Question

Fill in the blank.

The reflection of sunlight takes place __________ the water droplets to form a rainbow.

• A. outside
• B. inside
• C. beside
• D. below

Answer 1

The correct option is B inside

The reflection of sunlight takes place inside the water droplets to form a rainbow.

The formation of a rainbow involves a series of physical phenomena - reflection, refraction, dispersion and total internal reflection. The occorence of each of these is due to the interaction of light with air and water and the boundaries between them. As light enters the raindrop, it is refracted (the path of the light is bent to a different angle), and some of the light is reflected by the internal, curved, mirror-like surface of the raindrop, and finally is refracted back out the raindrop toward the observer.