The development of a rainbow in the sky is caused by which of the following phenomena?

 

 

Solution:

Concept: Dispersion refers to the breaking of light into its component colors.

Reflection is the process of light rays falling on an object's surface being reflected back to the source.

Refraction of light is defined as the bending of a light beam as it moves from one medium to another.

It occurs at the intersection of the two mediums.

In the development of a rainbow, there are several stages:

The light is initially refracted and distributed into seven hues at the air-droplet contact.

The droplet-air contact then completely internalizes the scattered rays.

The distributed rays are refracted at the droplet-air contact, resulting in a rainbow.

We can see that refraction and total internal reflection both play a role in rainbow production, as well as the splitting of white light into seven hues, which is generated by a phenomenon known as dispersion.

Thus, the production of a rainbow in the sky is due to all three phenomena: refraction, reflection, and dispersion.