Light

Rainbows

Is there such a thing as a completely circular rainbow?

All rainbows would be completely round except that the ground gets in the way of completing the circle. However, if viewed from a high altitude, such as an airplane, circular rainbows can been seen when the angle between the sun, the water droplets, and the plane is between the 40° and 42°. In this case, the rainbow is horizontal, meaning that it is parallel to the ground and therefore not blocked by the ground. This is quite a sight!



Close

This is a web preview of the "The Handy Physics Answer Book" app. Many features only work on your mobile device. If you like what you see, we hope you will consider buying. Get the App