Story 29. Someone over the Rainbow
You are playing outside on a rainy afternoon.
The day clears, and the sun breaks through the clouds.
If you're lucky, a beautiful bow of light will spread itself out across the sky.
Look up and enjoy.
You are witnessing one of the wonders of nature—a rainbow.
In the West, adults teach young children that there is a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.
Most kids believe them.
They look up at the perfect arc of light—almost like a road on which they can walk.
And they dream of one day finding that pot of gold.
It's a nice story.
But rainbows really aren't that mysterious.
They are simply what we see when the sun's rays pass through drops of water.
The light is reflected and bent as it travels through the wet air.
As light bends inside the raindrops, it comes out the other side, appearing as all of the colours of light: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet.
The top band of light will always be red, and the bottom band will always be violet.
There is no way to predict exactly when a rainbow will appear.
However, if you see a rainbow, one thing is certain—the sun is shining in one part of the sky and it is raining in another part of it.
Here's something else that's always true about rainbows: they will always be in front of you, and the sun will always be behind you.
Do you know that no two people see exactly the same rainbow?
Suppose you and your friend spot a rainbow.
You stand beside each other and marvel at its beauty.
But each of you is seeing your own "one-of-a-kind" rainbow.
Easy.
You are seeing light reflecting off one group of raindrops.
Your friend is seeing light coming through different raindrops because she is seeing them from a different angle.
One last thing.
If there really was a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, you would never be able to get there and discover it.
As you move towards a rainbow, it moves away from you at the same speed.
