What is a rainbow?

This video explores the physics of rainbows by considering how light is refracted as it passes through water droplets. The formation of both primary and secondary rainbows (double rainbows) is explained, as well as the formation of the dark band known as 'Alexander's band'.

In his poem of 1820 entitled Lamia, John Keats complained that cold science had destroyed the magic of nature, conquering all mysteries by rule and line, and that Newton, through his work on optics, had un-weaved the rainbow. In this video I would like to show that Keats was misguided, and that by understanding the physics of rainbows, using only the basic tools of geometry and imagination, the experience of seeing a rainbow is enhanced, not diminished, and that the pursuit of scientific knowledge only ever adds to the magic and mystery of reality. It never subtracts.

References:
The Feynman Lectures - Richard Feynman
For the Love of Physics - Walter Lewin
Applied Project - The calculus of rainbows (https://www.stewartcalculus.com/data/...)

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