VERIFY QUESTION
This weather Wednesday, and after three straight day of rain -- we're ready to see some sun. And, perhaps, we'll strike gold and see some beautiful rainbows, too.
Have you ever wondered how rainbows form? We know in order to see them, the sun has to be positioned to a person's back, and the rain has to be in front of him or her.
How do these gorgeous creations appear, and why, sometimes, do we see two of them?
VERIFY SOURCE
To VERIFY, we consulted WFMY News 2 meteorologist Eric Chilton.
VERIFY PROCESS
Chilton explained when sunlight moves through a raindrop, it acts like a prism. The water separates the light into all its different-color wavelengths. That's called refraction. The rainbow is the reflection of the refraction.
With a double rainbow, the reflection off the back of the raindrop sometimes splits. Essentially, it reflects twice off the back of the raindrop. Fewer light rays get reflected, so the rainbow is dimmer, and the colors are reversed. The primary rainbow has the red on top and violet on bottom (ROY G BIV), yet the secondary rainbow has violet on top and red on bottom. (VIB G YOR).
VERIFY CONCLUSION
Double rainbows form when light reflects twice off the back of a raindrop, appearing dimmer and reversed in colors.