Eli5 : is the order of the colors in a real rainbow always the same? and why , whichever it is?

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Eli5 : is the order of the colors in a real rainbow always the same? and why , whichever it is?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Yes the order is always the same.

A light’s colour is determined by its wavelength. “White” light, like sunlight, is a combination of all the different colours.

Rainbows happen when the suspended drops of water in the air act like prisms and refract the light. **When light goes through a prism, it gets bent by an amount that depends on its wavelength**. The longer the wavelength the less it is bent, the shorter the wavelength the more it is bent. [That means the light gets “fanned out” according to colour](https://www.sciencefacts.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Prism.jpg). Red has the longest wavelength and gets bent the least, orange gets bent a little more, etc etc.

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