You’re Probably Wrong About Rainbows by Veritasium

• Dan MacIsaac ^[1]
  1. [1] Physics Department, SUNY-Buffalo State University, Buffalo
• Localización: The Physics Teacher, ISSN 0031-921X, Vol. 63, Nº. 1, 2025, págs. 77-77
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen

  • Derek Muller’s son inspired him to do a deep dive into the physics of rainbows using the demonstration of light striking a glass sphere, first spending some time examining the produced colored caustics (fun fact: caustics take their name from the burning properties of concentrated light, like starting fires with a magnifying glass). Along the way, the video excerpts another excellent video by Grant Sanderson discussing and animating refraction phenomena as EM waves jiggling charged matter. Derek then looks at the spatial geometry of the Sun + raindrop + eye system, polarization by reflection, reversed colors in a second bow, and dark bands between the bows. Derek addresses glories (Brocken bows or halos)—colored rings created by interference in mist and clouds, inspiring atmospheric and particle physicist C. T. R. Wilson’s invention of the cloud chamber. Wilson received the 1927 Nobel for his cloud chamber examination of radioactive particle tracks.