Reflection and Refraction, Double Rainbows

Photons, or scattered light rays, are made up of every visible light. Each of these visible light rays, from red to violet, have different wavelengths. In short, the longer the wavelength, the less energy the light has. The shortest of these visible wavelengths, and result more energy, is the violet wavelength. This the main reason why our sky has a bluish tint.

When the light enters a medium, or any obstacle, the light bends. This is called refraction. The light then is at an angle compared to the observer. In this case, the light is refracting, when encountering a raindrop. When the light bounces back out of the raindrop, it is reflecting.

In a double rainbow, there is a primary (the brighter one) and the secondary (the fainter one). The secondary bow is formed from two reflections are in the raindrop. Interesting to note too, because the colors are viewed from a different angle compared to each observer, technically, every observer views each rainbow differently. -Meteorologist Brittany Beggs