Download Elementary Science Research and Reflection Project

http://eo.ucar.edu/rainbows/
http://www.kodak.com/US/images/en/corp/membersGallery/wallpape
r/1280_1024/RAINBOWS.JPG
http://www.alanbauer.com/images/Weather/Rainbows%20over%20C
ase%20inlet-Vert.jpg
A rainbow is one of the most spectacular lights shows observed on earth!
It is sunlight spread out into its spectrum of colors and diverted to the eye of the
observer by water droplets.
The “bow” part of the word describes the fact that the rainbow is a group of nearly
circular arcs of color all with a common center.
Essentially a rainbow is formed by raindrops and light interacting!
Rainbows appear not only in the sky, in air near us when there are water
drops illuminated by the sun, like around fountains.
It arises from the way in which rays of light act on raindrops and pass from
them to our eyes.
As a light beam enters the surface of a drop it is bent (refracted) a little, then at
the point where it meets the wall it is reflected back in the other direction. As
it exits the drop it is refracted (bent) again. The reflected light is diffuse and
weaker except near the direction of this rainbow ray!
A traditional rainbow is made up of 7 colors: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue,
Indigo, and violet. But it is actually a whole continuum of colors from red to
violet and even beyond colors that the eye can see!
The Colors arise from two basic facts:
1.) sunlight is made of the whole range of colors that the eye can detect.
The range of sunlight colors when combined looks white.
2.) Light of different colors is refracted by different amounts when it
passes from one medium to another.
When we see a rainbow and its band of colors we are looking at light
refracted and reflected from many different rain drops!
http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/sky_blue.html
http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/photos/cape_cod/images/blue%20sky%20sail
boat.jpg
http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~efortin/thesis/html/EMR_light.shtml
A kind of energy that radiates, or travels in waves.
It is a small part of a larger range of vibrating electromagnetic fields, called
the electromagnetic spectrum.
Visible light is the part of the electromagnetic spectrum that our eyes can see.
Light may look white, but it is actually a combination of colors!
We can see the different colors of the spectrum by splitting the light with a prism.
The spectrum is also visible when you see a rainbow in the sky!
As light moves through the atmosphere, most longer wavelengths pass
straight through. Little red, orange, or yellow light is affected by air.
Much shorter wavelength light is absorbed by gas molecules.
The absorbed blue light is then radiated in different directions. It is scattered
all around the sky, so no matter where you look some of the scattered blue light
reaches you and this is why the sky is blue!
http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/questions/question12.html
http://www.uweb.ucsb.edu/~lwingrove/shooting%20stars%202.gif
The event known as a shooting or falling star has nothing at all to do with
a star!
The amazing streaks of light that can sometimes be seen in the night sky
are caused by tiny bits of dust and rock called meteoroids falling into
earth’s atmosphere and burning up.
The short-lived trail of light the burning meteoroid produces is called a meteor.
At certain times of the year your are more likely to see great numbers of meteors.
These events are called meteor showers and occur when the earth passes through
debris that has been left from a comet as it orbits the sun.
Name:
When they Occur:
Quadrantids
April Lyrids
Eta Aquarids
Delta Aquarids
Perseids
Orionids
Taurids
Leonids
Geminids
January 1-6
April 19-24
May 1-8
July 15-August 15
July 25-August 18
October 16- 27
October 20-November 30
November 15-20
December 7-15