Why Some Rainbows Turn White

This is fascinating. I’d never even heard of a fogbow until now.

This is an interesting phenomenon that I feel like you come across a few times in your life, but you never figured out until just now.

Oh hey, this is only the second context in which I've heard the word "supernumerary" used.

I'm so glad you covered this because I saw this a while back and was baffled, but forgot to follow up

so saying the rainbow is in the sky is like saying what shows in a mirror is in the wall. water drops are indeed in the sky, but that's like that the mirror is on the wall, not in the wall

Now I am dying to see a supernumerary rainbow 😍

I'm starting to think my voice training text might not 100% complete and accurate.
"When sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow.
A rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors.
These take the shape of a long round arch with it's path high above,
and its ends apparently beyond the horizon.
There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end.
People look, but nobody ever finds it."

aww you didnt talk about sun dogs or the weird like rainbows that show up directly overhead and at funky other angles sometimes.

Fogbows and snowbows are the only white-ish bows I've seen.

wow, I was surprised to see it all comes down to the Opera browser

Straight rainbow

I've seen a lunar rainbow before, which also appears white, though I think for a different reason.

This also explains why, even for crisp vivid rainbows, the sky inside the rainbow is brighter than the sky outside it! 🌈

I bow to your expertise.

I somehow never knew this existed even though it is obvious it should based on properties of light, it just never occurred to me and I've never seen one or read about it. Great video.

Huh, interesting. Never seen one of those before

Wrong explanation. It's caused by people stealing the pot of gold

I've never seen a pure, colourless fogbow but I occasionally see rainbows with not so bright colours. I usually explained it by the background just not giving such a great colour contrast.

"roses are red, violets are blue, and purple in a rainbow is a supernumerary hue" – minutephysics, 2014

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