The "Rainbow" in The Drop: Related Articles

The “rainbow” in the drop
Giovanni Casini and Antonio Covello
Citation: Am. J. Phys. 80, 1027 (2012); doi: 10.1119/1.4732530

View online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.4732530
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APPARATUS AND DEMONSTRATION NOTES
The downloaded PDF for any Note in this section contains all the Notes in this section.
Frank L. H. Wolfs, Editor

Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627
This department welcomes brief communications reporting new demonstrations, laboratory equip-
ment, techniques, or materials of interest to teachers of physics. Notes on new applications of older
apparatus, measurements supplementing data supplied by manufacturers, information which, while not
new, is not generally known, procurement information, and news about apparatus under development
may be suitable for publication in this section. Neither the American Journal of Physics nor the Editors
assume responsibility for the correctness of the information presented.
Manuscripts should be submitted using the web-based system that can be accessed via the American
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consideration.
The “rainbow” in the drop

Giovanni Casini
Dipartimento di Fisica, Universitá di Roma “Tor Vergata,” Roma 00133, Italia
Antonio Covello
Liceo Vittoria Colona di Roma, Roma 00186, Italia
(Received 17 March 2008; accepted 18 June 2012)
We describe an apparatus that can visualize the creation of rainbows using a cylinder of acrylic
glass. The apparatus allows one to observe rainbows up to the sixth order. A brief theoretical
introduction and a method to quantitatively analyze the observation are discussed. A simple
lighting system is described and its divergence is computed. The effect of light divergence on
rainbow formation is analyzed. VC 2012 American Association of Physics Teachers.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.4732530]
I. INTRODUCTION The exit angle h can be calculated by adding the devia-

tions of the ray each time it meets the water–air interface.
A demonstration that creates a rainbow in the laboratory The deviation of the incident ray when it refracts into the
can capture the attention of our students.1 Although most drop is hi hr . A ray refracting from the interior of the drop
demonstrations of this type allow us to measure the angle into the air experiences the same deviation hi hr . The ray
between the white incoming rays and the emerging colored that emerges from the drop after two refractions has a devia-
rays, they do not allow us to see the reflections and refractions tion of 2ðhi hr Þ. The deviation for a reflected ray is
that occur inside the drop. The apparatus described in this pa- p 2hr . The exit angle for a ray that undergoes k reflections
per allows us to visualize the paths of the rays outside and inside the drop before being refracted into the air is
inside the “drop.”2 We can see that the light emerging from
the “drop” forms rainbows up to sixth order. Furthermore, we
can quantitatively compare the measured and calculated exit hk ðhi ; kÞ ¼ 2ðhi hr Þ þ kðp 2hr Þ
angles. When an intense light source and a good camera are ¼ 2hi þ kp 2hr ðk þ 1Þ: (1)
used, it is possible to use the apparatus as a classroom
demonstration. Since the angle hr is a function of the incident angle hi and
the index of refraction nðkÞ, the exit angle is a function of hi ,
II. A SHORT ESSAY ON THE THEORY OF THE k, and k. Light reflected once inside the drop, k ¼ 1, is cus-
RAINBOW tomary referred to as “light of first order”; “light of second
The rainbow is part of the light that comes back to our order,” k ¼ 2, is reflected twice inside the drop. A plot of hk
eyes from raindrops illuminated by the sun.3 Consider a as function of hi for the first four orders is shown in Fig. 2.
beam of parallel rays incident on a spherical drop of radius Each order has a minimum exit angle, customary called the
R. Fig. 1 shows a particular ray, incident with an impact pa- Cartesian angle hCk . In order to find the incident angle that
rameter p and an angle of incidence hi . Part of the incident produces the Cartesian angle, the angle hr must be elimi-
ray is reflected from the surface and part is refracted into the nated from Eq. (1) using Snell’s law. The corresponding
drop. The refracted ray will meet the water–air surface where incident angle hi;Ck is given by
it will again be partially refracted into the air and partially 0sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi1
reflected back into the interior of the drop. The ray will con- ½nðkÞ2 1A
tinue to undergo multiple reflections inside the drop, losing hi;Ck ¼ arccos@ : (2)
kðk þ 2Þ
intensity at each encounter with the water–air surface.
1027 Am. J. Phys. 80 (11), November 2012 http://aapt.org/ajp C 2012 American Association of Physics Teachers
V 1027
Fig. 1. Path of a light ray incident on a drop and subsequent reflections and
refractions. Only the first two internal reflections are shown.
The presence of a distinct exit angle h for different wavelengths

seems sufficient to explain the origin of rainbows. However,
this difference in exit angles occurs for any angle, while the cir-
cular shape of rainbows can be explained only if the colors are
separated around a specific angle, about 41 42 .
In order to understand color separation, we examine Fig. 3.
Figure 3 shows the exit angle of first-order light, obtained
from Eq. (1), for k ¼ 633 nm (red) and k ¼ 404 nm (violet).
For a given exit angle h1 and wavelength k, the corresponding
angles of incidence can be determined. Drawing a horizontal
Fig. 3. (Color online) The exit angle h1 ðhi ; kÞ, obtained using Eq. (1) for
line at the exit angle to be studied, we can look at the intersec- k ¼ 632 nm (red light, long dashed) and k ¼ 404 nm (violet light, long
dashed-point-point), as function of the angle of incidence hi . In the region
around the minimum, graphs for k ¼ 589 nm (yellow, continuous line),
k ¼ 546 nm (green, dashed), k ¼ 486 nm (cyan, long dashed-point),
k ¼ 436 nm (blue, dotted) are also shown, assuming indices of refraction of
water at 20 C equal to nred ¼ 1:33211, nyellow ¼ 1:33335, ngreen ¼ 1:33483,
ncyan ¼ 1; 33749, nblue ¼ 1:34059, and nviolet ¼ 1:34312.
tions of this line with the curves h1 ðhi ; kÞ. If the line crosses
the curves associated with red and violet light, it must cross
all curves corresponding to wavelengths between 404 nm and
633 nm. The scattered light at that particular exit angle thus
contains all wavelengths of the visible spectrum. If the rela-
tive intensities of the scattered wavelengths are not very dif-
ferent, the light that emerges will be white. For example, for
h ¼ 150 , the line crosses the red and violet curves in two dif-
ferent regions of hi . Since the relative intensities of the differ-
ent wavelengths are similar,4,5 the light that emerges at
h ¼ 150 will be white.
Outgoing colored light will emerge from a drop only if
there are values of h for which not all wavelengths are pres-
ent or if their relative intensities are very different. The first
condition occurs at values of h for which the red and violet
curves are not intersected by the same horizontal line.
Figure 3 shows that there are two areas where this happens:
on the far right of the graph (88 < hi < 90 and
165 < h1 < 167 ), where the incident rays are almost tan-
gential to the drop, and in the region around the minima of
the curves (50 < hi < 70 and 137 < h1 < 139 ). The in-
tensity of the colored light for 88 < hi < 90 is very low for
Fig. 2. (Color online) The exit angle h as function of the angle of incidence
two reasons. First, the ratio of the intensities of reflected and
hi obtained from Eq. (1) for red and violet lights and k ¼ 1, 2, 3, and 4. refracted light is an increasing function of hi ; for
The index of refraction of water was assumed to be nR ¼ 1:33211 and nV 88 < hi < 90 , almost all incident light is reflected and very
¼ 1:34312 for red (633 nm) and violet (404 nm) light, respectively. little is refracted into the drop. Second, the range of impact
1028 Am. J. Phys., Vol. 80, No. 11, November 2012 Apparatus and Demonstration Notes 1028
Fig. 4. (Color online) Details of Fig. 3, expanded in the region around the minimum exit angle. The bar on the right schematically shows the color of the light
leaving the drop at the corresponding angle. The distributions on the right-hand side qualitatively show the intensity distributions of the scattered light as func-
tion of the exit angle h for various wavelengths in arbitrary units. The peak shape is consistent with the divergence of solar light.
parameters associated with the interval 88 < hi < 90 is solar rays. Second-order light emerges from the drop
small compared to Dhi ¼ 2 intervals for non-tangential rays outside a cone of opening angle bR ¼ hC2 ðkred Þ p d=2.
(see Fig. 1). As a result, the scattered white component has Colored rays are scattered at angles between aV ¼ p
an intensity that is at least 3 orders of magnitude larger than hC1 ðkviolet Þ d=2 and aR for the first-order rainbow and at
the colored component, and no colors are visible.11 angles between bR and bV ¼ hC2 ðkviolet Þ p þ d=2 for the
Descartes was the first one to address the formation of rain- second-order rainbow. The colors for the first- and the
bows by drops of water.7 He calculated the exit angle for second-order rainbow appear in reverse order. No light of
many incident rays and noticed that rays were strongly con- first or second order emerges in the angular range between
centrated around the minimum exit angle hC .8 He concluded aR and bR .
that the intensity of the emerging rays should have a maxi- The role played by raindrops based on their position in the
mum around hC and that this angle should be the rainbow sky is illustrated in Fig. 6. The axis of the rainbow passes
angle. His hypothesis was confirmed by measurements even through the eye of the observer and is parallel to the direc-
though his ideas about the origin of the individual colors were tion of the sun rays. Since the angle c between the axis and
inadequate and a complete explanation of the rainbow phe- the line of sight of a raindrop is equal to the scattering angle,
nomenon was achieved only with Newton’s contribution.9 we can subdivide the sky in five zones, delimited by four
Consider what happens in the area around the minimum
exit angle, shown in Fig. 3 and in more detail in Fig. 4. Since
red light has the lowest minimum exit angle, at hC1 ðkred Þ
only red light is visible. For other colors, this does not hap-
pen. At the minimum exit angle for yellow light, red light is
present too, and the yellow light is superimposed on the red
light. For the same reason, green light is superimposed on
yellow and red light, and so on. At the minimum exit angle
hCk ðkÞ, each color has a maximum intensity. Since the mini-
mum exit angle hCk ðkÞ depends on wavelength, each color
has a maximum intensity at a slightly different exit angle
and a single wavelength will dominate at each exit angle. In
the geometrical optics approximation, the angular width of
the intensity distributions shown in Fig. 4 is similar to the
divergence of solar rays,19 and soft color separation results.
Equation (1) for k > 1 provides a similar behavior, as shown
in Fig. 2.
In order to understand several key features of a rainbow, it
is useful to visualize the information contained in Fig. 2 for
Fig. 5. Schematic of the light scattered by a raindrop illuminated by sun
k ¼ 1, 2 using a graphical representation of the rays emerging rays. The direction of the incident rays is specified by the arrow shown on
from the drop, as shown in Fig. 5. First-order light emerges the left. First-order light is scattered at angles less than aR while second-
from the drop within a cone of opening angle order light is scattered at angles greater than bR . First-order rainbows form
aR ¼ p hC1 ðkred Þ þ d=2, where d is the divergence of the between aV and aR ; second-order rainbows form between bR and bV .
III. THE EXPERIMENTAL APPARATUS
The experimental apparatus we developed relies on the cy-
lindrical symmetry of the process that generates the rainbow.
Since the reflection and refraction occur in a plane, we can
use a cylinder instead of a sphere in our apparatus. A draw-
ing of the apparatus is shown in Fig. 7. It is made of a flat
and smooth surface disk (2), 200 mm in diameter. A pivot
(4) is attached to the center of the disk, protruding from one
side. On the same side, a plastic ring (3), about 40 mm wide
and with the same outer diameter as the disk, is glued to the
edge of the disk. On the other side of the disk, a circular
sheet of paper (5) is glued and at its center, a cylinder of
acrylic glass18 (1) is fixed with transparent double sided ad-
hesive tape. The cylinder is 20 mm thick and has a diameter
Fig. 6. (Color online) Role played by raindrops according to their position of 60 mm. A strip of white thin cardboard (6) is glued to the
in the sky: observer eye OE, rainbow axis RA, a raindrop RD with its own edge of the disk, on the external surface of the plastic ring,
scattering graph, first-order white zone W1, primary rainbow zone R1, protruding about 25 mm on the acrylic cylinder side. On its
Alexander’s dark zone D, secondary rainbow zone R2, and second-order
white zone W2. The limit angles of each zone are indicated.
protruding side, a 10 mm wide slit (8) is cut for the incident
light. The inner face of this white strip is the screen where
the scattered light is observed. In order to shield this screen
conical surfaces with opening angles of aV , aR , bR , and bV . from ambient light, it is necessary to place a second bigger
Zone W1 , within a cone of opening angle aR , returns first- screen around the entire apparatus (7). This screen, made of
order white light to the observer. Zone R1 , between aV and black thin cardboard, must have a corresponding slit. Pieces
aR , corresponds to the primary rainbow. Zone D, between aR of black cardboard and black adhesive tape are attached to
and bR , is called the Alexander’s10 dark zone and cannot the inner screen to absorb light rays reflected from the sur-
return light of first and second orders to the observer. It face and light rays that are refracted without an internal
appears remarkably darker. Zone R2 , between bR and bV , reflection. A support with a suitable hole for the pivot allows
corresponds to the secondary rainbow. Compared to the pri- our apparatus to rotate freely.
mary rainbow, the secondary rainbow appears larger, The slit width is adjusted using a piece of black adhesive
weaker, and with colors in reverse order. Zone W2 , outside tape. To determine the proper width, the information con-
the cone of angular opening bV , returns white light of second tained in Table I can be used. Table I shows all expected val-
order to the observer. ues of the Cartesian angles for two wavelengths, 632.8 nm
For third and fourth orders, the minimum scattering angles (red) and 435.8 nm (blue), and refraction indices of
are greater than p=2 and rainbows of third and fourth order n(632.8) ¼ 1.489 and n(435.8) ¼ 1.5025.20 To first order, the
cannot be observed because they are overwhelmed by the difference between the Cartesian incident angles for red and
sun itself. blue light is Dhi;C ¼ 470 , corresponding to a slit width of
Since the angles of incidence associated with rainbows are about 0.27 mm on the external screen. For higher orders, this
near the Brewster angle, the light forming the rainbows is value is smaller. We used a slit width of about 1.5 mm to
almost completely polarized in a direction parallel to the cover an adequate range of hi around hi;C for any order.
plane of incidence.12 The incident beam of light used with our apparatus must
The picture we have shown is an approximation because have a divergence similar to those of solar rays. According
the geometrical optics theory has two significant limitations.
First, the angular dependence of the intensity of the diffused
light is not affected by the radius of the drop, which enters
the equation only as an overall factor. This suggests that a
rainbow forms each time we illuminate drops, independent
of their dimension. But light diffused by the clouds which
contain drops with diameters between 0.1 lm and 100 lm is
white.13 Light diffused by fog, which contain drops with
diameters smaller than 60 lm, may show a white bow.14
Observations show that rainbows only form in the presence
of relatively big drops, such as rain, with diameters between
200 lm and 2–3 mm, and that the bigger the drops the
brighter the colors.6,15 Second, the geometrical optics theory
cannot explain the presence of the supernumerary
rainbows.4–6,13,16,17 These are little weak rainbows, placed
just inside the primary rainbow and external to the secondary
rainbow. Both these failures can be overcome with a wave-
based theory that takes into consideration the interference
Fig. 7. (Color online) A sectional drawing of the experimental apparatus: (1)
between different wave fronts emerging from the drop with acrylic glass cylinder, (2) disk, (3) plastic ring, (4) pivot, (5) white paper, (6)
the same direction of propagation but with different phases. white thin cardboard screen, (7) shielding black cardboard, and (8) slit. The
Other theories have been developed to explain other light entering the slit is scattered by the acrylic glass cylinder and is visible on
discrepancies.16,17 the paper glued on the disk surface and on the white thin cardboard screen.
Table I. Incident angle, spread of the incident angle, rainbow angle, colors spread calculated for the wavelengths kR ¼ 632:8 nm and kB ¼ 435:8 nm. The cor-
responding indices of refraction for polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) are nR ¼ 1:489 and nB ¼ 1:5025, respectively. The measured angles of the red side of
the rainbow and the differences with expected values are reported in the last two columns.
hi;C Dhi;C hC DhC Measured values
Order k kR kB iCR iCB kR kB hi;CB hi;CR hM 6DhM hM hC

First 1 50 260 49 390 470 156 090 157 230 1 140 156 300 6400 þ0 210

Second 2 67 030 66 390 240 264 530 267 180 2 250 264 590 6400 þ0 060
Third 3 73 270 73 100 170 366 190 369 460 3 270 366 500 6800 þ0 310
Fourth 4 76 590 76 460 130 465 160 469 430 4 270 466 060 61000 þ0 500
Fifth 5 79 150 79 040 110 563 050 568 290 5 240 564 360 61200 þ1 310
Sixth 6 80 500 80 410 90 660 150 666 360 6 210 659 170 61200 0 580
to geometrical optics, each point on the surface of the illumi- of hi þ d. The exit angle of ray B in reference system Oxy is
nated object is reached by rays emitted from each point on equal to
the source surface, as shown in Fig. 8 for a spherical source
and object. The maximum divergence of the beam coming hB ðhi ; k; dÞ ¼ hk ðhi þ d; kÞ d: (6)
from the source depends on the distance between the source
and the object and on their sizes. The total divergence will For a point source, the first term in Eq. (5) is zero and no two
depend on the divergence associated with the dimension of rays enter the drop at the same point with different angles of
the source and the divergence associated with the dimension incidence. For a raindrop of radius r at a distance D from the
of the object. The divergence associated with the size of the point source, the divergence is equal to
source is equal to
r sin hi
dðhi Þ ¼ arctan : (7)
S S D r cos hi
dS ¼ 2 arctan ’ ; (3)
2D D
Figure 10 shows the exit angle obtained by inserting Eq. (7)
where S is the diameter of the source and D the distance in Eq. (6). Figure 10 also shows the exit angle in the absence
between the source and the object. The divergence associ- of divergence. The effect of divergence due to object size
ated with the size of the object is equal to results in a reduction of both the minimum exit angle and the
incident angle at which the minimum exit angle occurs. The
O O left shift is due to the use of the angle hi instead of the inci-
dO ¼ 2 arctan ’ ; (4) dent angle hi þ d. The down shift is a result of the fact that
2D D
our observations are made in the Oxy reference frame. Since
where O is the diameter of the object. The total divergence in our experiment we measure the exit angle hCk with respect
of the beam is equal to to the incident angle hi þ d, we can neglect this kind of
divergence.
S O For a point object, we have the superposition of incoming
d ¼ dS þ dO ’ þ : (5) rays, distributed across an angular range of 6d=2 for each
D D
hi . For solar light, S in Eq. (5) is the diameter of the sun and
In order to understand the effect of divergence on our experi- the divergence is about 320 .19 Figure 11 shows the effect of
ment, we consider two rays entering the drop at the same source size on the scattering process. The dotted curve
point with different incident angles, as shown in Fig. 9. Ray shows the relation between exit and incident angles for a
A (solid line) represents the usual ray without divergence, point source. The solid and dashed curves show
while ray B (broken line) represents a ray with a divergence hB ðhi ; k; d=2Þ and hB ðhi ; k; d=2Þ, assuming a divergence
d. In reference frame Oxy , ray A has an incident angle hi . The d ¼ 640 , twice as large as the solar divergence. The effect
exit angle can be calculated using Eq. (1): hA ¼ hk ðhi ; kÞ. of the divergence depends on the value of the incident angle
Equation (1) cannot be used to determine the exit angle of hi . For a fixed wavelength, the spread of the incoming rays
ray B since the incident ray is not parallel to the x axis. How- in the 6d range causes a broadening of the exit angular
ever, in reference frame Ox0 y0 , rotated by an angle d with range where the intensity of the scattered light peaks. This
respect to Oxy , we can use Eq. (1) with an angle of incidence type of divergence thus increases the overlap of contiguous
Fig. 8. (Color online) The calculation of the beam divergence relies on geometrical optics and the assumption that each point on the surface of the object is
reached by rays emitted by each point on the surface of the source.
Fig. 9. (Color online) Impact of beam divergence on the outgoing direction.
The scattering of the usual ray A is compared with that of ray B whose direc-
tion is changed by an angle d due to divergence. The scattering of ray B is
evaluated in the rotated reference system Ox0 y0 . Fig. 11. (Color online) Effect of divergence due to source size on drop scat-
tering for 632.8 nm light. The dotted line represents scattering without diver-
wavelengths and washes out the colors. It is thus important gence, the solid line correspond to d=2 divergence and the dashed line
to keep the divergence of the source in our experiments at correspond to þd=2 divergence, where d ¼ 640 , twice the solar divergence.
On each point of the drop surface, the incoming rays are distributed over a
or below the solar divergence.
6d=2 range, and the curves should be replaced by a band.
To generate the proper beam for our experiment, we tried
various approaches. In this paper, we describe two simple,
cheap, and easily reproducible solutions. The first approach was placed 2 m beyond the lens. With this method, we
uses a tungsten light bulb, placed in a black box with a hole obtained the required divergence and a light intensity suffi-
positioned such that the light cone comes almost exclusively cient to see rainbows up to fourth order. Using photographs
from the filament. The bulb is a 65W Osram Halostar Eco we can observe fifth-order rainbows, even though it is
whose filament is a coil, 1.95 mm in diameter and 4.3 mm in directed toward the slit of the apparatus and only a weak
length. For this lamp, the divergence can be estimated using trace is visible near the acrylic cylinder.
Eq. (5), where S is taken to be the diameter of the filament Using sunlight and sufficient shielding, we succeeded in
coil, assuming that the lamp is positioned with the axis of the photographing even a weak sixth-order rainbow.
filament coil parallel to the slit of the apparatus and O is the
width of the slit. In order to have d ¼ 320 , the lamp must be IV. RESULTS
placed about 42 cm from the axis of the apparatus. Using this
We illuminated the apparatus slit as previously described
light source, we can observe rainbows up to third order.
and turned its support in the horizontal plane by about 3 300
In order to obtain a more intense light source, we use the
so that the light grazed the paper on the disk such that the
same tungsten lamp in the box and add a lens and an iris.
path of the rays was clearly visible. Rotating the apparatus
Good results are obtained with a f ¼ 150 mm lens. For this
on its pivot, we let the beam enter the acrylic cylinder at
system, the beam divergence can be calculated using Eq. (5).
well-defined angles of incidence. This measurement can be
In all configurations useful to focus the light with the appro-
used both as a starting point to explain why rainbows appear
priate divergence, S is the lens diameter or the iris aperture,
and to demonstrate the previously described theory of colors
D is the lens-slit distance and O is the slit width. In our
separation near the minimum exit angle. It can be used to
measurements, we set the filament-lens distance to a value
explain many rainbow features: the form, the angle, the posi-
slightly less than the focal length. An iris with an aperture of
tion of the first- and second-order rainbows, and the dark
29 mm was placed in front of the lens, while the apparatus
band.
Our results are shown in Figs. 12–15. Figure 12 shows a
picture of the apparatus illuminated by a tungsten lamp, set
up to observe the primary rainbow. Figure 13 shows a picture
of the apparatus set up to observe two and three reflections,
corresponding to the conditions required for second- and
third-order rainbows. Figure 14 shows a picture of the appa-
ratus illuminated by a tungsten lamp and configured to show
rainbows of third and fourth order. Finally, Fig. 15 shows a
picture of the apparatus illuminated by solar rays where
fourth, fifth, and a pale sixth-order rainbows are visible. The
photograph was taken outside with a thick black cover all
around the apparatus and the camera. Due to the very weak
intensity of those orders, the picture has been taken using
light with its polarization parallel to the plane of incidence.
This technique does not alter the intensity of the rainbow but
reduces the intensity of the light diffused for k ¼ 0. To take
Fig. 10. (Color online) Exit angle as function of incident angle for 632.8 nm
light from a point source incident on a finite drop with (dashed curve) and
the photos, long exposure times are required and a tripod
without (solid curve) divergence. The incident angle hi is defined in Fig. 9. must be used. To use the experiment as a classroom demon-
The divergence is calculated using Eq. (7) for r ¼ 30 mm and d ¼ 425 mm, stration, we have used a commercial camera at its maximum
an actual case studied with our setup using direct lighting. sensitivity.
Fig. 12. (Color online) A photo of the apparatus illuminated by a tungsten Fig. 14. (Color online) A photo of the apparatus illuminated by a tungsten lamp
lamp in the condition of the first-order rainbow. The inset shows the zone in the condition of the third- and fourth-order rainbows. The labels on the photo
delimited by the dashed rectangle photographed with a reduced exposure. indicate slit S, reflected rays R, and each number refers to the order of the light.
The labels on the photo indicate slit S, reflected rays R, and each number
refers to the order of the light.
Similar errors were obtained for photos similar to those
shown in Figs. 12–15 if the border of the light path is sharp.
In order to make measurements, we have to take photo- Otherwise, larger uncertainties must be assumed. The sharp-
graphs with the camera lens aligned with the center of the ness of the light beam depends primarily on rainbow order
“drop.” The photographs must include the entire disk and the and we made a set of measurements for each order. We
inner screen of the apparatus. The geometrical information assumed an error of three standard deviations for each set.23
on the photo, i.e., the angles between the path of the rays, We used GIMP 2 to measure the divergence of solar rays.
can be easily extracted by making measurements with ruler Rotating the apparatus in a way that light does not enter the
and a protractor on the photo print. Alternatively, one can acrylic cylinder, the path of the beam is clearly visible and
use the software package GIMP 2, which is available for free its divergence can be measured. The values obtained varied
on internet.21 GIMP 2 has a tool to measure distances (in between 280 6100 and 360 6100 , in agreement with the
pixels) and angles (in degrees). With GIMP 2, one can find the accepted value of 320 . The measured divergence of the beam
angular position of the "software ruler" with high resolution.
We made test measurements with GIMP 2 on photos of sheets
with lines drawn at known angles and determined that the
measurements are repeatable within an error of about 50 .22
Fig. 15. (Color online) A photo of the apparatus illuminated by the sun. The
labels on the photo indicate slit S, reflected rays R, and each number refers to
the order of the light. We can see the fifth-order rainbow emerging just after
Fig. 13. (Color online) A photo of the apparatus illuminated by a tungsten the first-order light on the left side of the cylinder, going toward the slit. A
lamp in the condition of the second-order and third-order rainbows. The pale sixth-order rainbow can be seen between the second order and the
labels on the photo indicate slit S, reflected rays R, and each number refers reflected rays. Brightness and contrast of the picture have been increased for
to the order of the light. best visual quality.
obtained with the tungsten lamp was lower by about 50 com- Dr. Roberta Forte, Elisabetta Forte, and Professor Maria Co-
pared to the expected values obtained with Eq. (5). We rona for helping them in the English translation.
noticed that the measured divergence depends on the expo-
sure. By increasing exposure, part of the twilight zone 1
becomes visible and the measured divergence increases. We recall two experiments of this kind: Frank S. Crawford, “Rainbow
dust,” Am. J. Phys. 56 1006–1009 (1988); Harold A. Daw, “A 360 rain-
During our measurements of the angles between incident bow demonstration,” Am. J. Phys. 58, 593–595 (1990).
and diffused rays, we noticed that the red side of the rainbow 2
Our method can be considered as an evolution of that given by R. D. Rus-
had a sharp border but the violet side did not. When we sel “A rainbow for the classroom,” Phys. Teach. 27, 262–263 (1989).
3
increased the exposure time, the red border was quite stable An introductory, geometrical approach to the rainbow may be found in R.
but the violet border shifted. As a consequence, we decided J. Whitaker, “Physics of the rainbow,” Phys. Teach. 12, 283–286 (1974).
4
to make measurements only for the red side of the rainbow, A very good paper on the rainbow is J. D. Walker “Multiple rainbows
from drop of water and other liquids,” Am. J. Phys. 44, 421–433 (1976).
and these are reported in Table I, starting from the first to the 5
W. J. Humphreys, Physics of the Air, 3rd ed. (MacGraw-Hill, New York,
sixth order. 1940). Reprint (Dover Publications, New York, 1964), pp. 476–500.
We calculated the error introduced by a rotation in the 6
M. Minnaert, The Nature of Light & Color in the Open Air, translated by H.
horizontal plane of the apparatus by about 3 4 and M. Kremer-Priest, revised by K. E. Brian Jay (G. Bell & Sons, Ltd., London,
found that it to be very small, no more than 0.2%. The error 7
1938). Reprint (Dover Publications, New York, 1954), pp. 167–189.
due to the imperfect roundness of the cylinder, which is R. Descartes, Les météores, Discours huitième, “de l’arc-en-ciel,” A recent
and complete translation of this may be found in R. Descartes, The World
made from an extruded bar, depends on the point of inci-
and Other Writings, translated and edited by S. Gaukroger (Cambridge
dence of the beam, but we found that rotating the cylinder U.P., New York, 1998), pp. 85–86.
with respect to the beam or cylinder substitution did not 8
From the point of view of Descartes, h0 was the maximum deviation
change the results obtained. A cause of systematic error in because, if compared to our mode, he measured the angle of deviation of
the measurement of the first-order angle can be the caus- the rays from the other side, that is, the complement to 360 .
9
tic:24 the red border follows the caustic profile and is Newton’s letter to Oldenburg, secretary of the Royal Society, containing his
slightly curved. This profile is more curved near the drop new theory about light and colors, published in the Philos. Trans. 80,
3075–3087 (February 19, 1672). Available online at <http://rstl.royalsociety
and approaches the Cartesian ray far from it. Due to the slit publishing.org/content/6/69-80/3075.full.pdf>. The complete Newton’s
width used in our measurements, the caustic does not form theory of the rainbow is in his Opticks, 4th ed. (William Innis, London,
completely because it lacks a portion of the beam that is 1730), first book, Part II, Prop. IX, Prob. IV, pp. 147–156, freely available
necessary for its formation. Unfortunately, a reflection gen- online at <http://books.google.com>.
10
erates an identical weaker complete caustic. It can be easily Alexander of Afrodisia, a philosopher lived between the and the 3rd cen-
recognized and should be ignored in our measurements by tury BC
11
See Ref. 4, pp. 424–425 and Ref. 17, pp. 246–251.
using sections of the rays furthest away from the drop 12
This is true for the natural rainbows and for ours experiment in the range
where the caustic is almost straight and close to the direc- of interest. Other specific situation with different refraction index or higher
tion of the Cartesian ray. The most significant contribution orders must be appropriately calculated.
13
to the error is the loss of intensity of the scattered light See Ref. 6, pp.178–179 and David K. Lynch and William Livingston, Color
along its path. It causes an increasing shift of the red border 14
and Light in Nature, 2nd ed. (Cambridge U.P., New York, 2001), p. 120.
of the light path going away from the cylinder. The loss of F. Palmer, “Unusual rainbow,” Am. J. Phys. 13, 203–204 (1945).
15
J. D. Walker observed the vanishing of the color for drops under 300 lm
intensity produces a systematic error that increases the
of diameter, see Ref. 4, p. 432.
measured exit angle. 16
For a popular review on the rainbow theory see H. Moysés Nussenzveig,
If one observes Figs. 14 and 15 online, one will see many “The theory of the rainbow,” Sci. Am. 236, 116–127 (1977).
thin colored rays in the fan of light that emerges from the 17
For a complete review of the rainbow’s theory see J. A. Adam, “The mathe-
cylinder for k ¼ 0 and k ¼ 1. These rays are produced by su- matical physics of rainbows and glories,” Phys. Rep. 356, 229–365 (2002).
18
perficial imperfections on the acrylic extruded rod from With “acrylic glass,” we mean polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA).
19
which the cylinder is made. They cause little differences in Divergence of solar ray is equal to apparent diameter of the sun that vary
with the earth–sun distance between aphelion and perihelion. For our pur-
the optical path that increase with the incidence angle. The pose, we considered the apparent diameter of the sun at the mean distance,
resulting interference produces thin fringes with different that is, about 32’. See Encyclopedia of the Solar System (Academic Press,
spacing for each color. San Diego, CA, 2007).
20
We have found accurate refractive index data of PMMA at <http://refractive
index.info/?group¼PLASTICS&material¼PMMA>.
21
See the <http://www.gimp.org> web site.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 22
On photos 4752 3168 displayed at 1:1 zoom, the position of the elec-
tronic ruler can be set with a such accuracy.
The authors thank Professor Mauro Casalboni for encour- 23
An exception is the 6th order that we were able to observe with sufficient
aging them several times to write this article. They thank all intensity to perform a measure only in two photo.
the professors of the Gruppo Arcobaleno Lauree Scientifiche 24
J. E. McDonald, “Caustic of the primary rainbow,” Am. J. Phys. 31,
for their precious hints for teaching. They also thank 282–284 (1963).

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The “rainbow” in the drop

Giovanni Casini and Antonio Covello

Citation: Am. J. Phys. 80, 1027 (2012); doi: 10.1119/1.4732530

Additional information on Am. J. Phys.

Frank L. H. Wolfs, Editor

The “rainbow” in the drop

I. INTRODUCTION The exit angle h can be calculated by adding the devia-

The presence of a distinct exit angle h for different wavelengths

hi;C Dhi;C hC DhC Measured values

Order k kR kB iCR iCB kR kB hi;CB hi;CR hM 6DhM hM hC

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