A Light Show With No Stage: teacher key

Rainbows, grade 7 edition, written for 7th grade. A rainbow is not a thing hanging in the sky. It is sunlight bent and bounced by raindrops, and it reaches only the person standing in the right spot.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. Where must the sun be for you to see a rainbow?
   • Behind you (answer)
   • In front of you
   • Straight overhead
2. What does refraction mean?
   • Light bouncing off a mirror
   • The bending of light as it passes from one material to another (answer)
   • A drop of rain falling
3. Why does a person see red at the top of the bow?
   • Red light leaves the drops at a steeper angle, so it comes from drops higher up (answer)
   • Red is the brightest color of sunlight
   • Red drops fall more slowly
4. What is the main bow's angle from the point opposite the sun?
   • About 12 degrees
   • About 42 degrees (answer)
   • About 90 degrees
5. Why can you not see a rainbow from the ground at noon in a place where the sun is very high?
   • The sun is more than 42 degrees above the horizon (answer)
   • Raindrops are too big
   • Moonlight is too dim

Words

• refraction: light bending
• prism: light-splitting glass
• antisolar: opposite the sun
• wavelength: wave length
• fogbows: white rainbows