From the colors that make a white light, the two colours that have the longest wavelengths are red and orange, which means that they are least likely to be deflected, So dust and other particles, in the lower atmosphere will scatter out the sun’s blue and green light, leaving just the red, orange, and yellow light to survive, creating a sunset. However, pollution, forest fire smoke or even volcanic ash can scatter light even more, leaving just the red light to survive and creating a very impressive red sunset.
2. Describe what happens inside water droplets to cause a rainbow and explain how you can tell whether a rainbow is a primary or secondary.
As sunlight enters water droplets in the atmosphere, its ‘constituent colours’ or wavelengths are refracted in slightly different amounts, while passing from the air into the water. A portion of the light striking the back of each water droplet is internally reflected and then refracted a second time as it merges into the air again. The colour that is refracted the most is Violet.
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