Rainbows are often seen when the sun comes out after or during a rainstorm. Rainbows are caused when sunlight shines through drops of water in the sky at specific angles. When white sunlight enters a raindrop, it exits the raindrop a different colour. When light exits lots of different raindrops at different angles, it produces red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet that you see in a rainbow. Together, these colours are known as the spectrum. These colours can sometimes be seen in waterfalls and fountains as well.
Do you know that there are double rainbows? In a double rainbow, light reflects twice inside water droplets and forms two arcs. In most double rainbows, the colours of the top arc are opposite from those in the bottom arc. In other words, the order of colours starts with purple on top and ends with the red on bottom. In addition, rainbows sometimes appear as white arcs at night. These rainbows are called moonbows and are so rare that very few people will ever see one. Moonbows are caused by moonlight (rather than sunlight) shining through drops of water.
Answer the following questions
1 Rainbows are often seen _____.
a when it snows
b before a rainstorm
c after a rainstorm
d after the sun sets at night
2 Rainbows are produced when _______
a the spectrum causes a rainstorm.
b the sun causes a rainstorm.
c the sun comes out after a storm.
d light exits many raindrops at different angles.
3 What colour is not there in a rainbow?
a indigo
b orange
c yellow
d pink
4 The author describes moonbows as “so rare that very few people will ever see one.” Which of the following might also be described as very rare?
a A squirrel
b A pink diamond
c A ruler
d A fireman
5 What colour is a moonbow?
a white
b the passage doesn’t say
c yellow
d green
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