彩虹是怎么形成的？
[ 2006-11-24 11:10 ]
雨過天晴，天邊時常會出現一道彩虹，給人帶來無限的遐想。有人說，彩虹是人間通往天堂的路，有人說，彩虹是女媧補天時留下的彩石。彩虹到底是怎么形成的呢？就讓下面這篇文章來為你揭開謎底吧！
 The rainbow's appearance is caused by dispersion of sunlight as it is refracted by
(approximately spherical) raindrops.
The light is first refracted as it enters the surface of the raindrop, reflected
off the back of the drop, and again refracted as it leaves the drop. The overall
effect is that the incoming light is reflected back over a wide range of angles,
with the most intense light at an angle of about 40°-42°. This angle is
independent of the size of the drop, but does depend on its refractive index. As
seawater has a higher refractive index than rain water, the radius of a rainbow in a sea spray is smaller than
that of a true rainbow. This is visible to the naked eye by a misalignment of
these bows.
Since the water is dispersive, the amount that the sunlight is bent depends
upon the wavelength, and hence color, of the light's constituent parts. Blue
light is refracted at a greater angle than red light, but because the area of
the back of the droplet has a focal point inside the droplet, the spectrum
crosses itself, and therefore the red light appears higher in the sky, and forms
the outer color of the rainbow. Contrary to popular belief, the light at the
back of the raindrop does not undergo total internal reflection; however, light
that emerges from the back of the raindrop does not create a rainbow between the
observer and the sun. The spectra emitted from the back of the raindrop do not
have a maximum of intensity, as the other visible rainbows do, and thus the
colors blend together and do not form a rainbow.
A rainbow does not actually exist at a location in the sky, but rather is an
optical phenomenon whose apparent position depends on the observer's location.
All raindrops refract and reflect the sunlight in the same way, but only the
light from some raindrops reaches the observer's eye. These raindrops are
perceived to constitute the rainbow by that observer. The position of a rainbow
in the sky is always in the opposite direction of the Sun with respect to the
observer, and the interior is always slightly brighter than the exterior. The
bow is centered on the shadow of the observer's head, or more exactly at the
antisolar point (which is below the horizon during the daytime), appearing at an
angle of approximately 40°-42° to the line between the observer's head and its
shadow. As a result, if the sun is higher than 42°, then the rainbow is below
the horizon and cannot be seen as there are usually not enough raindrops between
the horizon (that is: eye height) and the ground, to contribute. One exception
is when the observer is at the top of a mountain or a similar vantage point, for
example an aeroplane (see below). Another exception occurs when the rainbow is
produced by a garden sprinkler. Although in this case to get sufficient drops
they must be very small, resulting in a quite colorless bow.
dispersion: 散射
spherical: 球面的，球狀的
radius: 半徑
（通訊員稿 英語點津 Annabel 編輯） |
