1. History of Rainbow Mystery
How people understood, misunderstood, and gradually explained rainbows.
Simulating Rainbow Colors From Zero
This 4-post series builds up the physics of rainbow colors from the ground up. We start with the historical puzzle of rainbows, then move into geometrical optics, then wave optics, and finally some broader questions and extensions.
For this series, we will:
- See how people tried to explain rainbows historically.
- Understand the ray-optics picture behind the primary rainbow.
- See what geometrical optics misses.
- Use wave optics to understand supernumerary structure and color detail.
- Connect the classic rainbow problem to broader optics ideas.
Background
This series assumes only a basic familiarity with high-school level physics and math. A bit of calculus is helpful, but not required for the main ideas.
The Series
Ready to get started? Here we go:
2. Geometrical Optics of Rainbows
The ray-optics picture of refraction, reflection, and rainbow angles.
3. Wave Optics of Rainbows
Why interference matters for the fine structure and color detail of rainbows.
4. More about Rainbows
Further questions, extensions, and related atmospheric optics beyond the primary bow.
What Next?
If you want to go further, some natural next steps are:
- Compare primary and secondary rainbows in more detail.
- Study supernumerary bows with interference theory.
- Explore Mie scattering and the role of droplet size.
- Connect rainbow formation to atmospheric optics more broadly.
Thanks for reading!