Make Your Own Rainbow

What to Do:

1. Put the glass baking dish flat on the ground or a table.
2. Place the mirror in the dish. Lean it up against one side.
3. Turn the dish so the mirror faces the sun.
4. Add water until the dish is about half full.
5. Have the helper hold up the paper at the end of the dish away from the mirror and move it around slowly. Watch for the sunlight bouncing off the mirror.

What Happened?

A rainbow appeared! The water in the dish bent the sunlight. Even though sunlight looks white, it has colors in it. And when the light is bent, it breaks up into red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo (a purplish color) and violet. This is called refraction. It's how white sunlight puts a rainbow on the paper. After a rain, lots of small drops are still in the air. When sunlight hits the drops, the light bends to make a rainbow, just like the rainbow you made.