Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

why do you see a rainbow in bubbles or those oil stains? its for a project that i have to do and i am having a hard time finding the information for it

Hello,

When you see a rainbow, it is because light is being broken up into different colors by a process called refraction. White light (from the sun) is actually made up of all the colors of the rainbow, and as it moves through certain shapes (like a bubble) or reflects off certain surfaces (like oil), it can be broken up into those different colors.

To get some information, try looking up words like "prisms," "optics," and "spectrum." Here is a link to Wikipedia's article on prisms: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prism_(optics)

Hope that helps get you going!

Cheers,
Heather