to see a rainbow is to stand at 42 degrees to the rain and the sun. This is why a rainbow always appears to be the same distance away and is exactly why you could never reach the end of one or go over one as Dorothy mentioned in the Wizard of Oz.
The term rainbow has been confused in recent years with people using it to describe the refraction of colors in any form. A rainbow is what is formed by the rain but these splits of light can be seen in many ways. If you look out an airplane window the window will often create a visual effect creating these colors, but that is not a rainbow. If you stand in a waterfall you may see the colors of a rainbow surround you, but that is not a rainbow.
A rainbow is formed when the light goes inside a raindrop and is then reflected onto the curve of the raindrop from inside to create the rainbow light. If there are two refractions inside a raindrop it will create a double rainbow. While this is pretty cool to see and far rarer it is still just an optical illusion and easily explained by science. It simply occurs when refracted light does not escape the raindrop but is refracted again. This is why the second rainbow will always be slightly fainter than the first.
Rainbows are one more aspect of nature that is incredibly beautiful and shows the endless beauty of nature. The fact that light can be refracted into these shades simply shows how lucky we are to be alive in this beautiful world. While you can’t find the end of the rainbow, a pot of gold, or even taste it, you can certainly savor its beauty and take a moment to savor the beautiful world that we live in. In many ways that is worth more than any pot of gold. Ok not really, a pot of gold would be really cool and you could still think life is great, but we will have to settle for the great life part.