A bright, fun, luminous rainbow since ancient times was considered a symbol of good luck and luck. If a rainbow flashes in the sky, then the day will be happy and easy. And some even make a wish when they see this beautiful natural phenomenon in the sky. It is believed how many flowers in a rainbow a person sees, so many desires he can make.
What is a rainbow?
A rainbow is an optical phenomenon that occurs not only in the sky. In fact, this is the refraction of colors. Physicists have proved that light has a certain spectrum of shades, and the rainbow clearly demonstrates this.
It arises from the refraction of light in the smallest droplets of fog or rain water that soar in the atmosphere. Light is reflected differently in droplets of water, hence different shades arise.
Where is she being watched
A rainbow can be observed not only in the sky. You can see a small rainbow if you sit next to the fountain and catch the refraction of light near a stream of water. You can see it on a white sheet of paper when you write with a transparent pen on a sunny day. Also, a rainbow can be seen through a prism, if this prism is brought to the sun's rays or to an ordinary light bulb.
But more often, of course, we observe it in the sky.
How many colors are in the rainbow
Science has proven that the rainbow has seven colors. It:
- red;
- Orange;
- yellow;
- green;
- blue;
- blue;
- purple.
In antiquity, there were not so many precise optical instruments to carefully consider how many colors a rainbow has. And the human eye can not always accurately determine the color scheme.
Aristotle, for example, highlighted only three primary colors - red, yellow and green. But in Japanese culture there is no traditional green color, so the inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun believe that there are only six colors in the rainbow.
And the great mathematician Isaac Newton devoted a lot of time to studying the refraction of light and came to the conclusion that there are five colors in the rainbow. Then he examined also the sixth - orange. This number - six - seemed to him imperfect for descriptions of natural phenomena, so he decided to add a blue color to the rainbow, which he called "indigo."
We have 7 and they have 6
If you think that after the proven fact of scientists, how many flowers are in the rainbow, all the people on the planet agreed with this statement, then you are deeply mistaken. In China, for some reason, they believe that there are five colors in the rainbow - exactly the same as there are elements on the planet. Until now, in Germany, America, England, France and several other countries, children are told that the rainbow consists of six colors.
Why it happens? The fact is that blue and blue colors are very similar to each other, they are distinguishable only by the degree of depth. In addition, in a number of languages, “blue” and “blue” are called the same. In English, there is only one common word for describing these colors. Therefore, so far there is such a mess, how many colors are in the rainbow.
Just remember
The order of colors in the rainbow is always unchanged, no matter in what part of the world we observe it and at what time of day, large or small, stood in the sky for a long time or flared up and went out in a few seconds. The first color is red, which gradually brightens and turns into orange. In turn, the orange becomes even brighter and turns into yellow. The yellow color gradually turns green, then blue appears, which turns into a rich blue, and the last, final color of the rainbow spectrum is purple.
Remembering the order of the colors in the rainbow is quite simple. You need to learn just one mnemonic phrase - and you can easily name which flowers are in the rainbow, without stumbling. So, memorize this sentence: "Every Hunter Wants to Know Where the Pheasant Sits." Simply and easily. And now you just have to take the first letter of each word and name the color of the rainbow:
- each is red;
- the hunter is orange;
- wants - yellow;
- to know is green;
- where is blue;
- sitting - blue;
- pheasant is purple.
It is this phrase about the hunter and the sitting pheasant that has taken root in the Russian-speaking culture. Although there are several more successful suggestions that allow you to remember the rainbow spectrum. For example: "Once Once Jean Ringer City broke the Lantern." More modern interpretations appeared: "Each Designer Wants to Know Where to Download Photoshop."
Well, it’s already, as they say, choose according to your taste, how to remember the arrangement of colors in the rainbow.
Warm or cold
A rainbow in the sky always seems bright, cheerful, vibrant and very warm. It shines and sparkles, and it seems that everything is composed of fiery flowers. But, nevertheless, cold tones are present in it.
Let's see how many cold colors there are in the rainbow. Everything connected with blue refers to cold tones. Thus, there are three cool colors in the rainbow - blue, blue and green. But purple, which has shades of purple, does not belong to either warm or cold tones, it is transitional.
Accordingly, there are three warm colors of the rainbow: red, orange and yellow.
This palette, which divides colors into warm and cold, is used by artists and painters. There are even several color circles that divide the solar spectrum into warm, cold and intermediate shades.
Always against the sun
A rainbow always appears on the opposite side of the sun. Therefore, if you look at it, the sun will always shine from behind. Most often, a rainbow occurs in the morning or evening, and this also has a very reasonable explanation from the point of view of physics. When the sun is on the horizon, the rainbow is the most complete and largest. The higher the sun rises, the smaller the semicircle becomes. And when the star rises to a height of 43 degrees relative to the horizon, then it is no longer possible to consider the rainbow. Because the angle for refraction of light is not suitable.
The red color of the rainbow is always located in the outer part of the arc, and the violet in the inner part. But! A double rainbow is very common when there are two arcs in the sky at once. So, in the second rainbow, colors have the opposite arrangement.
By the way, seeing two rainbows is considered even greater luck than one.
Interesting Rainbow Facts
The number of colors in the rainbow always remains unchanged, but people's ideas about this beautiful optical phenomenon have changed over time. Ancient tribes, for example, divided the rainbow into two colors - dark and light.
A rainbow can be seen not only in the sun, but also after dark. Then the sun's rays begin to bounce off the moon, and a rainbow may occur.
The rainbow does not freeze in place, and two people who are at different ends of the city will see it in a completely different way. It will seem to one that it hovered over the river, and to another - that it was located directly above the new buildings. That is why when taking pictures of the rainbow at the same time in the same city, completely different pictures are obtained.
Not all people can see all seven colors of the rainbow. It depends on how sharp your eyesight is. Some may notice shades of pink, peach, and lime in the rainbow . And they don’t come up. After all, seven colors are the main classic colors. And there are really a great many shades in the rainbow, and some cannot be caught by the human eye.
A rainbow can disappear if you wear glasses with polaroid glasses. The coating of these glasses is located so that the light is refracted vertically and a person simply does not see what others see.