chemistry of the rainbow

[Megamind's Minion]

i am not doomed or anything..
i am not a genius either..
it's just that we have this weird appreciation class for chem where our teacher is asking us to write a 3-5 pages essay on anything that enlivens our curiousity with regards to chemistry...
just want to hear your opinion on>>>

is CHEMISTRY of the RAINBOW an interesting topic.? .

[Eris]

There is in fact very little chemistry involved in rainbows. It is an optical phenomenon, related to mie scattering (which is more physics than chemistry).

Take the following explanation with a grain of salt, I'm basically working from memory of my optics course from last year. In brief, rainbows occur because they scatter off water vapor in the air, which due to mathematical peculiarities of light act sort of like a prism, giving rise to a circle of concentric rings with a radius proportional to the wavelength of the light.

[Megamind's Minion]

There is in fact very little chemistry involved in rainbows. It is an optical phenomenon, related to mie scattering (which is more physics than chemistry).

yup..
i know all about optics since that is our lesson now in physics..
but every element exude a certain light spectra when connected or exposed to reactions and all that..
so i guess have to search deeper into that...
anyway it's a curiousity paper..

[tsujigiri15]

What he said. If you want to do a project on colourful stuff involving chemistry - how about looking at dyes and stuff - as in, what chemicals do they use in jeans (for example). Its quite interesting

[Sasori|Eternal Sacrifice|]

o_O since when are rainbows caused by chemistry?

It is an optical phenomenon when light from the sun hits droplets of water in the earths atmosphere. The amount of light determines its wavelength, which determines its color. Rainbows do not have an exact location in the sky, either. There's also several different types of rainbows, all also having to do with how light reflects off of water.

[Eris]

The amount of light determines its wavelength, which determines its color.

This is completely wrong. The amount of light is called intensity, and it is completely unrelated to the wavelength and color of the light. Intensity is related to the perceived brightness of the light.

[Sasori|Eternal Sacrifice|]

Well that's what I was taught in school. -_-;

Then again our teacher was fired. So who knows.

[Megamind's Minion]

[quote=Sasori|Eternal Sacrifice|;2229146]o_O since when are rainbows caused by chemistry?
quote]

that is what i am trying to know and is researching on..
if it does not exist..
or if it does and would not fit in 3-5 pages..
then i guess i have to find another interesting topic to work on..
and just drop the idea..

[Sasori|Eternal Sacrifice|]

[quote=jengamor;2229154]

o_O since when are rainbows caused by chemistry?
quote]

that is what i am trying to know and is researching on..
if it does not exist..
or if it does and would not fit in 3-5 pages..
then i guess i have to find another interesting topic to work on..
and just drop the idea..

I'd help give a few examples of idea's if I took chemistry in school. Which alas I did not. Probably a good thing, I'd expect myself to have spilled an unknown substance on myself at least once during the course.

And with my luck, turn my skin green for a month. Or something similar.

[Megamind's Minion]

how about looking at dyes and stuff - as in, what chemicals do they use in jeans (for example). Its quite interesting

i'll think about it..
thanks for the suggestion...
girl's do know how to sympathize...

[Megamind's Minion]

I'd help give a few examples of idea's if I took chemistry in school. Which alas I did not. Probably a good thing, I'd expect myself to have spilled an unknown substance on myself at least once during the course.

And with my luck, turn my skin green for a month. Or something similar.

bad for you..
you missed a lot..
chemistry is an interesting course..
with all those bubbles and explosions i had experienced back in high school..
i really missed it..
the laboratory part<that is>..
never mind the lecture...
some are totally boring..

[OminousCloud]

I suppose the chemistry involved between the rainbow, pot of gold and leprechaun would be interesting indeed. For example, What sort of chemical interactions are involved in the binding of the pot of gold to the end of the rainbow? And does the rainbow; the alleged optical phenomenon actually possess chemical signals for leprechaun recruitment?

You could easily spend the majority of the paper discussing the difficulties involved in researching such chemical interactions...

[tsujigiri15]

[quote=Sasori|Eternal Sacrifice|;2229156]

I'd help give a few examples of idea's if I took chemistry in school. Which alas I did not. Probably a good thing, I'd expect myself to have spilled an unknown substance on myself at least once during the course.

And with my luck, turn my skin green for a month. Or something similar.

I took chemistry in school, and something exactly like that did happen. I spilled silver nitrate on myself. On a sunny day. I basically developed - as in I had this big brown splotch on my forarm, which lasted a while.

My friend also got acid on her leg. It was strong stuff and literally burned away most of one trouser leg. She was fine but seeing our male teacher tending to an 'inadvisably' placed hole was interesting

[Sasori|Eternal Sacrifice|]

[quote=tsujigiri15;2229473]

I took chemistry in school, and something exactly like that did happen. I spilled silver nitrate on myself. On a sunny day. I basically developed - as in I had this big brown splotch on my forarm, which lasted a while.

My friend also got acid on her leg. It was strong stuff and literally burned away most of one trouser leg. She was fine but seeing our male teacher tending to an 'inadvisably' placed hole was interesting

Perfect examples as to why I did not select chemistry for a class.

Also with my luck, I'd somehow manage to take a non-flammable substance and set something on fire.

Don't ask how, that's just how my luck is.