Rainbows in my home

30 de diciembre de 2017

Rainbows in my home

In the rainy afternoons, at about 6 or 7 p.m. when it is close to sundown is common to see rainbows from the window of my home. Actually it is not so common, because it has to coincide the right hour, that the rain is neither too light nor too heavy so the sunlight can pass under the clouds, and I have to be at home to see it. The important things are that there are not too many buildings ahead and the window to look to the east, because the sun in the afternoon is to the west and the rainbow appears by the light that is reflected in the droplets (it is more complicated, but that gives the correct direction). (With a window to the west you should try at 6 or 7 in the morning, but it's too sleepy at that time.)

I made a scheme. Obviously it is not to scale. I think I put the colors in the correct order (the order in which they appear in the reflection, not the order in which they appear in the rainbow) (I have a probability of almost 50% of picking the correct order :)) In the photo you can see the primary and secondary rainbow, but in the diagram I drew shows only the primary one. (When I made the drawing I noticed that there has to be another upward reflection that should illuminate the clouds, I suppose that the effect in the clouds is very dim and it can’t be seen.)

In the kitchen we have a wooden ornament with a rainbow (it was for hanging things, but the hanger broke). It was left by the previous owner of the apartment and is stuck very strongly to the wall so we keep it there. Is there any relationship?

PS: If you like rainbows, check out this article about a triple rainbow near Seattle.