Rainbows

Rainbows are one of the most beautiful spectacles nature has to offer — so beautiful, in fact, that they’ve inspired countless fairy tales, songs and legends. It’s a good bet that most of the artists behind these tales were totally mystified by the rainbow phenomenon. But of course there’s a scientific reason for how they’re formed.  It has to do with light refraction, bending light, and even frequency.

When white sunlight hits a collection of raindrops at a fairly low angle, you can see the component colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet — a rainbow. ~ Making a Rainbow at Science.HowStuffWorks.com

Single Rainbows
Rainbows appear all over the world. So of course there are a ton of myths and legends about what they mean from place to place. Some meanings also represent the actual science behind their creation too.

Most people know the story about the Irish leprechaun hiding their gold at the end of the rainbow.  According to fables, Leprechauns are tiny mystical forms of faeries who were originally linked to the Tuatha De Danann of Irish mythology. They normally take the form of an old man in a red or green coat, when they appear to humans.

But they are also known as mischievous faery creatures who like to make shoes and store their gold in a pot that they hide at the end of a rainbow.  Because rainbows don’t come around everyday, so it’s a good place to hide their gold. Yet it’s a place that will appear from time to time that allows the little fae to grab a handful of gold when they need it. And if you find that pot of gold and can get it from the leprechauns, you maybe allowed to keep what you can grab. Continue reading →