Light and Color Lab

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This light is coming from the sun. It may look white or clear, but it is made of many colors blended together.

When light travels, the colors stay mixed together. That’s why we don’t usually see the rainbow inside it.

Sometimes, light starts to separate into colors. When that happens, we can begin to see a rainbow!

When light enters the prism, it begins to bend. This bending is called refraction, and it changes the path of the light.

Inside the prism, the light slows down and spreads out. Each color bends a little differently, causing the light to separate.

Now we can see the colors that were hidden in the light. This band of colors is called a rainbow spectrum.

Tiny drops of water can bend light, just like a prism. Each droplet helps split the light into different colors.

When many droplets bend light at the same time, a rainbow appears. The colors spread out in a curved arc across the sky.

Each tiny droplet can create its own small rainbow. Together, they form the bright rainbow we see!