Does Raindrop Motion Affect Rainbows
Most recent answer: 03/11/2013
Q:
Since a water droplet is in motion, how does a spectrum get stability to form a rainbow?
- Utkarsh (age 16)
India
- Utkarsh (age 16)
India
A:
Hi Utkarsh,
Great question! I'd never thought about that before.
But if you think about it, light in water travels at ~220,000,000 m/s, while a raindrop is traveling at ~10 m/s. So in the time the light crosses a raindrop, the drop falls less than 1nanometer!
Compared to sunlight, a raindrop is basically stationary. Although the light is dragged along with the raindrop somewhat, it doesn't cause any noticeable effects.
David
Great question! I'd never thought about that before.
But if you think about it, light in water travels at ~220,000,000 m/s, while a raindrop is traveling at ~10 m/s. So in the time the light crosses a raindrop, the drop falls less than 1nanometer!
Compared to sunlight, a raindrop is basically stationary. Although the light is dragged along with the raindrop somewhat, it doesn't cause any noticeable effects.
David
(published on 03/11/2013)