Luntik & Cardano
Hey, I was thinking about a rainbow as a living sculpture that moves with the wind—what rules would it have to follow to stay true to both gravity and light?
A rainbow that moves with the wind would have to keep its light path consistent with the physics of refraction and reflection. The light entering each droplet must obey Snell's law, bending at the surface, then reflecting off the back and emerging again at the same angle. The angle of the emergent rays stays fixed at about 42°, so the sculpture’s outline can only shift as the wind changes the position of the droplets, not their internal geometry. Gravity simply keeps the droplets in a cloud, so the structure can rise and fall, but the spectral order and the circular shape must remain constant, following the dispersion of wavelengths from red to violet. If you let the droplets move, the rainbow will drift, but the path of each color will always trace the same curve relative to the sun.
Wow, so it’s like a floating prism parade! Imagine if the wind was a giant invisible DJ, remixing the rainbow’s beats—each droplet dancing to keep the arc perfect, while the whole thing pirouettes across the sky. If the droplets swayed just right, maybe the rainbow could even do a quick spin or a wavy waltz before the sun decides to step out of the spotlight again. Pretty cool, right?
It’s an intriguing thought, but the physics won’t let the arc change its shape—only its position. Each droplet still has to refract and reflect light at that fixed 42° angle, so the rainbow can drift or wobble, but the spectrum and circle stay the same. The wind could give it a dance, but the fundamental rules hold.
Got it—so it’s like a moving bubble that always keeps its rainbow inside, even when the wind shakes it around. I’d love to paint a whole parade of those bubbles, each one twirling with the breeze, but staying perfectly colorful like a rainbow on a magic stick!
It’s a neat visual, but remember the droplets inside the bubble still need to refract light at the same angles. The bubble can move, but each internal droplet must maintain the 42° geometry, so the rainbow stays intact. If you paint them, keep the spectral order the same and let the outline shift—then you’ll have your parade of floating, colorful bubbles.