One of the most beautiful natural occurrence is a rainbow.
The colors, the perfect lines and formation...

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But how is it formed?

What is a rainbow?

A rainbow is a natural phenomenon. It is caused by the refraction and reflection of light in droplets of water. This will result in the appearance of a spectrum of light in the sky.

There will be times when the rainbow is caused by the water and the sun, during this the rainbows appear on the side of the sky that is directly opposite of the sun.

How is a rainbow formed?

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A rainbow is formed when the sunlights hits a raindrop in the atmosphere. The sunlight is then refracted on the surface of the raindrop and then enters the droplet. When the refraction then occurs the light breaks up into seven colors inside the raindrop, it is then reflected to the other side of the raindrop after it has traveled inside it. Whenever the light in the raindrop refracts, the spectrum forms to make 7 colors of the rainbow.

During this reflection the angle of the reflection is equal to the angle of incidence. The reflected light travels along the set path. It maintains the difference of the refraction angle.

Create your own rainbow

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You will need the following:

1. Glass of water
2. Sheet of white paper
3. Sunny day or flashlight

Instructions:

1. Fill up the glass with water.
2. Place the glass of water on the paper.
3. Use the flashlight and shine it through the glass.
4. Rotate the glass until a rainbow forms on the paper.

Rainbow art activity

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You will need the following:

1. White paper
2. Black paper
3. Water paint
4. Scissor

Instructions:

1. Use the water paint to paint long straight lines with all the rainbow colors.
2. Let the paint dry.
3. Use your scissor and cut patterns from the picture. (See the image for review.)
4. After it has dried let the learners hand out the black paper.
5. Hand out each learners' rainbow and let them paste them.

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