What causes double rainbows? Why is the order of the colors reversed?
January 8, 2008
Double Rainbow, Kleskun Springs Valley, Sexsmith AB
While on vacation recently our family
saw a double rainbow. How do these occur? Why did the second faint
rainbow (which was on top of the first) have the opposite color
sequence?
Ah, rainbows – those will-o'-the-wisps of ethereal beauty, made
possible only by a full lineup of optics phenomena. Let's run down the
list:
1. Refraction. When a ray of sunlight strikes a raindrop, the
ray refracts, or bends, at the point where it passes out of the air and
into the water of the drop. The angle of the bend is determined by (a)
the intrinsic light-transmitting properties of air and water (every
transparent substance has its own individual index of refraction) and
(b) the angle at which the ray strikes the surface of the spherical
droplet – whether, e.g., it hits the drop squarely or strikes a glancing
blow off to one side.
2. Dispersion. Meanwhile, the drop is acting as a prism,
splitting the white light of the ray into its component colors by
refracting the different wavelengths at different angles: red
wavelengths bend a certain amount, orange wavelengths a slightly
different amount, and so on.
3. Internal reflection. Most of the light striking the raindrop
passes straight through it and out the far side, but some of it
reflects off the rear interior surface of the drop and is sent in some
new direction. The ratio of light transmitted to light reflected is,
once again, a function of the angle at which the ray hits the surface.
4. Refraction and dispersion, part 2. When the reflected light exits the drop and re-enters the air, it's refracted and dispersed a second time.
Light rays emitted by the sun are effectively parallel when they reach
the earth, and raindrops are effectively all the same shape. So when
sunlight shines into a sky full of raindrops, it's encountering millions
of tiny, very similar spherical prisms and interacting with each in
pretty much the same way: each produces a basically identical pattern of
refracted, dispersed, reflected, and re-refracted light in a spectrum
of colors. The reflected red light is at its greatest intensity at an
angle of 42 degrees from the direction of the sun's rays, while the
violet light has maximum intensity at 40 degrees. When you face a rainy
sky with the sun at your back you see a ring of red light, forming the
outer edge of the rainbow, at 42 degrees from the direction of the
sunlight, a violet ring at 40 degrees forming its inner edge, and all
the other colors of the spectrum in between. The rainbow is entirely an
optical illusion; it changes its apparent position in the sky as you
change your vantage point, meaning that no two people are ever seeing a
rainbow the same way (and explaining why that pot of gold is so
elusive). Also, because the light forming the rainbow is reflected at
angles of 40 to 42 degrees, for the most part rainbows are seen only
during the hours around sunrise and sunset: if the sun is higher than 42
degrees in the sky the rainbow reflected by the raindrops will be below
the horizon for an observer at ground level. You get better viewing at
greater altitude, and it's possible to see complete circular rainbows
from an airplane.
Now, about double rainbows: What's happening here is that the ray of
sunlight bounces twice off the back interior surface of the raindrop
before re-emerging into the air. The second reflection inverts the order
of the colors – the secondary violet band forms at 54 degrees, the red
band at 50.5 degrees – so the secondary rainbow appears above the
primary one, with red on the inner edge and violet on the outer. Because
the twice-reflected light has had two chances to be transmitted out the
back of the raindrop rather than reflected back toward the observer,
the secondary bow is much fainter than the primary and frequently cannot
be seen at all; it's typical for a secondary rainbow to be visible only
at certain points along the arc.
If the light is strong enough to remain visible after being reflected three
times inside the raindrop, an even fainter tertiary rainbow can
sometimes be seen (at least in part) above the secondary one, with the
red back on the outside and the violet on the inside. And rumor has it
that it's occasionally possible to see a quadruple rainbow.
Nitpickers will ask: What about diffraction? Doesn't it play a role here
too? All I have to say is (a) yes, diffraction – a quantum phenomenon
where light waves cancel each other out or amplify one another –
sometimes figures in rainbow formation, if the raindrops are small
enough, in which case (b) all bets are off – you might get smaller
rainbows inside the main bow, you might get rainbows with the red in the
middle – but (c) no way am I going to work out the math for this. If
you're desperate to know this kind of stuff, well, that's why they
invented physics grad programs.
References:
Eugene Hecht and Alfred Zajac, Optics, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1974.
Frances W. Sears, Mark W. Zemansky, and Hugh D. Young, College Physics, Fourth Edition, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1974.
The issue is not necessarily that too little money flows into a
neighbourhood. Rather, it is what consumers, public services and
businesses do with that money. Too often it is spent on services with
no local presence, and so immediately leaves the area.
Our starting point is the energy for changing the local economy from
within a community, and the natural resourcefulness, skills and
passions of local people.
The principle behind this approach is that
people who live and work in a place, and others who care about its
future, are best positioned to find enterprising solutions, implement
them and reap the rewards.
In many places, local energy and creativity become trapped, and
different parts of the economy - local businesses, voluntary sector
agencies, and the public sector - do not talk to each other to maximise
local opportunities.
For the local economy to undergo durable and
robust change, the capability and energy of everybody needs to be
harnessed.
We believe that promoting and supporting local enterprise should be
part of any strategy for economic regeneration.
Local enterprises are
more likely to employ local people, provide services to improve the
local quality of life, spend money locally and so circulate wealth in
the community, promote community cohesion and, by reducing
transportation of goods from across communities, are likely to have a
smaller environmental footprint.
The approach also recognises that
communities do not develop their local economies in isolation.
How do we recognise sustainable local economic development?
A plugging the leaks approach is built around supporting
community-based action towards developing a more sustainable local
economy. This we describe as having the following outcomes:
Diverse range of businesses and enterprises in terms of size,
social & private mix, and diversity of goods and services produced.
Positive local money and resource flows
(a high local multiplier and local re-use of waste).
Strong local asset base including local people's attitudes, skills and knowledge; physical, financial and natural resources.
Responsive public and business sector which is working to strengthen and invest in the local economy.
Strong community & civic voice including local activism, leadership, volunteering, and engagement in debate.
Sustainability and a reduced environmental footprint.
Increased understanding of economic, cultural and ecological
inter-connections that link communities, span the globe and impact on
the future.
nef uses the metaphor of a leaky bucket
to open up conversations in communities about a local economy and money
flows into and out of that community.
We explain the local economy as a
bucket with water being poured into it - to represent for example
tourism spending, local school budgets, benefits or salaries of people
living in the area. Then we consider all the ways that money then leaks
out of the bucket, such as taxes, utilities, and purchases of goods and
services from outside of the area.
In a plugging the leaks approach all those outflows of money are
potential enterprise opportunities for people. It builds up a
community's confidence in its own ability to determine its economic
destiny; to make decisions about how the community wants the local
economy to develop. We then support that action through a coaching
approach, drawing on local networks of support. In deciding on what
actions to take forward, it is important that the local economic,
social and environmental impact is understood - the impact on the
triple bottom line.
Within a community a plugging the leaks approach supports a move
from an awareness of opportunities to taking action by exploring four
questions:
What are the opportunities for enterprise development of both new and existing businesses - What do we want to do?
How could goods and services be delivered differently - to keep money circulating locally, and reduce waste?
How can we mobilise resources to do what we want to do?
Will these actions result in positive local economic, social and environmental outcomes?
Suppose you paint a pound coin red and watch where it goes. Every
time it changes hands within a community, it means income for a local
person. The more times it changes hands, the better for that community.
In fact, money that is re-spent in a local area is the same as
attracting new money into that area. Either way, it is new money into
the hands of the person who receives it. This is termed the local
multiplier.
In addition to considering money flows, we also look at how other
resources such as energy, water and consumer products flow into a
community (their source) and how they leave that community (the waste
created) to find enterprising ways a community could reduce their
impact on the environment.
Within the public sector (State sector, and other institutions), a
Plugging the Leaks approach supports this sector to open up local
employment and business opportunities in the way they contract and
deliver capital projects, and purchase goods and services.
100 Mile Mall is a social community for folks that enjoy buying local
products and services, plus a large number of tools to help connect
local shops with the community. Shop local and enjoy yourself, while
meeting others who enjoy it too.
Why should I join?
There are many reasons to join, but some of the best reasons include:
100% Free lifetime memberships for regular users.
Collect and save coupons from your local shops.
Discuss relevant topics that interest you.
Create an extensive custom profile.
Keep up to date on the newest Events and News.
What else can I do here?
Some of the more advanced users will take advantage of the custom user
Websites. These are websites within 100MileMall.com that is all yours.
Think of this as your own custom storefront inside of the 100 Mile Mall.
How can 100 Mile Mall help my business?
If you are a business, you will love the features here for you. They include:
List your business in the directory with a full business profile with map.
Add all your coupons to 100 Mile Mall, you're in full control.
Adding unlimited user Website pages, you're in full control.
Optional custom built user Website themes.
Connect with the entire 100 Mile Mall community.
First time visitor? "Check out the helpful links below."
is gathering momentum as both farmers and
consumers demand a better food system and an alternative to the global
food chain.
Farmers
seek innovations to survive on the farm and consumers are going out of
their way to support local farmers, food system and an alternative to
the global food chain. (Green and Hilchey, 2002)
Boosting Health With Local Food
Eating locally farmed food burns less fuel, but is it better for you?
The local food movement typically has been about improving the health of the planet.
Buying locally means less fuel burned to transport food, which means less pollution.
But now researchers are trying to find out if eating locally farmed food, is also better for your health.
A
team of researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
has received a grant to study the public health impact of moving toward
a local, sustainable food system. An increasingly vocal local food
movement calls for consumers to try to buy and eat foods produced
within 100 miles of their homes.So far, there's not real evidence that
eating locally farmed food is better for you. But there are many
reasons to think it might be. (Read More on why local foods are
healthier for you in The Visible Woman ) By definition, locally farmed
food is not going to come from large commercial food companies, so
people who eat locally aren't going to consume as much processed food,
which typically contains lots of refined carbohydrates, sugar, fat and
preservatives.
The idea that software on the Web is going to be largely funded by
advertising is just so wrong-headed, I hardly know where to start. It had me spluttering in the latest BriefingsDirect Insights analyst podcastadvertising’s epitaph way back in March 2006: “Why build an economy around Attention, when Intention is where the money comes from?
hosted by Dana Gardner — more on that in a moment. Let’s move on from
1.0 notions of the Web as just a publishing medium, with ads on the
side. Doc Searls already pronounced what I consider to be ”
Instead of competing to grab attention, the way to sell on the Web is
to align your selling proposition with buying intention. The Web makes
that easy, because it’s a platform for software automation. So use
software to build automation that brings buyers and sellers together on
the Web. Not just as a broker that matches deals with no added value,
but by putting relevant sellers conveniently at hand at the moment when
a buyer is ready to buy, making the discovery and transaction process a
smoother, better, cheaper experience for all concerned. I’ll expand
below on some examples of how that might happen, but here’s how I
summed it up in the podcast (quoting from the transcript):
All consumers get a Free Memberhsip
they can start to Connect in their own local community
