The Myths and Truths What Are Rainbows? So what are rainbows? It might be easier to start with what they aren't by clarifying some common myths about them. "There is an end to the rainbow." -- This is not true. A rainbow is relative to the observers position. Becasue of this, as an observer moves, so does the rainbow. This means that the "end" moves as well, and can never be found. Also once the sun has disappeared or the observer turns to face the sun, the rainbow disappears. "There is a pot of gold waiting for me at the end." -- For the resaons stated above, there is no end. Becaseu there is no end, well...there is no gold. Sorry! "Rainbows are real physical tangable things."-- Rainbows are optical illusions. They are somthing that a person can see, but are not something that a person can really touch. http://www.hellasmultimedia.com/WEBIMAGES/patrick-htm/st_particks_day_images_4.htm If Rainbows aren't real...and there is so end to them...and therefor no gold....so what is a rainbow if it's not a magical gold giving wonder? Acording to Websters Dictionay "A rainbow is an arc containing the colors of the spectrum formed in the sky by the refraction, reflection, and dispersion of light in rain or fog." Rainbows are an optical illusion. -- As stated before, they are an illusion and are dependent on the observers point of veiw. When it starts to rain and an observer has his back to the sun, refraction, reflection, and dispersion occurs and a rainbow is most likely to be seen. But if that same observer turns around, there is no more rainbow. http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefMedia.aspx?artefid=761573971&refid=461530745&sec=-1&pn=1