Does a rainbow show us the wavelengths of visible light that have travelled from the sun to the earth?

To understand if a rainbow shows us the wavelengths of visible light that have traveled from the sun to the earth, one must first understand what a rainbow is and how a rainbow is formed. A rainbow is a "optical phenomenon" that occurs when visible light passes through a water droplet in the atmosphere, causing the light to refract. The density of water causes the light passing through the droplet to slow down. As the...

To understand if a rainbow shows us the wavelengths of visible light that have traveled from the sun to the earth, one must first understand what a rainbow is and how a rainbow is formed. A rainbow is a "optical phenomenon" that occurs when visible light passes through a water droplet in the atmosphere, causing the light to refract. The density of water causes the light passing through the droplet to slow down. As the light hits the back of the drop, it reflects back towards the direction from which it came at a downward angle between 40-42 degrees relative to its position entering the droplet. The slowing down of light inside the water droplet causes it to bend. This bending separates the light into the various wavelengths of visible light. The now bent visible light exits the water droplet and speeds back up upon entering the less dense air, causing the light to bend again. Because of this entire process, a rainbow does show us the wavelengths of all the visible light that has traveled to earth from the sun. Hope this helps!