“Some things can not be explained by science. Take for example, rainbows. Rainbows are a mystery and you can not touch them, just like god. Despite this fact, they are still there even though there is no scientific explanation for them. So next time you find yourself doubting your faith, think of god as a rainbow. I know that this can be a difficult concept for some of you to grasp. It is just like air you can't see it but you know its there”
This hilarious and irrational quote comes from the good people over at Fundies Say the Darndest Things. Why I am even bothering to look into the claims made on a website dedicated to exposing the crazy things Fundies say? Curiosity mostly, while I would never take the words of a Fundie as being the truth I honestly didn’t know how rainbows are formed.
This Fundies’ argument is that rainbows cannot be explained by science. Of course, science does have explanations.
“The light is first refracted as it enters the surface of the raindrop, reflected off the back of the drop, and again refracted as it leaves the drop. The overall effect is that the incoming light is reflected back over a wide range of angles, with the most intense light at an angle of 40°–42°. The angle is independent of the size of the drop, but does depend on its refractive index. Seawater has a higher refractive index than rain water, so the radius of a 'rainbow' in sea spray is smaller than a true rainbow. This is visible to the naked eye by a misalignment of these bows” (Cowley, Les. "Sea Water Rainbow". Atmospheric Optics. http://www.atoptics.co.uk/rainbows/seabow.htm. Retrieved 2007-06-07.)
There you have it, science can explain rainbows. It can also explain how the world works without the hand of a god.
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