Which of the following phenomena of light are involved in the formation of a rainbow?
(a) Reflection, refraction and dispersion
(b) Refraction, dispersion and total internal reflection
(c) Refraction, dispersion and internal reflection
(d) Dispersion, scattering and total internal reflectio
Ans. (c)
A rainbow is caused by dispersion, refraction and internal reflection of sunlight by tiny water droplets.
The tiny droplets of water present in the atmosphere act as a prism after rainfall, for the rays coming from the Sun. Subsequently, the sunlight after striking the surface of these droplets gets refracted and dispersed into its seven colours. After this, the light rays are subjected to total internal reflection (complete reflection of a ray of light within a medium from the surrounding surfaces back into the medium).
At that point, the rays are again refracted when they come out of the water droplet.
Hence, rainbow formation is the combined effect of the refraction, dispersion, and total internal reflection of light.
Therefore option (c) is correct