RainbowSpec

All about rainbows, color, and light!

An indepth, yet beginner friendly exploration on how rainbows and related phenomenon work! Start with the Visible Spectrum.

Starred (★) pages contain information important for understanding other pages.

Future Topics

  • the 3 cones and color vision (core)
  • sun halos/arcs (atmosp)
  • diffraction gratings
  • photoelasticity
  • how dif colors make the same (core)
  • polarization (core?)

Sitemap

The same links as above, but in categorised lists.

Basic Pages

Core Concepts

stars (★) mark important topics

Other

Recommended Sites!

AtOpt - Atmospheric Optics
incredible older HTML site about rainbows and ice halos! Large inspiration for this site
HueValueChroma - The Dimensions of Colour
old site absolutely packed with information on how humans interpret color, covers both scientific and artistic theory
Rainbows, Halos, Coronas, and Glories
PDF covering the same topics explained by AtOpt, but all in a single PDF
HyperPhysics: Light and Vision
old physics HTML site, this section covers many topics relevant to rainbows and the visible spectrum
The Physics Classroom: Light Waves and Color
another physics site that has good explainations on related concepts
Physically-Based Simulation of Rainbows
research paper funded by Disney for representing rainbows in their animated films, but covers incredibly valuable information on the physics behind rainbows, including non spherical drops
Philip Laven: The optics of a water drop
researcher on the physics of rainbows, lots of physics calculations and graphs

Suggested first page: The Visible Spectrum