DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post

**conurgenceDen** · 08-17-2012, 05:13 AM

> why is there is second one?

The main one comes from light bouncing once inside each raindrop. The secondary rainbow comes from light bouncing twice inside each raindrop.

> how wide are rainbows?

The main one is 1.6 degrees wide, (2 degrees according to other websites). The secondary one is roughly 3 degrees wide. Does anyone have more accurate data than that?

> how high are rainbows?

41 degrees from the Sun (or other light source) for the primary bow and 51.5 degrees from the Sun for the secondary bow.

At a rainstorm distance of say 5 to 10 km, that gives a maximum height for the primary bow (at sunset) of 4.5 to 8 km. But when the Sun is at say 20 degrees above the horizon that drops to 2 to 4 km high.

Height of rain-clouds matters as well. Rain storms from rain clouds may only be about 2 km high, although some are higher and lower. The rainbow forms only below the rain-clouds.

08-17-2012, 05:13 AM	#4
conurgenceDen Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 405 Senior Member	> why is there is second one? The main one comes from light bouncing once inside each raindrop. The secondary rainbow comes from light bouncing twice inside each raindrop. > how wide are rainbows? The main one is 1.6 degrees wide, (2 degrees according to other websites). The secondary one is roughly 3 degrees wide. Does anyone have more accurate data than that? > how high are rainbows? 41 degrees from the Sun (or other light source) for the primary bow and 51.5 degrees from the Sun for the secondary bow. At a rainstorm distance of say 5 to 10 km, that gives a maximum height for the primary bow (at sunset) of 4.5 to 8 km. But when the Sun is at say 20 degrees above the horizon that drops to 2 to 4 km high. Height of rain-clouds matters as well. Rain storms from rain clouds may only be about 2 km high, although some are higher and lower. The rainbow forms only below the rain-clouds.
	Quote