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Kermit the Frog wrote a song about them. Irish legend says that there is a pot of gold at the end of one. They are usually spotted on rainy days when the sun comes out. These things are rainbows- and if you have been lucky enough to see one of them you know how beautiful they are in the sky. But what causes the different colors to appear in the sky? Generally, we think that light is white. Try this fun experiment and find out what is hidden in this “white” light.

• A piece of white paper
• A small mirror
• A large shallow bowl or pan
• Water

1. Fill the bowl about 2/3 full with water.
2. Place the bowl in direct sunlight .
3. Hold the mirror under the water and tilt it so that it is in direct contact with the sun.
4. Hold the piece of paper above the mirror - so the light from the mirror reflects on the piece of paper.
5. Look at what you see on the paper. Is it the same white light from the sky?

The light from the sky is a kind of energy that travels in waves. When the light waves pass from one medium to another (from air to water) its direction and speed changes. The water and the mirror act like a prism splitting the light into the different colors of the spectrum. Rainbows are also refracted light -but they are more complicated because the light is split through many raindrops.