- Why is there a bright band at a specific angle? Why don't we see light at all angles?
- The deviation angle—the total bend a light ray undergoes—changes with impact height. Near the angle of minimum deviation, many rays with slightly different impact heights exit at nearly the same angle. This 'bunching up' of rays creates a high intensity, bright band. At other angles, rays are more spread out, resulting in much dimmer light.
- Does the simulator show why a rainbow has different colors?
- Indirectly, yes. The refractive index (n) depends on the color (wavelength) of light; violet light bends more than red light. In the simulator, you can mimic this by increasing 'n' to see how the rainbow angle decreases. In reality, white sunlight contains all colors, and each color reaches its minimum deviation at a slightly different angle, creating the colored bands.
- What is the 'impact height' and why is it important?
- The impact height is the distance from the droplet's central axis where the incoming light ray strikes. It determines the initial angle of incidence inside the droplet. This single parameter controls the entire subsequent path of the ray—its refraction, reflection point, and final exit angle—making it the key variable for tracing the ray's fate.
- What does this model still leave out about real rainbows?
- It is still a single-droplet, ray-optics sketch. Real bows involve countless droplets, Mie scattering for small drops, pronounced polarization, supernumerary arcs from wave interference, and atmospheric effects. The simulator shows the correct primary vs secondary ray sequences but not intensity distributions or the full spectrum.