The Physics of Rainbows and Prisms

How Does Light Give Us Vision?

Light comes from plasma, the universe's most abundant form of matter. The sun is a sphere of plasma radiating various quantum energy particles called photons. These photons have different frequencies and are invisible, so how do we see the world?

The abstract is to show that our visual cortex and brain interpret color using the frequencies of light. Namely, objects have frequencies, not colors. When sunlight lands on objects, it strikes electrons, and their energies blend. Then, the electrons emit photons, and the photon's color information comes from the electron's frequency. In addition, the world is colorless until our eyes convert the photon frequencies into color. The intensity and energy of sunlight are blinding, so it's logical that the colors of objects come from the electrons in matter when light illuminates them. The electrons emit lower energy, "electronic light," that lets us see the world.

The energy of photons is in their frequency, and the wavelength of light is a result of the frequency, not the other way around. Sunlight has a frequency of about 700 -750 terahertz, and household LED "white" lights have a frequency of about 474 - 638 terahertz. Sunlight also has multiple invisible frequencies of infrared, gamma rays, X-rays, and ultraviolet light: uva, uvb, and uvc. Every photon has a specific frequency, but most of the electromagnetic spectrum is invisible. We have been distracted by our fascination with color.?

Color Doesn't Come From the Wavelength of Light.?

Nikola Tesla said, "To understand matter, study its energy, frequency, and vibrations."

Color comes from the frequency of electrons in matter. Light gives us vision through a two-step process. The light source, such as the sun or electric lamps, illuminates matter and reacts with the electrons. The frequency of the “white” light source changes into the electronic frequency of the electron and is emitted as “electronic” photons. Electrons in matter have frequencies identical to the atoms and molecules.? The “electronic photons"?

enter our eyes, and the brain converts them into colors. Realize that photons are quantum energy, and they travel using frequencies. However, they are not waves that can cause additive or subtractive interference. Light doesn't blend until it lands on a surface and enters our eyes.?

Physics of The Rainbow Effect

Sunlight entering the upper atmosphere contains ultraviolet, gamma, and X-ray frequencies. The high-frequency solar radiation encounters atoms in the atmosphere, which contain nitrogen, oxygen, ozone, argon, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide. Some photons are absorbed by the electrons in these atoms and molecules and are ejected with the electron's frequency. For example, ozone absorbs all of the harmful ultraviolet UVC and much of the UVB radiation. This interaction with the atmosphere is crucial in the initial stages of rainbow formation, as it sets the stage for the 'electronic light' that will eventually create the rainbow.?

Solar radiation entering the atmosphere creates the first stage of "electronic" light, making the sky appear blue. The bluish color comes from the scattering of the "electronic light" emitted by electrons. Additionally, this electronic light is always in the atmosphere unless blocked out by clouds or fog. When you travel and your airplane flies above the clouds, the sky is a dramatic blue.?

On a cloudy or overcast day, the first stage of "electronic" light from the atmosphere is blocked by the clouds, and the sunlight is filtered into white light. The "white" light is absorbed by electrons in matter and emitted as stage two "electronic" light, which has the frequencies of the objects, allowing us to see the world. We can only see objects or materials if light enters our eyes as electronic light. Moreover, when a light source has changed into "electronic light," it cannot change frequencies again. However, we can see stage one "electronic" light as rainbows if it reflects from a surface or diffracts from material in the environment into our eyes.?

A fascinating example is the art of blowing soap bubbles. Electronic light from the atmosphere reflects on the round surface of the bubble, which changes as the soap film moves. Sunlight can also react with the electrons in the soap, changing it into stage two electronic light. Additionally, sunlight can show a mirror image of the background landscape inside the bubble.??

Rainbows occur when sunlight containing the first stage of "electronic" light illuminates a mist of water, so the “atmospheric electronic light" lands on the mist, reflecting the rainbow to our eyes. You can create the rainbow effect by spraying mist from a garden hose. The electronic light reflects from the mist to your eyes. Even ice crystals or snow can display a rainbow because the water, ice crystals, or snow becomes a screen upon which the electronic light displays its frequencies. Sometimes, ice crystals in the upper atmosphere create a rainbow as a halo around the sun. A rainbow is usually seen in the late afternoon or evening when the sun is lower in the sky, but rainbows also happen in the morning.?

However, Rainbows can appear in many places without rain. Some rainbows appear from diffraction surfaces such as spider webs, CD surfaces, glasses, veins in meat, soap bubbles, oil spills, dragonfly wings, and housefly eyes. When you view sunlight coming through the leaves or tall grass, you can see the rainbow colors moving to your eyes without reflecting from a surface. This happens when the leaves filter out the ambient sunlight while allowing the electronic skylight to be visible. We can't see sunlight unless it's transformed into "electronic" light. But sunlight contains the atmospheric "electronic" light, which is visible as rainbows and during diffraction from various surfaces.?

Overview of the Process

My explanation of color and rainbows differs from the current theory that objects' colors come from the wavelengths of reflected light and not from the frequencies of electrons. Moreover, science claims a rainbow occurs during total internal refraction in each falling raindrop. However, chemically pure water and glass are transparent to light.? The total internal refraction idea is a geometry trick. Consider that each falling raindrop must evenly refract the sunlight. How does geometry accomplish the task when the raindrops fall, yet the rainbow is stationary across the sky??

Critical thinking reveals a better theory. A ray of sunlight has a frequency of 750 terahertz and contains trillions of photons per second, per square centimeter. Sunlight has a powerful frequency of white light plus several frequencies outside of the visible spectrum. When the high frequency of ultraviolet rays enter the upper atmosphere, they react with ozone and other molecules, creating seven frequencies of scattered "electronic" light.?

During rain, sunlight containing "electronic light" travels toward an area of water mist, and the sunlight can pass through the mist like sunlight can pass through clouds. However, the photons of “electronic light" land on the mist, unable to pass through it. The medium of the mist becomes a screen that displays the rainbow colors. The seven frequencies shape the rainbow, with the red frequencies at the top of the mist and the violet frequencies at the bottom. For the rainbow to be visible, we must view it with the sun on our backs, facing the rain. Thus, the seven frequencies of stage one, "electronic light," are reflected from the mist backward to our eyes.?

The rainbow illuminates the area underneath it, while the area above has a darker shade. A double rainbow occurs when the primary rainbow is reflected from the mist onto the upper part of the mist. The mirror image reverses the colors, showing the red color at the bottom instead of on top. The size and composition of the raindrops are factors for a double rainbow. When the raindrops and the angles are perfect, the color frequencies are reflected from the mist toward the sun's direction. That's the basic physics of rainbows and electronic light.?

A Summary of Sunlight's Characteristics

1. Sunlight arrives on Earth continuously and consists of several colorless invisible frequencies.

2. We can see the Sun, the light source, but sunlight is invisible until it lands on objects and transforms into electronic light.

3. When sunlight enters the upper atmosphere, it lands on the electrons of atoms and molecules, which emit the seven frequencies of "stage one electronic" light.

4. Electronic light cannot be transformed into sunlight or the source frequency.

5. Blending the seven frequencies in the atmosphere makes the sky look blue when the (stage one electronic) light enters our eyes.?

5. Sunlight and the electronic light continue to ground level if the sky is clear.

6. On a cloudy or overcast day, the atmospheric “electronic” skylight is filtered out, and the sunlight is diffused into lower-energy "white" light. But some sunlight changes into "stage two electronic" light, allowing us to see the clouds.

7. The filtered "white" light does not have “stage one electronic” or ultraviolet light, so upon landing on the electrons in the environment, "stage two electronic" light is emitted by electrons unhindered by other frequencies. This type of day is ideal for photography and easy on the eyes.

8. Rainbows and diffraction patterns are impossible on cloudy days because the clouds filter out the atmospheric electronic light.

9. Sunlight in the atmosphere creates the first type of electronic light. The primary or stage two electronic light comes from matter and materials, which lets us see the environment. Thus, our vision comes from the frequencies of electrons emitted as "electronic light."

How Does a Prism Make a Rainbow?

Isaac Newton used a prism to show that sunlight seems to split into seven colors. He also reportedly added an inverted prism to return the seven colors into white light. However, he didn't confirm or explain how the recomposition of light was possible. Isaac used this experiment as a stepping stone in his early career.?

A simple experimental setup clearly shows that Light Does Not Recombine after passing through two prisms. The experiment was performed by Rafael García-Molina, Alejandro del Mazo, S. Velasco and published in 2018.? https://doi.org/10.1119/1.5018680? They claimed…

"It's impossible to recompose a ray of white light that a prism has refracted by using another identical prism inverted to it. However, many Internet sources usually present this imaginary experiment as a scientific fact."?

Therefore, any type of light transformed into "electronic light" cannot be restored to its original form. This fact motivated my investigation into how light behaves in prisms and rainbows.

The Physics of Rainbows From a Prism

Artificial rainbows can be created using special glass. A prism is made from a particular glass type containing aluminum, iron, calcium, sodium, and silicon. Sunlight and white light have frequencies that react with electrons. When sunlight or focused "white" light shines on a prism at a certain angle, it strikes the surface electrons of multiple atoms. The white light is absorbed by the electrons and is ejected with the frequency of the atom's electrons into electronic light. Each frequency of this electronic light refracts at a different angle due to its frequency/wavelength.?

The prism effect has been called the dispersion of light into rainbow colors, but it's caused by white light being absorbed by electrons and emitted at a new frequency and the same momentum. White light doesn't contain colors, even though "electronic" frequencies are in white light. Sunlight is an example of a mixture of white and electronic light. It's important to know that electronic light doesn't react with other electrons once it has been made.

How does ordinary glass, which doesn't have the atoms required to transform sunlight into electronic light, show rainbow colors? Crystals made of glass and prism shapes display the “electronic light” in sunlight by acting as lenses and focusing the electronic light on a surface.??

Moreover, photons don’t have constructive or destructive interference with each other unless they land on a surface. When two or more frequencies land on a surface or screen, they blend in our eyes. The frequencies only mix in our visual cortex, where the brain translates them into color. Sunlight is invisible unless it's diffracted by matter or if it lands on a surface and enters our eyes as electronic light. Reflected light from a shiny surface shows the light source, not the reflecting surface's color.?

In Summary:

White light entering a prism reacts with electrons, releasing "electronic" light. Each photon has a unique frequency of electronic light that becomes visible upon striking a surface and entering our eyes. Therefore, sunlight or white light lands on electrons, which emit electronic light to give us vision. Electronic light created in the atmosphere makes the sky appear blue and is visible on surfaces such as mist, displaying the magic of rainbows.?

Unraveling the physics of light and rainbows was challenging. I hope I explained it clearly. It makes sense if you let go of the idea that sunlight and "white" light are made of visible colors.?

Was this information valuable to you? It's fascinating that we haven't understood the physics of light and color. Thank you for following my newsletter. If you have ideas, please send them to me at [email protected]. I appreciate your support and wish you a wonderful day. Take care, and be well. With love…