Deflection & Dispersion in Raindrops

Rainbows are at their best early morning and late afternoon when a shower has just passed over and the Sun is illuminating the curtain of raindrops formed on the trailing edge of the falling rain.

Yes! Light travels faster in air than in water.

The wavelength of incident light decreases as it travels from air into a raindrop because water is an optically slower medium.

It is the small difference in the refractive index of different wavelengths of incident light that causes dispersion and separation of white light into rainbow colours.

Yes! Every wavelength of light is affected to a different degree by the refractive index of a transparent medium and as a result, changes direction by a different amount when passing from air to water or water to air.

The angle of refraction measures the angle to which light bends as it passes across the boundary between different media.

• The angle of refraction is measured between a ray of light and an imaginary line called the normal.
• In optics, the normal is a line drawn on a ray diagram perpendicular to, so at a right angle to (90⁰), the boundary between two media.
• See this diagram for an explanation: Refraction of a ray of light
• If the boundary between the media is curved, the normal is drawn perpendicular to the boundary.

The angle of incidence measures the angle at which incoming light strikes a surface.

• The angle of incidence is measured between a ray of incoming light and an imaginary line called the normal.
• See this diagram for an explanation: Reflection of a ray of light
• In optics, the normal is a line drawn on a ray diagram perpendicular to, so at a right angle to (90⁰), the boundary between two media.
• If the boundary between the media is curved, then the normal is drawn at a tangent to the boundary.

The spectral colour model represents the range of pure colours that correspond to specific wavelengths of visible light. These colours are called spectral colours because they are not created by mixing other colours but are produced by a single wavelength of light. This model is important because it directly reflects how human vision perceives light that comes from natural sources, like sunlight, which contains a range of wavelengths.

• The spectral colour model is typically represented as a continuous strip, with red at one end (longest wavelength) and violet at the other (shortest wavelength).
• Wavelengths and Colour Perception: In the spectral colour model, each wavelength corresponds to a distinct colour, ranging from red (with the longest wavelength, around 700 nanometres) to violet (with the shortest wavelength, around 400 nanometres). The human eye perceives these colours as pure because they are not the result of mixing other wavelengths.
• Pure Colours: Spectral colours are considered “pure” because they are made up of only one wavelength. This is in contrast to colours produced by mixing light (like in the RGB colour model) or pigments (in the CMY model), where a combination of wavelengths leads to different colours.
• Applications: The spectral colour model is useful in understanding natural light phenomena like rainbows, where each visible colour represents a different part of the light spectrum. It is also applied in fields like optics to describe how the eye responds to light in a precise, measurable way.

In the field of optics, dispersion is shorthand for chromatic dispersion which refers to the way that light, under certain conditions, separates into its component wavelengths, enabling the colours corresponding with each wavelength to become visible to a human observer.

• Chromatic dispersion refers to the dispersion of light according to its wavelength or colour.
• Chromatic dispersion is the result of the relationship between wavelength and refractive index.
• When light travels from one medium (such as air) to another (such as glass or water) each wavelength is refracted differently, causing the separation of white light into its constituent colours.
• When light undergoes refraction each wavelength changes direction by a different amount. In the case of white light, the separate wavelengths fan out into distinct bands of colour with red on one side and violet on the other.
• Familiar examples of chromatic dispersion are when white light strikes a prism or raindrops and a rainbow of colours becomes visible to an observer.

The angle of reflection measures the angle at which reflected light bounces off a surface.

• The angle of reflection is measured between a ray of light which has been reflected off a surface and an imaginary line called the normal.
• See this diagram for an explanation: Reflection of a ray of light
• In optics, the normal is a line drawn on a ray diagram perpendicular to, so at a right angle to (90⁰), the boundary between two media.
• If the boundary between the media is curved then the normal is drawn perpendicular to the boundary.

On a sunny day, if you stand with the Sun at your back and look at the ground, the shadow of your head will align with the antisolar point.

• The antisolar point is the position directly opposite the Sun, around which the arcs of a rainbow appear. An imaginary straight line can always be drawn that passes through the Sun, the eyes of an observer, and the antisolar point, which is the geometric centre of a rainbow.
• This concept corresponds with what an observer sees in real life: the idea that a rainbow has a center. From a side view, the centre of a rainbow is called the antisolar point, so named because it is opposite the Sun relative to the observer’s position.
• Unless observed from the air, the antisolar point is always below the horizon. Both primary and secondary rainbows share the same antisolar point, as do higher-order bows, such as fifth and sixth-order rainbows.

Incident light refers to light that is travelling towards an object or medium.

• Incident light refers to light that is travelling towards an object or medium.
• Incident light may come from the Sun, an artificial source or may have already been reflected off another surface, such as a mirror.
• When incident light strikes a surface or object, it may be absorbed, reflected, refracted, transmitted or undergo any combination of these optical effects.
• Incident light is typically represented on a ray diagram as a straight line with an arrow to indicate its direction of propagation.