A Thunk is a beguilingly simple-looking question about everyday things that stops you in your tracks and helps you start to look at the world in a whole new light.
Thunk 6:
Can you touch a rainbow?
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114 comments:
No you cannot, because a rainbow is a light which is made of colours. Seven colours to be exact which form the spectrum of light. A rainbow can only be seen at various angles, at various times of the day when there is the presence of water and sunlight.
But touching and running your fingers through it are two completely different things. You cannot 'touch' it in the expectance of feeling something solid, however, you can 'touch' it in the sense that you are putting your fingers through a spectrum. Although you will not feel anything, your mind might lead you to believe that your fingers (through the spectrum) are feeling warm, or even cold, that maybe you have broken into a plain of something unimaginable yet wonderful.
Very interesting thunk sir, makes you really wonder if you can actually feel anything if you place your hand between a rainbow's light. :)
Well I have actually tried this and NO, I couldn't feel any actual mass. So I don't think its possible. I may be wrong though!
Can you touch a rainbow?
A rainbow is: an arc of coloured light in the sky, caused by refraction of the sun's rays by rain.
Can you touch light, and feel it at the same time?
We can feel warmth, and things with physical mass of a degree that allows us to feel. Light has a very low physical mass, one that bypasses our feelings. For example, you can feel something with a minimum of 1. Light is 0.1. Physically, you cannot touch a rainbow, but rather, like Payam said, feel warmth only.
In another case, a rainbow is an illusion. Sure, its caused by refraction, but we can only see it at different times, sometimes never. Maybe a rainbow exists in another reality, a forever-lasting beam of light, bright and a wonderful sight, and we get glimpses of another reality by looking at the rainbow.
If you concentrate on a rainbow, you will always notice that it seems to disappear, after a few concentrated moments. Yet it returns again, sometimes at a different angle, but then disappears, making us lose interest. The reason for this, i think, is that we live in multiple realities. God never said how the world was created, or how it runs, but constantly, people have been coming up with glimpses of strange things, better than rainbows, that they see for a fraction of a second. In truth, they are experiencing a cross between two different realities, one that we live in, and another that we know nothing about.
Of course, its just a theory. The logical explanation would be with Payam, but an extended overview, would be by using imagination. Just by thinking of all the times i have seen a rainbow, i can sum up alot. A rainbow can spawn anywhere, usually greatest next to large waterfalls, like in Canada, Niagra falls, where i first saw the strongest display of the spectrum in my entire life. It was constant, for a few minutes, but then the cross between realities falters, and you lose concentration.
We could be living right next to another world. Since light does not need a medium to travel, and it travels extremely fast, maybe that is the cause why light itself, in its actual form, is appearing over our eyes. Maybe if we made an artificial rainbow, we could find a link, somehow.
So, Can you touch a rainbow? Can you touch light itself? No, but in another reality, maybe.
Think of multiple worlds overlapping each other, imagine a break in the middle, where all the tunnels of the worlds meet. Imagine if we could find it and comprimise it, imagine the different realities we could face. One where dinosaurs exist. One where there is no light. One where humans were never meant to find. So, this rainbow can lead to millions of possibilities, but if you try to trace a rainbow, will you ever come to a stop? Will you ever find a small spark, that, if touched, will send you into infinity? Has anyone ever traced a rainbow?
I believe it might be a link to another reality, or, at most, another world/universe itself. Maybe something/someone from that reality has crossed already into ours. Maybe we are being spied upon by something we have not seen before, or someone.
Now that's scary.
Can you touch a rainbow? - You don't know what a rainbow is, if something else other than simple light and water, might be co-ordinating with it. Can a rainbow be controlled? At present, no. Some scientists also believe that, since light travels through any medium (ones that we know of), that a rainbow is a "portal" to travel into infinite space, like a rollercoaster going 3x10^8 m/s, or 299,792,458 m/s, exactly.
Imagine travelling across space. Imagine riding a rainbow, let alone touch it.
You can't feel it, but you can still see it, that has to appoint for something.
quite an interesting one..
but no i suppose you cant physically touch a rainbow because it is simply light and well we cant touch a ray of light. simple.
Im not entirely sure whether you can touch a rainbow, and say, what the texture and feel of a rainbow is like. A rainbow I feel is somehwhat like an illusion to me as it disappears and reappears when distances, amounts of sunlight, humidity etc. change.
Rainbows are formed when a ray of sunlight which is polychromatic, pass through a reflective object or mass. In this case, a droplet of moisture or water.
When i did go to Niagara Falls, there were numerous rainbows formed colouring the sky with different strokes and shades, I tried to pass my hand through one of them and all i felt was the moisture which envoloped everything else around me too.
So i think there is not really any possible way to touch a rainbow without feeling the density of the rest of the surroundind air along with it.
Maybe it's the way I think, trying to find the easiest way out, but I say sure you can touch a rainbow. All you need is a plain piece of paper, seven different colour pencils and a bit of imagination...
No you cant touch a rainbow as it is phsyically impossible to touch light or a spectrum of light. We can see it but thats as far as we can go with any of our senses.
A rainbow is made up of the colours of the spectrum. So no, you can't touch light. & at the end of the day, that's all a rainbow is. I mean the idea of a touching a rainbow sounds awesome, but...you can't. =( sad times.
i forge my thoughts from cretivity
soo i say .. yes anyone can touch a rainbow
as long an u close your eyes and let ur self go
what does it feel like ?
well thats upto you
to me .its like running my hands through egyptian cotton , soft and smooth ,
all i did was cloe my eyes and i achieved what most of you termed as ''impossible''
Yes, you can. At least, I can.
A rainbow isn't a spectrum of light for me. A rainbow is a symbol, a symbol of hope and optimism and that things will always get better after bad times. And a symbol can be anything - or anyone. I touch my mother or my best friend or my favorite plush and feel happy. That's my rainbow.
...
Scientifically speaking however, um, I'll point you up to Mo's answer.
((Yes, I'm a sap. It's a good life and you get lots of hugs :D))
No, I don't think so. A rainbow is an optical illusion and are only visible from a distance.
The closer you get the further it moves away. Its based on the angle of the sun as it hits the rain and then your eye. A rainbow is light, since you cannot touch light you cannot touch or feel a rainbow either. But I've have seen numerous sci-fi articles on the web, which explain that a rainbow is a "Stargate". According to the article, if you touch the rainbow, you would be transported to a parallel reality. That is, a different version of our lives. It could be a world without wars and crime, a world where everyone was peaceful. But it could also be a world where destruction and violence had reached its peak. A world where mankind was on the brink of extinction.
There could be many possibilities. But I am not sure if anyone, ACTUALLY attempted to touch a rainbow. Maybe if a person actually attempted to do it, something interesting could come up.
Or maybe, the simple explanation is the correct one. A rainbow is an optical illusion of light, and thats it. Or maybe not?
I wouldn't know, I haven't tried. But if I were to guess, I'd say you can't touch a rainbow because it's a sort of light, however it would be possible to FEEL the energy/mass of it if you ran your hand through it. When I look at a rainbow, I look at it as a bunch of coloured gases, all put together to form something really pretty. Sad as it is, I doubt anyone could really reach out and touch a rainbow.
No harm trying though.:)
Scientifically speaking, you cannot touch a rainbow. It is only sunlight spread out into a spectrum of colors and diverted to the eye of the observer by water droplets.
But if you view life from a different perspective...I believe you can touch a rainbow with the help of imagination. Not everything has to be thought of scientifically.
Logically it isn’t possible to touch a rainbow since it’s merely a large band of parallel strips that’s displays the full spectrum of colours that makes up the sun’s white light. BUT its POSSIBLE to touch a rainbow if you imagine about it or just touch/feel it pictured on a book.
It is physically impossible to touch a rainbow because rainbows are simply light, and i have heard it is impossible to even catch a rainbow!
but you can always make it seem like your touching one at the right angle , like in the picture you posted on the origional post :)
If you think about it, a rainbow really is just an illusion of light, where seven colours together form a spectrum of light.
Try turning on a flash light, and putting your hand across the beam. Would that be considered 'touching' the light? Or, as Payam puts it, just running your hands through it?
Sure, after a while, you may begin to feel the heat of the light from the torch, and maybe feel a little part of the energy. Yet I'm not sure if it would work the same way with a rainbow, since I've never tried; All I can do, is imagine.
And what my mind tells me is that if I were to put my hand through a rainbow, I wouldn't necessarily feel anything, but I would see the colours of the rainbow reflecting upon my hand, an obstruction in the light's course. I don't know if that's possible though; if you get closer to a rainbow, does it disappear? Since you can only see it in a particular angle :/
Yes, this thunk truly does make you think, and I don't think I have straight answer to this.
A rainbow is created by sunlight being brocken into the spectrum known as a rainbow. I definetely dont think that you can touch a rainbow..you cant touch light can you? A rainbow is just that- a reflection of light.
It depends on how you interpret 'touch'...
A rainbow is an amazing display of light being dispersed through a prism. Light, in itself, cannot be touched, though it can produce heat, which in turn can be felt by humans.
However, a rainbow can touch ones inner thoughts and emotions. As Neiha said, rainbows can inspire, give hope and lighten up people's moods. For the LGBT community, the rainbow can also be used as a sign of 'coming out' and gender freedom.
All in all, a rainbow can mean the world to one person, and nothing to the next. I personally think rainbows are magnificent, and frequent imaginations of sliding down one or finding a pot of gold at the end are, at some point, always part of a person's dreams and aspirations. :)
And to add up to everything i just said, have you guys ever noticed that when you try and walk towards a rainbow, you never seem to actually go near it? It just tends to lead you on farther and farther..In a way, it's like chasing an unattainable dream. :)
LOL idk how that's related to touching a rainbow, but i just HAD to get that thought outta my chest :)
Lol, The term is "Off my chest" Arizza.
Evidently its impossible. Its a spectrum of light, not a physical property. Its quite possible to get to a rainbow and pass your hand through the light, but chances are you'll only feel abit of heat.
'i just HAD to get that thought OFF my chest.'
lol sorry :)
Well i've touched one and it felt pretty wet since it was made of water droplets.
You can't touch colours or light since they are not physical but you can touch the water droplets which are the main part of making a rainbow.
so all you really are touching is the water it just so happens to be creating a rainbow at the time you touch it.
But you can definatley taste a rainbow :) .... (Skittles)
A rainbow is an optical phenomenon that causes a spectrum of light to appear in the sky when the Sun shines onto droplets of moisture in the Earth's atmosphere that causes a spectrum of light to appear in the sky.
And physically touching a rainbow is impossible..............it's just an arc of light.
nope because its light and you cant touch light
Well, i don't think you can touch a rainbow because it's light and etc. But you can definately feel it can't you? I mean don't we feel light as heat waves? Hmm now that i think about it, i don't know.. i don't think we can touch a rainbow.. but i guess seeing it is good enough hehe
Rainbow: An arc of colored light in the sky caused by refraction of the sun's rays by rain.
Rainbows Is A Form Of Light And I Agree With Stan That Light Can't Be Touched !!
Lol!! Same Like Darren I Tried To Touch It But Nah !!
Well.Hmmmm...
Personally i don't think a rainbow can be touched. Scientifically it's the reflection of light from the suns rays. Therefore creating the image of a coulorful arch in the sky. Like a hologram, our eyes can see it, but we can't actually feel it or touch it now can we?
If you try and think about it as a symbol. It could mean that to touch a rainbow, it is as though ur aiming at the highest. You won't give up on anything. If im determined to touch a rainbow. Then i won't give up :)
x
I would have to say no. It is not possible for somebody to touch a rainbow. It’s just light being refracted out from droplets of water and separated into the spectrum of colours (VIBGYOR).
Well, you could try to touch a rainbow and maybe if you’re lucky you might find a pot of gold at the end of one! ha ha
I think that touching a rainbow would be impossible, because a rainbow is pretty much light, and since you cant touch light... you cant touch a rainbow.
A rainbow is simply an optical phenomenon caused by the refraction of the sun's rays, forming 7 colours more commonly known as VIBGYOR. As light cannot be touched, therefore, rainbow which is a band of light, will obviously also not be touchable. But i guess there is nothing wrong in trying.:P
Haha, these thunks keep getting more absurd by the week Mr. Roberts! :P
If we are speaking about the single ray of light that erupts into the seven vibgyor colours in the presence of water and light then the logical answer is, no. You cant touch light expecting to feel something substantial. You will probably not feel any solid matter.. But there will still be a 'feeling', or an illusion that you have run your fingers through the orphic existence. Probably no tactile sensation.. But an impression, an intuitive feeling, a 'knowing' that you have somehow made an indecipherable contact with the filmy arc! Ah, the joys! :P
Rainbow is an arc of coloured light in the sky caused by refraction of the sun's rays by rain.
I agree with the comments above. The warmth of light can be felt but touching a rainbow physically is impossibile. It can also be associated with illusion.
Can we touch a rainbow?
Yes of course, I can just ride my flying unicorn to the sky towards the rainbow and slide down it and land onto a sea of soft flowers-that is if I was dreaming again of my Magic Land!
Well on a serious note, a rainbow generally means different colors coming together, some in large amount than the other and forming a huge spectrum of beautiful bright and vibrant colored lights painted on the sky. Well I don’t think that we can touch a real rainbow that appears after a rainfall but I do know that most of us are a part of a rainbow.
Other than the rainbow that is formed on the sky, there are a huge number of rainbows that are formed by citizens of the earth which indeed are beautiful as the real thing. People from different walks of life, of different cultures and places who all think very differently from each other, some big others small coming together for a good causes like: standing up against poverty, global warming and pollution, and for discrimination, slavery in the past and standing up for world peace, people suffering from death-taking diseases like cancer, AIDS and for freedom in the past as well.
And it’s not only for people who help in good cause, people who have a job in any work organizations work together as a team for something good. Without these ‘Human rainbows’ we wouldn’t have been able to live the lives that we are living now in, neither we would have discovered the world above, below or on earth or build such fine architectural art.
We are made up of a rainbow of qualities some in big percentage some in small and different combinations of these qualities makes each one of us a different and a special person.
Speaking of rainbows, I have tasted the flavor of rainbow in Baskin Robins called ‘Rainbow Sherbet ‘which one of my favorite flavors!
Haha! I also try to remember it as VIBGYOR, great minds think alike right Faiza?
To reiterate my point I dont think that you can touch the rainbow. But after seeing it from a distance, travelling to find it and putting your hand through it I'm sure that many people would 'feel' something after all that searching and effort. Just a reaction from the heat, but your brain overreacts and tells you that its felt something more.
no, touching a rainbow is imposible as my friends have stated a rainbow is formed when water droplets split light into its seven colours better known as the light spectrum!! in the past they have been many myths about a pot of gold behind a rainbow etc. etc. and many times I myself have tried to touch rainbows but gained nothing but disappointment as the closer i got the further it ran!!! :( why o why??
No. you cannot possibly touch a rainbow because it is a spectrum of light formed when the sun's rays hit the moisture droplets.I wish i could touch it though.
Aisha Bashir
10G2
A raibow cannot be touched physically by us but the vibrant colours it is made up of sends us into a cheery mood. It gives a warm feeling to ones heart.
I HAVE NO IDEA ! ! I am not a physics expert but I'll give it a go..
Can we touch air? Well if we can, then I feel we can touch a rainbow. This is because the light travels through droplets of water in the air from one side and breaks into seven colours on the other side. If you can reach those droplets the light is passing through, then perhaps you could say you can touch a rainbow.
However, if we cannot touch air, then it would somewhat impossible to touch a rainbow? Maybe we would only beable to feel the warmth.
I have never tried this but I think it would be quite hillarious if I did :P
No, i doubt you can touch a rainbow because it's just an illusion, a spectrum of light and it's impossible to touch light!
Although i can't touch a rainbow i feel it touches me, making me feel happy, so full of joy. It's just magical! :D
As for me, i will say I cannot touch a rainbow because it's not a physical thing that you can touch but you can see it.
You cannot physically touch a rainbow Because its light & you cant touch light.
when I was younger,I always thought we could sit on clouds.that is PHYSICALLY impossible but that doesnt stop your imagination.
Nothing is impossible :)
Nope, you cant. I'm going to agree with like half the people up here who said that light is intangible.
Sure i can see it, but naw, can't touch it :)
Well, yes, I think you can touch a rainbow... even if it's only in your minds eye.
A rainbow IS light, and if not being able to touch light, we can definately feel it.
Hahahaha of course you can touch a rainbow :] just get a book about rainbows and touch it, there you go :]
Of course you cannot. Because the colours that you see are simply an illusion. I mean, can you touch sunlight? Its accessible to us. Ok, you can feel the warmth, but can you touch it? No. If yo go out to touch it, you will only be moving your hands through thin air. A rainbow is far, far above, but if we could reach it, I am sure our hands would be passing through the colours and not touch something opaque.
though everyone in this world would dream and sing about touching rainbows(except daniel....he'd rather jump in a puddle of blood and listen to heavy metal song.....-just fooling around,no offence)...but in the end its not possible,
cause truely rainbows do not exist as matter....its just refraction of light that our eyes catch and all looks at it in a curious delight
You can't touch it physically because it is intangible.
This talk of reality makes some sense.
We live in a reality that, some people do not accept or do not agree with it's norms, but it doesn't mean that it can't be changed.
Our reality has been changed before, during both World Wars, on a global scale. Localized changes can also be made through actions that are either positive or negative.
In My opinion, you can touch a rainbow.For all those who have said that you cant touch light, I want to say something. If you take a laser and point it on the wall, you can see it only on the wall but not on the way through which it reaches the wall(unless its a really strong beam). Whereas, if you take the same laser and point it on your palm, you are actually touching it. Though you dont feel the light or anything solid in your hand, you are touching it. But again How can you touch something you cant feel?You can touch air, you know because you can feel it, you can touch sunlight, you know it because you can feel it.But you cant feel a laser light, nor a rainbow so you cant touch it.
If that is the case, what about the laser light that is on your palm?I think that touching means when two or more objects come so close to each other that there is no space left to move towards each other.Whereas in the case of a rainbow or light, they both travel through air therefore no matter how close you get to it, it wont be able to pass through you.
With the points I have stated above, I believe I can say that you can touch light and rainbows.
no you cannot touch arianbow because it is light.And it is physically impossible.
nnamdi
Many people would approach this experience with the arms of science. However, although I’m all for science, I personally feel that I should answer this with a more creative and vibrant approach.
The first time I saw a rainbow, it was a completely different feel, taking in such a bedazzling image of the scene, of how Mother Nature combined simple, ordinary colours to sculpt a masterpiece. This blissful memory got me thinking, and I realized that the concept of life, in a way, revolves around a rainbow. Life is about taking what you have around you, improving and improvising, and then excelling in what you’re best at, achieving success. Now, if we think of it, success is a master piece in itself, achieved by making the best of every ordinary day and every ordinary resource combined with skill and a certain mindset towards reaching out to that goal. Success, therefore, can be your rainbow!
As I already mentioned, it was quite a blissful memory, which tells me that I can look at this in an other way. The scenic view of a rainbow (and I can’t say this without being dramatic, sorry…) took me to a whole new ecstatic level of serenity and joy. We all don’t feel like that very often, which is why at the end of the day, what we really want is to be happy, to be worry-free. The key to that is, to once again, make the best of what we’ve got, may it be ordinary or may it seem unnecessary or unworthy of your time. Just like the colours connect with and give significance to each other in order to create this piece of art, I believe connecting with people, known or unknown, old or new, should be an essential part to feel something slightly close to that emotion we feel when we stand in front of that rainbow.
In conclusion, I’d say that if you’re on the right path with a goal in mind, meeting new people along your journey, and there’s not much to be sad about, then keep going, because the rainbow is just a few inches away from your fingertips.
Peter Pan's greatest struggle seemed to be to keep his shadow to himself.
What a world it would be if we could manipulate light like we manipulate clay. Perhaps one day, if we rewrite the code that makes up the Universe, we will be able to.
But for now, we can't.
There are an entire spectrum of ways to approach this question. Ranging from whether the LGBT rights movement will ever be successful to metaphors for the mirage of life, each individual answer will be as variable as our perception of the rainbows themselves.
I personally find the physicist's explanation most satisfying. A rainbow is a phenomenon which produces what is called a virtual image. For virtual images, your eyes see "rays" of light which appear to come from an object, but that actually originate in a different place. The reflection in a mirror is a virtual image (surprisingly, we aren't actually inside the wall).
The light is dispersed through water droplets at different points in the sky, which creates VIBGYOR. A rainbow always forms an arc of a circle about 84 degrees wide - we are in the centre of the circle. We can never actually get to 'the end of the rainbow', because as you chase it, it will appear to move away. No gold for us, unfortunately. You can cross that off your bucket list (along with swimming to the end of the horizon). The visibility of both requires distance between object and observer.
Rainbows are not physical. If we can't get to their end, we certainly can't touch them.
And honestly, who wants them to be physical? If we could touch them, it would only be a matter of time before someone started bottling them up and selling them.
I'm just glad we get to marvel at them from time to time.
A rainbow is a spectrum of light, caused by refraction and reflection of light. It usually takes an arc shape and presents several colours.
Rainbows are a marvellous sight to behold, but can one touch a rainbow?
It is physically impossible to touch a rainbow, as it's merely a spectrum of light. It doesn't have actual mass that one can feel using their body.
Reading the comments, I realised that many people found the rainbow to resemble happiness, or success, and then go on to conclude that because of the aforementioned, touching a rainbow would be possible...but then again can you really touch happiness or success?
It is only when we identify a rainbow with something truly physical, and 'touchable' like a person, a crayon or a t-shirt that we can conclude that it is possible to touch a rainbow, otherwise, it isn't...
I personally believe there are two ways to define what a “rainbow” is. Firstly, there is the literal sense (a spectrum of light caused by dispersion and refraction), in which case, the only way I think anyone can really ever ‘touch’ a rainbow is through feeling the light’s warmth. Just as you can feel the warmth of sunlight, or if you get close enough to a light bulb, I think if you were able to reach the source of the rainbow’s light, you would be able to feel its warmth. Perhaps this is an oversimplification of the science behind rainbows themselves, but I think that’s the closest we can get to ‘touching’ a rainbow in its literal definition.
Considering the more metaphorical interpretation, I think everyone touches a rainbow at least once. Whether it’s a book that colors you in with its words or a piece of artwork that helps you see hues you’ve only thought about. Sometimes rainbows are even people with ocean eyes and sand grain freckles.
Therefore, I tend to prefer the latter approach. I love the idea that my mother’s hugs are a warm-toned red and my baby brother’s laughter is a deep purple. I love the idea that my best friend’s smile is sunshine yellow, and that my own voice is winter snow white. In this way, I’ve felt the colors of the rainbow (and more) in the goose bumps on my arms and the butterflies in my tummy. I’ve felt rainbows everyday.
What's a Rainbow?
There are many types of rainbow. There's the obvious one - the one you see in the sky. It's caused by the splitting of light in little condensation droplets in the sky. You can't touch that, because you can't touch photons, or colours, you see them.
However, there's a type of rainbow you can touch. It's a metaphorical rainbow. Normally, the rainbow touches you, in fact. Personalities, literature, knowledge - there are so many astounding, metaphorically colourful things that make people smile and full of wonder.
What type of Rainbow would you rather have?
It is a rather mind boggling question and my answer would unfortunately seem repetitive of the others, so i will not scientifically define a rainbow nor give its metaphorical relation to life and emotions. Rather, i will leave you with 3 simple words
"Nothing is impossible"...
“You touched my heart with your words”
To touch is to form a connection, emotional or physical, imaginary or real. Therefore, to touch can mean many things at once. So when I touch a rainbow, are the skin cells on my fingers interacting with the prismatic water droplets hovering in the air, or are my brain cells rapidly firing images of a multicoloured band across the deep blue sky or am I reminiscing on a fond childhood memory of my brother and I searching for that elusive pot of gold?
To touch is to form connections. Of course I can touch a rainbow.
Can I touch a rainbow? No.
Can I "taste the rainbow"? Yes.
Ideally, it is impossible for us to physically touch and feel light. Much like we feel the sun on our skin, it is only the rays reflected rather than actual light that we come in contact with. Similarly with a rainbow, we could not physically touch it. I say that because..I've tried, numerous attempts to touch a rainbow or chase a cloud..and I have miserably failed.
Despite that, I have been "touched" by a rainbow, I've felt deep connections with sublime creations by mother nature.Maybe because I'm strange or I truly love nature, but the whole universe is magical.You really never know.
Apart from all the scientific reasoning and evidences. I would like to think of this as something beyond just logic. To me, rainbows are a portrayal of something extraordinary, a mere sense of accomplishment. A spectrum of rewarding colours! Bringing joy and vibrancy to our regular and dull every day lives. So, if you have experienced joy, wonder and hope all at once, regardless the reason behind it, Each one of you, have touched a rainbow, in my perspective.
In my opinion, the answer to this question lies in how one defines a rainbow.
Scientifically speaking, a rainbow is described as an optical and meteorological phenomenon that is caused by both reflection and refraction of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. Now if an individual were to take this definition, then they can obviously not touch a rainbow as well you can’t exactly touch light. On the other hand, some may also believe that a rainbow is a metaphor for happiness, for joy, for reaching the impossible and new heights in their life. And so in that case, those individuals could definitely touch a rainbow – by this definition. But then again you cannot physically touch happiness...
On another note, and a rather blunt one, you could touch a painting of a rainbow which could be seen as the equivalency as touching as an actual rainbow. It really depends on how you define a rainbow; a metaphor, a refraction/reflection or a painting.
Can you touch a rainbow? Hmm, this has really got me thinking. To start off, it depends entirely on your perspective. Yes, a rainbow is a spectrum of refracted light due to post-precipital moisture, I'm sure we all know that, and from this definition I could say, no, we cannot touch a rainbow as it would simply cause a break in the continuity of the spectrum. Scientifically speaking, the answer is a mundane, insipid 'no'.
However, what can we implicitly infer from 'a rainbow'. A rainbow could be an objectification of our aspirations. A magnificent spectacle in the distance and something you yearn to possess and feel. Yes, you can touch a rainbow, specifically your rainbow. A rainbow is analogous to the distant goals which seem so far away, yet also seems plausible.
In conclusion, scientifically, you can't touch a rainbow, but put that overly rational brain aside and take a look at 'the rainbow' from a creative, literary perspective. Yes, you can touch a rainbow.
Science’s response to this is rather interesting. According to science, a rainbow is formed by the reflection and refraction of light in the water droplets. This means that technically it is possible for us to touch a rainbow because a rainbow is a spectrum of light and light can be in the form of particles as well (photons), however we cant feel them because they are way too small (light is like air, we cant feel it but we know that it exists as particles). Although, we can feel light as heat energy because light can be in the wave as well, and we can also feel the water droplets/mist. Personally however, the philosophical take on this excites me more.
I remember the first ever time I saw a rainbow. My parents told me that I would have been 4/5 years old and we were on a boat heading towards the waterfall somewhere in Switzerland. I remember having mixed feelings about it; strange first reaction to something that is taken by most to be a wonder of nature and something almost majestic…I know. But it was almost puzzling because it was nothing at all like what I had perceived it to be. Watching kids TV programmes and all, I had formed an image of a perfectly curved semi-circular structure filled in with solid colours and a massive pot of gold at the end. To my disappointment, there wasn’t actually a pot of gold at the end and on seeing my sad face my parents immediately said that it was hidden behind the waterfall, but I knew the truth by then... There is no pot of gold (oh well, at least they tried). Strangely enough I was also disappointed by the fact that the real thing was actually translucent and not in solid colours as again I had seen on TV. But disappointment was short-lived as feelings of awe and amazement flooded my mind; it was truly beautiful.
And as I grew up, rainbows became more significant for me and more so in the form of this quote "if you want to see the rainbow you've got to bear the rain". It makes perfect the sense and I live by it; the rain is the tough road to a beautiful destination/ outcome. As I grew up I also realised that the pot of gold that never was actually exists, not physically, but it is the reward for putting your all into something. Here's an example: being a student, the rain is studying hard through the year and passing those exams, the rainbow is getting good results and the pot of gold is both the satisfaction of doing well and being successful in the future.
We all have a rainbow inside of us. Just touch your heart and feel the beat.
The colour Red symbolizes strength, determination, and above all, courage. While the word ‘courage’ implies a great act of triumph and fairytale-esque heroism, that isn’t necessary what it entails. I find fragments of courage in my everyday life, such as defending my own ideas. Most importantly, I do not live my life based off social norms; I do not conform to ideals I don’t agree with. Albus Dumbledore once said, “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends”. This to me embodies courage, where defending your views against friends may be even more courageous than fighting a dragon.
Humans channel their strength and courage in different ways, but they focus this strength on one goal, one reason for being alive. Orange is the sign of great determination, and the power to focus all my energy into my ambition. Its lively and vibrant, just like everything good in life, and everything I strive to achieve. It is linked to courage, because it is courage that allows me to step out of my comfort zone and reach for the things I want. Determination and fiery-Red ambition aside, Orange is, apparently, the new black.
A common myth is that it takes more muscles to frown than to smile. Fittingly, this isn’t true. It’s definitely easier to be pessimistic and see a ‘half-empty’ glass. However, if there’s one thing I’ve learnt, it’s that humans tend to do what’s more difficult to achieve, but that’s what gives them the most happiness. I find Yellow-happiness reading a good book, playing my guitar, dancing, marvelling at the wonders of the universe, and in many other ways. Best of all, I feel the Sun on me when I’m with the ones I love.
Unfortunately, it is in the inherent nature of human beings to want what we cannot have, and long for the Greener grass on the other side. Sometimes I forget how lucky I am to be where I am; sometimes I forget to be grateful. We experience envy, and in a quick flash, we grow out of it and recognize our mistake. We grow out of Green envy, just as the Green grass grows.
Life, fortunately, isn’t all rainbows. I say fortunately because if pain, suffering and sadness did not exist, we wouldn’t be able to distinguish the good from bad. Yes; sadness drives people to the brinks of insanity. Sadness is a prison with baby-Blue wallpaper: the handcuffs are the terrible experiences. However, there is no key. There is no key because the cuffs are never actually locked. You can escape whenever you like. Sadness, like most negative things in life, is temporary. Its up to you to choose when you want to break free.
How do you choose when to break free? You choose using your free will, your intuition. There’s something incredibly remarkable about human consciousness that allows for freethinking, something inconceivable that allows our biological being to think, have ideas, and make choices. It is our choices that really define who we are, our choices that determine our futures. Indigo-intuition allows us to make calculated decisions, supported by unexplainable feelings of instinct.
Usually, we put aside our impulsiveness and try to think logically. Our world is governed by logic. At a young age, we establish that nine plus ten equals nineteen, that objects that float in water are less dense, and that our universe is expanding. We know that logic is important, but imagination is even more so. To Violet is to look at something from a new perspective, from your very own, personal perspective. Violet-creativity gives us timeless masterpieces, from Shakespeare’s tragedies, to J. S. Bach’s Fugues, to Einstein’s theory of relativity. There would be no creation if there were no imagination, no physical product if there was no vision.
Logically, it is impossible to touch a rainbow. But sometimes, Violet-imagination trumps logic.
All you have to do is dig a little. That rainbow is buried deep in your heart.
I believe in the power of the mind. I believe in the power that it has to manipulate fantasy to reflect personal wishes. Do I think I could touch a rainbow? Yes. I believe I could in my mind.
Rainbows are so much more than bent light. As a young child, the drawing of a rainbow would have symbolised happiness and the simple representation of dreams and joy.
By working diligently, you could achieve your ideals of dreams and joy with ease; holding these goals firmly within your grasp; practising your passions; being content.
Therefore, I believe that one can indeed touch this rainbow of happiness, as all the different colours represent all the different things that one works towards.
The power of the mind is exceptional. It propels you to reach your very own personalised rainbow. Heck, you could even dream about zooming above your rainbow aboard your pegasus and reach the end of the journey only to shake hands with the little green leprechaun that gives you your gold pot’s worth of life goals.
To put it simply, your rainbow is essentially what you want from life, and you touch this rainbow when you finally overcome any obstacles and reach the other side where you can then reap the rewards.
Physically speaking, I cannot touch light- and that's exactly what a rainbow is; reflected and refracted light.
Metaphorically speaking, I do believe I can touch a rainbow. Heck, I can be a rainbow! By perceiving rainbows as a symbol for achievement or something fortunate that takes place after a difficult or devastating event (the storm), I believe anyone can be a rainbow for themselves or for others. Being able to resiliently stand through devastating times, being able to preserve your aspirations, beliefs, opinions after a plethora of doubtful moments, being able to work through the problems at hand; you're on your way to MAKING a rainbow.
Rainbows are sign of hope, that even after the harshest hurricane or storm, you will see the light, you will experience joy. You can touch a rainbow.
Although I do believe it's good that life isn't an abundance of rainbow moments. I feel like if this was the case, we'd lose interest and appreciation for the happy things in life and take them for granted.
You can touch a rainbow. I can touch a rainbow. We can touch a rainbow. Just don't lose hope. :)
To answer that question, a few other questions to be answered arise; mainly, what are the components of the sum which add up to "you"? Do those components include the thoughts in your head, the blood running through your veins, the experiences you've collected? The light which reflects off of your skin to later refract to form a rainbow, is that metaphorically a part of "you" now? From that perspective, the rainbow in question touched you first.
I don’t see why not.
If I can see the rainbow.
Why can’t I touch it?
‘A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. ‘
According to science it’s merely a blend of physical components that come together to ‘form of a multicoloured arc.’
If science can come up with ways to transmit the three-dimensional world ‘hypothetically’ at your fingertips, work out how the inside of our world looks like, how our solar system is arranged, how evolution works, and can create electricity, theory of relativity, X-rays, the Periodic Table, and so many more unprecedented innovations, which ancestors in our human race would have never seen before.
Then why can’t it come up with a way to touch the rainbow?
Literally speaking, as of now, touching the rainbow is out of the average human capability's grasp.
But there’s no reason why scientists can’t come up with a way to.
Like they do for everything else, of course.
But what if a rainbow isn’t ‘a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky,’ to you.
What if it’s an analogy for human happiness? Or for unending success? Maybe for reflective thinking? Or boundless possibilities? Or infinite hopes? Or triumph inspirations? And maybe just life goals?
This person could easily just say, the rainbow is well within your grasp. Just work for it.
So it really does depend on the type of individual you are.
So who are you?
And what do you believe?
As a child, there’s nothing more heavenly and mysterious than the color-banded arc in the sky they called a rainbow. It’d appear out of nowhere and without being consciously made but boy was it beautiful! What wouldn’t one give to get closer and to touch it!
As a teenager, physics teaches you the truth : a rainbow is an optical phenomenon. We’ll study it in chapter 5: refraction of light. And that’s it. The thing that was so fascinating is now within the bounds of logic and reasoning.
As an adult, you are told to be pragmatic. Wishing on rainbows wont do you no good! What are you wishing on? Light??
Gone is the ability to imagine and believe.
Little is the time.
But if you just stand there, beholding the spectral vision in the sky, not just observing but experiencing the blend of colors, light, happiness, superstition and a sparked-off imagination ; haven't you fulfilled your childhood desire?
Because in a sheer act of submission of thoughts, worries and things at hand, you find yourself at peace in the eye of the storm. And you realize, you can’t touch a rainbow….
but a rainbow sure can touch you.
The question: 'can you touch a rainbow' can be answered literally, bluntly or many can take a theatrical approach. This is because opinions differ.
In mine, I understand that physically you cannot touch reflected and refracted light. Which is exactly what a rainbow is. Light. It is a disheartening reality I'm familiar with when as a child I tried to chase a rainbow and didn't quite 'feel' it.
Although considering a rainbows, simplicity, vibrancy and beauty as a phenomenon I would also take a dramatic approach and say it really does touch you. It takes you to an utopia because it isn't everyday you see a rainbow. It brings you back to the familiar fairytale a of wonder where behind the rainbow lies the pot of gold.
So to conclude, you affirm that no, physically literally you cannot touch a rainbow
But a rainbow can touch you.
The reflective question “Can you touch a rainbow?” offers an enterprising room for expression of a plentitude of thoughts. The pulchritude of this question lies in its ability to discern between people of various mindsets, such as scientifically minded ones and literary minded ones.
A scientifically minded person would opine that the rainbow is a virtual and distorted view of the sun due to processes such as reflection. A more literary minded person would look into the underlying and symbolical meaning of a rainbow and probably use it as a metaphor for expressing feelings of beauty and vivacity. I however choose to adopt an uber-literal and pragmatic point of view and say that it is possible to touch a rainbow (albeit not an actual one), as the question does not provide more specifics, leaving me to draw my own conclusions and interpretations. A painting of a rainbow could be produced, and my palms would come in contact with the surface of the painting, thus proving that I have “touched” a rainbow. The reason I have adopted such an answer is that this answer mirrors my idiosyncratic line of reasoning and thinking.
I could even say that I have touched a rainbow while reading the comments section of the blog, because these contemplations approach the question from multi-chromatic perspectives, much like the rainbow itself. I may not have come in physical contact with these comments, but reading them has brought me "in contact" with the thoughts they present, hence I am "touched" by these comments. This question hence also highlights another pulchritude; that of the English language, which allows various strings of thought to emerge from a seven-lettered word, thus displaying its opulent diversity in meaning and interpretation.
In short, due to varying mindsets, not everyone will be able to “touch” a rainbow. However, I believe that I belong to the affirmative side of this question.
This question to me is one that carries a lot of meaning. How do you define what you can touch? Isn't touch just a sense? Thus our brain defines what we can touch and what we can't. It is all about perspective. Sense perception can be deceiving, our brains manipulate all the information we gather from our five senses and processes it into a comprehendible situation. If your brain gets the message that your hand is running through the colourful ray of 'untouchable' light then you are gifted with the belief that you are touching a rainbow.
I like to think that I can touch a rainbow, the idea of being able to infiltrate the seven colours which encompass this scientific magic of a rainbow is something that creates a feeling incomparable to any other. Can you imagine? This thing that we are fascinated by, formed by a series of normal weather events, we can touch it. That weird semi-circle which confused and star struck you as a child has now stained you hands with impossibility.
Light is something very foreign to humans because as science states we may never be able to reach the speed of light. Touching a rainbow then seems to be a kind of stand against any barriers put on the human race by science. It feels as though we are touching our ambitions and striving to reach the light.
I would like to believe that we in fact can touch rainbows, but the scientist may disagree. That's okay the topic is subjective. But I belong to the group of dreamers.
Hmm... I don’t believe I can touch the rainbow. In fact, I believe we can’t even reach it, let alone touch it. I’m sure all of you know that rainbows are formed when the light hits water at certain angles and all the other science-y stuff. And I’m sure all of you have seen a rainbow at least once in your life time and have seen the magnificent arc ‘touch’ the ground. But if my 8th grade science textbook is anything to go by, I’m quite sure rainbows are way up in the sky and wouldn’t touch the ground at any point. So unless, you have the pot of gold to prove me wrong, it’s safe to assume I am right.
BUT, let’s assume I’m Super(wo)man and hence, I can fly. From up there, the rainbow would look like a complete circle suspended in the air (like some sort of mystic ‘Circle of Unicorns’). So then, I fly towards it and reach the point where earthlings see the rainbow. But as I go closer, it will disappear and reappear a little further. I would be taking the ‘endless wild goose chase’ to the next level. No two people see exactly the same rainbow, even if they’re standing next to each other, the few inches between your eyes make a difference in what you are viewing. So that way, while I (as Super(wo)man) am chasing a rainbow, earthlings would see me flying through one!
BUT, let us once again ASSUME that I somehow make the laws of physics bend to my will (wouldn't that be fun?) and reach a rainbow and touch it, I still would feel nothing. (Superman may feel something because he gets his powers from the sun; I just get burns, or a tan on a good day).
How exactly would it feel to touch light? If we homo sapiens could really feel light (not heat), we would actually have continuous irritation in our retinas with innumerable rays of light stabbing our eyes (and every other part of our body, really) every waking moment, wouldn’t we?
So with sufficient science, fiction and science-fiction, I say that we CANNOT touch the rainbow. (I can, however, taste the rainbow every time I down a packet of Skittles!)
The magnitude of approaches one can take to answer such a thought provocative dilemma are almost infinite. However, this rather large proliferation of responses, sparked by a single insignificant question, is divided into two distinguishable factions: the scientific and the poetic. I would like my response to bridge between this rift of interpretations.
After reading the comments, it is quite apparent that we are all familiar with the scientific laws that govern this colorful phenomenon. What some of us do not know is that there is a very specific range of angles that one can experience a rainbow. This geometric 'sweet spot' lies between 40-42 degrees from the angle of your head to your head's shadow. Light must be directly behind you to see a complete semicircle on land. Because your view of a rainbow is relative to your position, the centre of the rainbow always coincides with the shadow of your head as well. This goes to show that everyone perceives a different rainbow from a different set of raindrops. Another intriguing fact is that the concentration of a specific color seen also varies with position.
Let us now translate this in a poetic language. Imagine each color on a rainbow as goal, skill or answer that you strive for(dreams). Each of these are unique only to you. You determine it's shape, it's size as well as it's aesthetics because you are the centre of all your dreams. Unfortunately, not everyone knows their dreams as it requires a specific focus to determine what they are. Some answers or goals are more important than others, just as each color can vary in saturation.
Dreams can never truly be fulfilled because they are always changing and each dream will also come with it's fair share of sorrow(the rain). You can never touch the rainbow, nor can you answer every question or learn every skill. What you can do however is keep moving forward, keep asking questions and keep trying to learn. Some people watch the rainbow and others don't even see it. But we as the only sentient beings on the planet, just like the pioneers of the Renaissance, must chase it...
"Can you touch a rainbow?"
Any scientist will automatically and immediately answer that it is physically impossible to touch a rainbow, because after all it is just a distorted image of the sun. However, since I am not a science student, I am going to take a more philosophical approach to this thunk question.
A rainbow in the symbolic sense, is commonly associated with a sign of promise or harmony, which can be achieved through unity and togetherness, causing us to invisibly come in contact with a rainbow. Comparing its natural beauty with life is quite inspirational: we are all aware that the rain creates a gloomy atmosphere, almost morbid, however we still hold on to that sliver of hope, which is the assurance of a rainbow. It shows that through all the pain, sorrow and despair, that we as humans experience, a rainbow will always, undoubtedly shine through.
So, what do I think? I think that each and every person, who goes through a period of happiness and tranquility has unknowingly caught a rainbow.
Rainbow /reɪnbəʊ/: an arch of colours visible in the sky, caused by the refraction and dispersion of the sun's light by rain or other water droplets in the atmosphere.
A rainbow, therefore, is an optical phenomenon – an illusion, rather than a physical object. Objectively speaking, you can’t touch a rainbow any more than you can touch a mirage: you can try to touch it, but as you move towards it, the angle from which you were viewing it will change, and the ‘rainbow’ will disappear – leaving you waving your hands in thin air. It’s as simple as that.
You could, however, touch an image of a rainbow, but that’s not really the same thing, now is it? For all you know, I could touch a poster of Michael Jackson and claim to have touched the ‘King of Pop’.
But what if we were to write our own definition of a rainbow? Many of us have done so on this comment thread. Rainbow: A ray of hope during troubled times. Rainbow: A representation of the multifaceted nature of human character. Rainbow: A symbol for the abstract, infinite and colorful human imagination. Well, to be quite frank, you still can’t ‘touch’ it.
Henry Miller said, “The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself”. I completely agree. I think it is all about perception.
Scientifically speaking a rainbow can’t be touched as it is a ‘distorted image of the sun’. However, I have never thought of the rainbow as simply refracted light. When I was younger I used to think a rainbow is God’s way of hugging me. Now I think of it as a sign of hope and accomplishment. Whenever I am facing trouble I envision my problems and worries as the rain one has to withstand to see the rainbow.
Further while many perceive rainbows as positive rays of light, in some cultures they are considered bad omens. The Aboriginal Australians view rainbows as a sign that nature has just gone through something violent and hence its not a good omen. Thus they may not want to touch the rainbow at all.
So, to answer the question: Can you touch a rainbow?
Yes, if you want to.
A rainbow is essentially an arch of colours visible in the sky, caused by the refraction of the sun's light caused by water droplets, therefore, in essence, a rainbow is a form of light, which means, based on science we can't touch a rainbow.
An artist may say you can touch a rainbow, a painting or a picture of a rainbow, however, a critic might respond to that by saying you aren't, in fact, touching a rainbow but a picture of one. This concept that a picture of something is significantly different to the real thing its self is what artist René Magritte plays around with in many of his pieces.
It could be argued that in actual fact we are touching a rainbow as we make contact with the rays of light as we move our hand into the rainbow its self, alternatively, one could say that way aren't touching the rainbow because we don't feel it. I respond to that with: we are constantly touching the air particles around us, even though we may not always feel it; the same ideology can be applied to touching a rainbow, we are making contact with the rays of light, which qualifies as touching the rainbow.
A question like this can be argued back and forth with endless arguments to support and endless arguments to falter the idea that rainbows can be touched.
So... What is a rainbow? Simply put, a rainbow is one ray of white light that is split into seven different coloured fragments. Due to this, I believe it is fair to say that one cannot touch a rainbow. After all... We can't touch light. If you were to put your hand in the light of a rainbow, you would feel nothing, and the rainbow feels nothing.
But let's think of what a rainbow means. The symbolic value. A rainbow has deep significance when describing emotions. For example, I believe that a rainbow can be used to describe happiness. When we think of happiness, we think of just an emotion - something we feel but can't touch. But if we could manifest happiness, it would be in the form of a rainbow. In that sense, we will indeed be touching the very emotion we feel. We know this because we would be feeling warmth within us, as well as joy.
In conclusion, I believe that though a rainbow may be light, we are able to feel something when we touch it.This is why I believe that we are truly touching a rainbow.
I believe that one can touch the rainbow .Im not talking about the physical one but a more metaphorical one This rainbow doesnt have colours standard to the image we conjour up as a representative image
. It could contain colours which arent even known to man . These colours however represent each of the various physical and emotional attributes that we assign to ourselves and form an intricate part of our personality and perspective . Each and every person has their own little rainbow within them for each and every person has their own personalities which is made up of individualistic key traits which arent common to all
Immerse yourself in the colour that represents you the most and you will find that the world opens up a broad spectrum of colours to you ..... A wise man
A few weeks ago, in TOK class, we talked about scientific realism and common sense realism, and for a scientific realist, like myself, the aim of science is to arrive at the truth about the world.So when we were asked to say whether or not we can touch a rainbow, my first reaction was no we cannot, rainbows are by definition a distorted image of the sunlight, that is blended by the raindrops, the light is reflected and scattered before reaching our eyes, so one could say rainbows are optical illusions, in fact when you try going in the direction of the rainbow it appears to move away from, since it does not have a precise location and it's appearance is relative to the observer's position, and the observer would never be able to "touch" the rainbow.
But then I read many of the responses on this blog post, and i realized that many went for the figurative approach, so then the question became "what do rainbows mean to me?"
I then realized, I've only seen a rainbow a few times in my life, and they have all been in my hometown in Tunisia when i was younger, so when i think of rainbow i think of my childhood and my family, rainbows are things of the past of some sort, that is why, even figuratively speaking i won't be able to touch the rainbow
While it may seem like something out of a fantasy, the prismatic picturesque which we call a rainbow is nothing more than mere light despite it's unique semblance. Rainbows, therefore, are composed of primeval soup and therefore have physical interactions with other elementary particles. Put simply, you can, technically, touch a rainbow.
Per se the statement holds to be true, yet the very concept of a touch is twisted in nature. While meaning a simple 'contact' between two bodies, this definition has come to be rudimentary due to our apprehensible reliance on the sensory experience to ordain whether contact was made. If you were to ask the general public if it were possible to touch air, most would appraise it to be hardly possible. In this sense, a psychological and philosophical standpoint says that touching a rainbow is impossible.
Yet, the mental registry is invalid from a logical standpoint with the question at hand and it can be said that "you cannot experience touching a rainbow" while it is, indeed, very possible to touch one.
When i first sat down to think about this question, I knew there were several different paths through which I could approach this topic. To me, there were two distinct ones- scientifically and metaphorically.
So the scientist in me has a plain and and very blatant answer of 'No, you cannot touch a rainbow'. And why is this? Because a rainbow that we see through our eyes is nothing but one ray of white light split into seven different coloured fragments including Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red.
To me, the metaphorical reply makes more sense. A rainbow, in it's mannerisms, closely resembles the concept of hope. After a long, very gloomy day of the monotonous tones of rain pouring down on us, we get a rainbow emerging through. Even to this day just the view of a rainbow (real or fake) is one that gives me such immense happiness and to think that this very source of happiness stems from and can only be caused in nature after a period of rain really could mean something. When applied to the context of our society, maybe it tells us that regardless of the troubles we go through, some form of happiness (or hope) will indefinitely emerge through at the end.
So maybe you and me can't physically touch a rainbow. But there's nothing stopping our minds or imagination from reaching out and placing that rainbow in our pockets.
Can you touch a rainbow ?
Rainbows have always been a fascinating phenomena for centuries with the Vikings who saw the rainbow as a bridge that connected the world of the men with the realm of the gods, or the famous leprechaun and the pot of gold at the end of a the rainbow. This, however, is impossible to reach because rainbows only appear to be semi-circular from our view point and are actually circles and thus have no end. Rainbows occur due to the refracting and reflecting of light and this, is impossible to touch since light (as we see it) and colour are mere creations of the mind.
Some might describe a rainbow in a metaphorical sense, maybe as a metaphor for emotions such as joy and happiness or maybe as a metaphor for imagination or hope but all these leave me rather unsatisfied as I am more of a literalist. Why must hope, joy or happiness be symbolised by something we can't ever reach or even get close to ?
The Newtonian deconstruction of the rainbow has left many, who regarded the rainbow as something magical and mystical, disappointed as expressed by the great poet John Keats “ Do not all charms fly, At the mere touch of cold philosophy? ” In my opinion, this is not true and to me, a rainbow created as a result of the light simply scattering is much more fascinating than one created by god or one with a pot of gold at the (non-existent) end.
To begin with we must consider what a rainbow truly is.
Through the lens of a scientist a rainbow refers to an an arch of colours visible in the sky, caused by the refraction and dispersion of the sun's light by rain or other water droplets in the atmosphere. This causes the visual splendour that is visible to all and ignites feelings of awe, however an artist might view a rainbow differently; an artist might look at the symbolism that is woven into each colour with great intricacy and look for ways to ‘touch’ it.
Now unfortunately due to the restraints of being a human it is physically impossible to specifically touch a rainbow – any attempts to do as such would merely result in the grasping of thin air with no explicit focus.
However when looking at the metaphorical aspect a rainbow can represent a plethora of meanings, the colours at the end of a bleak day represent the driving force of hope that we express with resilience within ourselves. If we were to choose this symbolic representation of a rainbow we can easily aspire to ‘touch’ a rainbow, in the sense that striving towards our goals is a representation of a rainbow’s beauty incorporated into our everyday lives in a way that is accessible to us.
To conclude whist we do not have the ability to physically touch a rainbow there are plenty of other ways in which we can grow physically close to a rainbow in a metaphorical sense.
There is several different paths that can be used to approach this question. Two different aspects I used to view this was metaphorically and scientifically. Scientifically, The rainbow is an illusion of light, where seven different colours together is formed by a spectrum of light. The sun light is split into this phenomenon of the fragments of the different colours; Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet. Scientifically, the light ray can’t be touched because the rainbow we view is just a ray of light interpreted by our eyes and brain.
On the other hand, the metaphorical meaning behind this has a deep significance when describing emotions. Since a rainbow can touch you emotionally, the colourful rainbow is usually used as a symbol of warmth and happiness. Furthermore, it could symbolise a sign of promise or harmony as is represents a perfect balance between the warm and cold colours, this full spectrum of colours could represent all the emotions and making them feel overwhelmed. Viewed in this aspect you can touch the rainbow.
A rainbow is a phenomenon that is caused by light frolicking around in the arms of water droplets, resulting in something that is often regarded as beautiful, unreal and a completely uplifting sight to chance upon.
Those who believe in the rationality and practicality of only believing in things that are factual, logical or have been done would be adamant and rather sure that touching a rainbow is impossible and a completely ridiculous idea to ponder upon.
However, touching a rainbow in the emotional or metaphorical sense can be achieved as people often associate a rainbow with a sense of utopia, a way to visually represent the various emotions and thoughts in the human subconscious. Red, in a rainbow could be associated with the feeling of love, happiness or even vengeful rage; Green could represent peace, tranquility or relaxation. So rainbows can be touched and felt differently amongst all humans, as a certain color may trigger a completely different response amongst two individuals, as its all a matter of perspective.
In conclusion, the best way to answer this question is that if we humans are made of light, aren't we already touching the rainbow?
Rainbows have got to be one of mother nature's best gifts. Its dazzling beauty has sparked numerous questions throughout time, and one of them happens to be this one; is it okay to touch a rainbow? I'd say we can't but a rainbow can certainly touch us. This phenomenon has mesmerized many of us. Its serenity in its spectrum of colours brings peace to one's mind. Merely looking at it can take us to new places and gives us the best of ideas. It is an inspiration and a remedy for the soul.
Rainbows could be touched by us if they were physical objects, but they aren’t. My research shows that from the perspective of Physics, rainbows are the result of reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets. It depends from person to person what they consider touching a rainbow is, it can either be touching a painting with a rainbow on it or just staring at the rainbow and let the different colours, touch you. In conclusion, nobody’s answers are ever going to be the same owing to our differences in perception, which is exactly what such a question highlights. As for me being an unconventional thinker, I definitely see my interpretation as imaginative.
This question is extremely relative to the exact meaning of a rainbow. To me, what is a rainbow? Is it a spectrum of refracted light due to water particles ? A metaphor for happiness, our hopes and dreams ?
In my perspective, I see a rainbow as nothing more than a phenomenon that is caused by both reflection and refraction of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. And this I cannot physically touch or experience.
Other people have different thoughts. Like some people may think that a rainbow is nothing but a metaphor for happiness, joy, diversity, homosexuality etc. And they might find that touching it is impossible. It all depends on the person. A superstitious person would believe that a ladybug is a symbol of good luck, while to me… a ladybug remains a ladybug, an insect that feeds on garden pests. Perspective is the defining factor in this thunk, and my perspective leads me to believe that we really can’t, touch a rainbow.
A prodigy, the rainbow is a bow or arc of prismatic colors appearing in the heavens opposite the sun and caused by the refraction and reflection of the sun's rays in drops of rain. Well its state is not solid nor liquid so we can physically not touch it.
Although we can factor what this inevitable yet so astonishing entity has to show for in its occurrence. To view upon it as if there was a unicorn right beside it, or look at a rainbow as the sequenced alignment of colors which may make you relate to how you for yourself feel at different times or different situations the world has brought to you or even look upon the 7 colors and think how it impacts inner positivity and happiness; yes strange to think that there are so many perceptions to a singular, fascinating product nature has gifted us with.
To look at this with a certain level of sentiment and sense of imagination yet realize they may bring no point into your physical world; harsh but true, is my way of looking at it. To answer the question, certainly, we're not able to touch a rainbow.
To touch something means to feel it or sense it. We could touch rainbows if they were physical objects. But rainbows, unfortunately, are not physical objects. A rainbow is an arch of colors visible in the sky, caused by the refraction and dispersion of the sun's light by rain or other water droplets in the atmosphere. Trying to touch a rainbow is like trying to touch the light. Light can fall on your hand, but you can’t really ‘feel’ it. Similarly, you can’t touch a rainbow. A rainbow is formed based on the angle of the sun as it hits the water droplets and then your eyes. Every time you change your position, the rainbow too changes its position so that the light reflects back into your eyes, enabling you to see it. Thus, the closer you get to the rainbow, the further it moves.
A rainbow is an arch of colours visible in the sky, caused by the refraction and dispersion of the sun's light by rain or other water droplets in the atmosphere. The colours of the rainbow are generally said to be red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
Since a rainbow is made only of light, it is therefore not possible to touch it. It is not a physical object that can be picked up. It is visible however cannot be felt. This is the same for light. Light cannot be touched or felt it can just be seen.
It is very hard to think that something can be seen but not touched. In children movies the rainbows can be touched and seen because children don’t have the capacity to understand that something can be seen but not touched.
Therefore we sadly cannot touch a rainbow as it is not solid or liquid. It is just refraction and dispersion of light by water.
A rainbow can be defined as a display of the colors of the spectrum produced by dispersion of light. Knowing this, I would say that it is not possible to touch a rainbow.
In my opinion, light is not a physical object that you can experience by touching it, rather, it can be described as an experience for the eyes: light which enables us to observe the environment around us. While you can certainly see a rainbow if the conditions are right, I believe it’s quite hard to think about touching one.
A rainbow can be observed depending on the angle of the refraction of light happening. That also means that the refracted light also enters a certain way into your eyes for you to be able to observe. Therefore, if you change your position of movement, the rainbow also changes its position, which hints that the rainbow may be “running away” from you, if you attempt to get closer to it.
To answer this question we need to understand what a rainbow is. In its simplest definition, a rainbow is a spectrum of light of a range of colours. As in, rainbows are made of light. Therefore this question can be be simply put as: "Can you touch light?"
Another question that needs to be considered is: What counts as touching? Let's examine two situations that would hopefully help answer it.
Situation A: Suppose you are in your room with the AC turned off. Your room is not a vacuum. It contains air particles that occupy space and have mass. Yet if you raise your hand in this air, would you actually be able to feel the air colliding with and touching your hand? No you wouldn't.
Situation B: On the other hand, if you put your hand in front of an AC, you would certainly feel something.
So in which of the two situations can you safely say that the air is touching your hand? In my opinion the answer is both. In both cases, air is definitely coming into contact with your hand regardless of whether you can feel it or not.
Now let's consider light. I do not think any of us have ever 'felt' the touch of light in any way. But, we cannot immediately conclude that in this case light cannot be touched since air can also be touched without us feeling it.
Some may argue that air can still be felt if it collides with us hard enough which is not the case with light. However, it has been proven that under certain conditions, objects can be moved with light alone. In fact, this concept is being researched in hopes of utilizing it for space propulsion. This would sound less surprising if you consider the theory (which I am yet to fully understand) that states that light consists of particles called photons.
So in conclusion, can you touch a rainbow? In my opinion, the answer is yes.
To answer, this question, you have to consider what you define "touch" as. For me, "touch" is defined as coming into contact with something, whether it be visible or not. For instance, air is made of molecules that have mass – although it is not visible to the naked eye, you are in constant contact with it and hence acknowledge its presence. We can consider light in the same context.
Light is a combination of an electric field and a magnetic field – hence "electromagnetic" – that travel – or rather transfer energy, but that Physics can be saved for a later date – at right angles to each other in the form of waves. This is the macroscopic definition for light. On the other hand, at the microscopic level, light comprises of packets of energy called "photons". Even though they are massless, they are considered to be particles because of the properties they exhibit. As a summary of the information above, light is both a wave and a particle. Now the real question is, do you come into contact with a wave or a massless particle?
For most people, perhaps the general consensus is that you feel the electromagnetic waves, since they have several observable effects on the human body UV rays and gamma rays for instance) but not anything that is massless, as it is not matter. In my personal opinion, you come into contact with both. Hence, you do come into contact with light, even though you might not be able to sense it.
However, the answer to this question is not all that simple. To observe a rainbow, light must be refracted at a specific angle which allows it to disperse into the spectrum. Additionally, the naturally occurring rainbow is usually further away than the limit of accessibility for us humans on the ground. As a conclusion, yes you can touch a rainbow, but achieving that might prove to be practically challenging.
As accurately defined by all,a rainbow is a “meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky.”
So, can we touch a rainbow?
Looking at a literal meaning it basically dissects to: ‘can we touch light?’
No, we can not touch light as it is not a solid object.
Metaphorically speaking, a rainbow can be a thing so magnificent, so breathtaking, so fascinating that it makes us think, that it leaves a mark on us. Even so, do we touch the rainbow? No. The rainbow touches us, it leaves a mark on us. We humans are not capable of being fascinating to such a marvelous creation, hence we do not change it in any way, thus not leaving a mark on it.
Nevertheless, as Vikings thought, a rainbow could be a bridge, a bridge which could be crossed. But unlike Vikings, a rainbow doesn't have to be a bridge between the Gods and us humans, it could be a bridge to our success. A rainbow could be something personal to us, something we need to cross in order to achieve our personal goals. So in order to cross it, we need to put in effort and if the right amount of effort it put in from our side, then ofcourse, we can touch a rainbow. We can not only touch OUR OWN rainbow, but cross it as well.
In conclusion, as any Thunk could conclude, it depends on the way you think.
A rainbow is usually taken as a symbol of Mother Nature’s beauty (and apparent love of physics). It results from the bending and reflection of light through water droplets in the atmosphere which causes the light to disperse into spectrum that we see.
When I was younger, I would always see rainbows in the sky while driving on the highway (this was in Canada, where they actually have seasons). But as we drove towards them, they always seemed to be just as far as before and I could never quite understand why.
Essentially, a rainbow is just light. Light is made of particles called photons. Photons are said to be massless particles. So is it possible to touch something which has no mass? No, not really… but you could feel it. Like when sunlight falls on your arm and you can feel it warm up. This is because the light energy is absorbed by your body and reflected as heat. You’re not touching the light but you are feeling its effect. So maybe that’s where the beauty of the rainbow lies: in admiring it from afar. Maybe some things should be felt instead of touched.
So is it possible to touch a rainbow? Maybe if the leprechaun at the end lets you.
Can you touch a rainbow?
A rainbow is an intangible spectra of light which means you cannot 'touch it' per say. This is explained by the fact that rainbows are mere reflections, refractions, and dispersion of the photons present in a water molecule. These refections cannot be 'touched' per say because they're simply light. Light is massless which means it has no weight and something which has no weight cannot be touched.
However, many argue that rainbows can be felt as warm and soft, but this is simply because energy (heat) emitted by the photons are absorbed by your body which gives you this warmth feeling, which is the same principle as if you stayed under the sun or aa very powerful lightbulb.
If we were able to touch rainbows it would destroy all the chemistry and physics laws we have discovered over the past centuries. To put it short and simple: we can't touch a rainbow and we will never be able to either.
A rainbow is the splitting of the spectrum of light through diffraction, usually after it rains. In the visible sense, we see the rainbow as an arc of light showing the whole spectrum of colours (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet), and we can not touch these colours. As we approach a rainbow, we can notice the rainbow moving away from us at the same speed. A rainbow is nothing more than the perception of diffracted light, and so as we move forward towards it our perception changes and the rainbow "moves" too. Knowing this, it is impossible to touch a natural rainbow.
Of course, it is important to note that the spectrum of light transcends beyond simply the visible spectrum. For instance, infrared light is something we feel as heat radiation, and is just as much a part of a rainbow as any of the visible colours. We can definitely feel infrared radiation. Ultraviolet, gamma, x-rays, microwaves and radiowaves are all part of the light spectrum that we use in our lives, potentially without even knowing. Even the visible spectrum of light, colours, are a huge part of human life. From design to psychology, colours help us instill certain emotions or make decisions, they act as a significant aspect in modern life.
So while we may not be able to touch a rainbow, a rainbow can definitely touch us <3
The science behind the rainbow has already been covered by everyone else. It''s the spectrum of light seen as it is split moving through water. However, the interesting part of this question is if we can 'touch' it. If we agree with the argument that yes we can touch a rainbow because we can feel the heat, then technically we are always touched by photons across the entire spectra of light. As most of it is outside the wavelength of visible light, we are unaware of this. This is contextualized by many other things as well. Air, even though we cannot see it, is surrounding and constantly touching us. And we know that we 'are' getting touched because light and air is able to react with us under the correct circumstances.
A rainbow in a nutshell is mother nature's form of an illusion. Of course, when we see a rainbow from a distance we see the colourful spectrum of lights, when however there actually isn't any physically. Rainbows are caused by refractions and reflections with droplets of water (which is why they're common during times of rain or rainy seasons). Since its only a vision of light, it makes it impossible to touch as you aren't touching the colours you think you see, however you can 'feel' the heat of it.
Of course, this is in the most literal and obvious perspective.
Say, we look at rainbows in another angle. Of course, physically you can't touch them, but how about all the depictions of rainbows? Irish folklore are most famous in depicting rainbows; the end of a rainbow leads to a Leprechaun's pot of gold. Beyond that, rainbows can be linked to the highest end of a spectrum, ironically. Terms that define excellence, such as passing an exam with 'flying colours' (Rainbows are literally flying colours), all associate the image of a rainbow with something highly achieved. I believe that most people, like myself, see or should see a rainbow as a goal, an objective, something they should work for, and reap the benefits that lie at the end of the rainbow.
So, literally as some of my fellow and previous cohorts have said, you can't touch a rainbow, but it touches you.
I believe it's safe to say that none of us can touch a rainbow until and unless it is a physical object, simply put a rainbow is an optical phenomenon that appears when sunlight and atmospheric conditions are just right—and the viewer’s position is just right to see it.
In a way that makes a rainbow a sort of illusion, which can be a misinterpreted perception of a sensory experience. The beauty about such illusions is it makes us question our knowledge. Does the rainbow really exist if we can't touch it? Are our eyes deceiving us?
It makes us question what we really know, that kind of self doubt is detrimental into helping us grow as global citizens. So maybe a rainbow cannot be touched, and it is almost impossible to find the end of one which arises the question how do we truly know it even exists?
Now of course science has been able to reassure us but at the same time the mystery that a rainbow leave behind leaves us to ponder and question.
Maybe we can't physically touch a rainbow but it touches a beautiful part of our minds.I'd like to conclude with a quote from Barbara Harrison, "Belief in the absence of illusions is itself an illusion."
Rainbows are one of the most beautiful spectacles nature has to offer. But in order to answer the question, one must ponder on how does one define a rainbow? If we assume the literal definition, according to science we cannot touch a rainbow since it is not a physical object, but rather "a distorted image of the sun" whose light raindrops bend, reflect and scatter on its way to our eyes. However, our eyes tell us that there is something there; so this leads me to pose my question. To what extent can humans trust illusions?
Claiming that you can touch a rainbow is pretty much the same as claiming that you can touch light. Rainbows aren't really the magical phenomenon people seem to believe they are because they're formed when light is reflected, refracted and dispersed in water droplets forming a spectrum of colors in the sky. The only magical aspect of rainbows are the unicorns and leprechauns associated with them in the fables and myths we grew up hearing about. Based on those stories, it may be possible for you to find a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow and touch it as well but in reality, rainbows are just a colorful display of light and perception that can only be seen but not "touched."
Due to the nebulousness of the question that allows it to be open for interpretation both literally and metaphysically, I would like to put down some definitions before I piece them together for an explanation:
1. A rainbow, by definition, is an arc of polychromatic light in the sky formed when a ray of sunlight passes through a reflective object or mass. Typically, a droplet of water, however, similar spectrums can also be recreated using transparent glass.
2. Temperature, by definition, is the average speed of atoms.
3. Touch, by definition, is coming into contact with something, whether it be visible or not.
The very literal and scientific understanding of the question poses as follows;
Given the definition of temperature (Refer to definition), since light does not consist of atoms, its temperature is undefined. If light is absorbed by our bodies, the atoms there start moving faster, and that feels hot. This is the same for visible light and infrared light, which we then call thermal radiation.
We "feel" visible light, in the sense that we have cells that detect it and send the information to our brains for processing. But since the cells in question are different from the ones that detect infrared light, and since our brains process the two sorts of information differently, we use different terminology. To "feel" visible light, in the sense described above, is called "seeing".
Therefore, we can “see” and “feel” light, so we can “touch” light. But given that a rainbow is light, can we touch a rainbow? (Refer to definition of touch and rainbow)
This is where the ambiguity plays in, since a rainbow typically means more than its basic definition. For some, it is a symbol of hope and perseverance, for others, one of assurance or promise of undoubted harmony after the gloomy, almost morbid atmosphere. Some even associate the different hues to life goals. Other philosophers refer to a rainbow is an illusion despite being aware that it is caused by refraction. They, however, believe that since you can only see it at different times and specific angles that maybe a rainbow exists in another reality. A reality that lets us peak through to a bright and a wonderful sight, to which we get glimpses of by looking at the rainbow.
So, what do I think? I think that scientifically and philosophically, we have all unknowingly touched a rainbow at some point in our lives.
When approaching the question in its most literal sense, the answer can be both yes and no, for reasons that shall be made clear. As my peers have very well established with an admirably greater grasp on the science behind light, a rainbow is typically the illusion that is constructed when light passes through water – be it in the form of rain, vapor or mist – and manifests as a seven-colored arc, seemingly starting and ending at two points off into the distance. A rainbow can also be created by various other means, such as via glass prisms and the like.
In the case of the first rainbow, the natural phenomena, I would argue that it is physically impossible for that kind of rainbow to be ‘touched’ in any sense of the word – at least, by the beholder. However, a rainbow being observed by one person can appear to be touched, as far as the first person is concerned, by a second person even if the second person themselves does not see it. Even then, of course, the answer ‘yes’ passes on a mere technicality; to touch something as I’ve taken the thunk to mean, is make an active effort on behalf of one entity to make contact with another and, thus, the light could just as easily be touching the second observer instead.
There is something to be said about rainbows in human culture, both contemporary and archaic. The appearance of a rainbow represented different things to different cultures at different times throughout history; to many ancient religions (such as the Norse, Japanese, the Navajo etc.) the rainbow represented a bridge connected the material world to the supernatural and, in many of these, the bridge maintained its paradoxical “touchability” and lack thereof – the bridges were often exclusive to gods, spirits and the dead, indicating something untouchable by mortals, yet tangible to the occult. In the more contemporary Judeo-Christian faiths, the rainbow was a sign of friendship and forgiveness between man and God, a symbol of truce following His genocidal, nigh-apocalyptic deluge. Somewhat ironically, the rainbow has now been appropriated (to more apt use) by the LGBTQ community and represents various ideals but, since the symbolism is lost to me at this point, I digress.
I cannot conclude a piece about what is essentially touching light without making reference to one of my favorite science-fiction tropes: hard light, one of the most notable examples of which being the solid mono-colored walls left in the trails of bikes from the iconic TRON series. If a rainbow were to be constructed out of hard light (in a hypothetical universe/hopeful future where we’ve invented hard light) then it should stand to reason that we could touch it. And then make really cool bridges with it. Take that, god.
Since a rainbow is simply refracted light, you can’t touch it anymore than you can touch sunbeams. While the photons of light technically come in contact with your eye, they aren’t really touching you, as photons have no mass.
*Flashback to when I was 6*
I casually tucked one hand into my front pocket and let the other droop down my side, all while desperately trying to stop my giggles from revealing my dubious plans. A whole week of planning had led to this very moment, and I was adamant to see it come to fruition.
I pounced on my window seat like a lion on sight of a succulent, plump deer, just itching with excitement. Trying not to draw too much attention, I wrinkled my face against the triple layered window, patiently waiting for my next signal.
“The plane will be ascending in 5 minutes” Those words brought an unparalleled smile on my face as my hands started rubbing against each other in anticipation.
I was finally going to touch a rainbow!
*Fast forward 8 hours*
As you’ve probably expected, I’ve failed. Apparently the windows were harder than they looked. No rainbows for me…
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From my highly credible, all inclusive experiment, I can therefore say it is impossible to touch a rainbow (at least when you’re 6).
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