Can You Reach The End Of A Rainbow?

The end of the rainbow may be the best place to raid a leprechaun stash, but it proves a strangely difficult destination to reach. Brainstuff explains why you can’t get there, and why there really isn’t even a a “there” there.

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OK, so you have this amazing idea to start your own business: A licorice-themed food truck. Genius, right? But the bank turned you down, and your Kickstarter campaign failed to fund.

FORTUNATELY, you know where you might be able to find a large stash of gold… if you can ONLY get to the end of this rainbow you’ve been following for six hours.

But is it actually possible to get to the end of a rainbow? And if so, what will you find when you get there?

Let’s start with the bad news: Leprechauns are liars. You cannot reach the end of the rainbow. If you were to mark on a map the place where the rainbow seems to meet the land, and then travel to that location, you would not be standing inside a glorious pillar of colors. There would be nothing there, except probably the fresh smell of a recent rain shower.

To understand why this is, we need to look at how rainbows form. Rainbows are created when sunlight reflects and refracts through water droplets suspended in the air, on the opposite side of you from the sun. Those water droplets act like both a mirror and a prism.

Like a mirror, they reflect the sunlight back toward you. But like a prism, they also bend and disperse the light.

This is because rays of light shining through the air change speed when they enter a different medium -- for example, water. This sudden change in speed bends the trajectory of the light, and disperses white light into the whole Roy G. Biv spectrum.

The reason you see a nice, ordered gradient of colors within a rainbow, going from red to violet, is because this refraction bends each of the different colors of light at a slightly different angle.

So, for example, red light bends at 42 degrees, violet light bends at 40 degrees, and all the other colors are somewhere in between.

So let’s find a rainbow. To do this, you need to locate your anti-solar point. Your anti-solar point is the point in space 180 degrees -- or exactly opposite -- from the sun.

A simple way to find this is to go outside and look for the shadow of your own head. Now imagine drawing a straight line in 3 dimensions from the sun through your head to the shadow of your head.

Now look up: If there is a rainbow to be seen, you will find it by facing away from the sun and looking for an arc 42 degrees above that line from the sun to your anti-solar point.

Notice that the apparent location of your rainbow depends on three things: Where the sun is, where the water droplets are, and where your eyes are. Change any one of those variables and you’ll see a different rainbow -- or none at all.

So no matter where you see your rainbow, if you try to walk out to meet it, you’ll be changing the variable of your own position, and you could be walking forever – or at least until your rainbow disappears.

Trying to find the end of a rainbow is sort of like trying to walk to the end of your own shadow. Somebody else could stand at the apparent end of your rainbow, but you will never, ever reach this location yourself.

But here’s another thing: A rainbow isn’t actually a bow. Rainbows are circular. Usually, when you’re standing on the ground, most of the rainbow is blocked by the horizon. In rare cases, like if you’re in an airplane or something, you’ll be able to see the entire rainbow —err, rainhoop? — rainloop? — rainhole? — a round, spectacular beauty.

But there’s an obvious take-away from this: It doesn’t actually meet the ground anywhere. There’s just the altitude where you can’t see it anymore.

Despite all this science that is quite well understood, you’ll find people on the Internet swearing up and down that they’ve found the end of a rainbow. Not sure what’s up with that.

CREDITS:

360 degree rainbow photo:

SOURCES:

[Peter_]

I tried to reach a really magnificent rainbow outside of my university last summer, and it seemed to be really close.
So I walked and walked, then walked some more, then walked some more, and then I said "wtf how far away is it?!", and then gave up 30 minutes later.

[jefto]

You are completely wrong about not being able to see the end of a rainbow. I know for a fact that you can because I saw it for 10 to 15 min watching 7 little kids running in and out of this rainbow reaching out like they were trying to touch it as they entered the rainbow you could see the haze of color over them making it look like they were in a colored fog or something like that I looked at the faces of the parents some with their mouths wide open others with their hands over their mouths and all eyes wide open including mine it was one of the coolest things I have ever saw and still remember vividly what it looked like.It happened at a park about 50 yards from a lake. The treasure at the end of that rainbow was getting to see the kids running in and out of it having the time of their lives.

[KorenJoy]

I haven't watched this video yet but I have been through the end of a rainbow so if it says anything otherwise i will be posting another, angry comment

[JamesSamples]

I'm sorry, you are mistaken. In 2006 I was working as an electrician on a drydock at James Marine in Paducah, KY. The drydock that I standing on top of, was on one side of the river. I watched a Rainbow as it crossed from the other side of the river. When the rainbow crossed the river and covered me it stopped on me for a while. I was wearing light khaki pants. I could see the color of light that I was standing in. I was also able to see variances in the light. I spread my legs apart and could see, very easily, that I had two different colored legs. I looked over at an adjacent drydock and I noticed that the guys there were looking in my direction. I keyed the radio and asked a supervisor on their drydock if the were seeing my light show and they confirmed that they were seeing it also. I could also feel the mist from the rain that I could clearly see. The Rainbow that was shrouding me was riding the edge of the rain. I was expecting to get drenched once the rainbow preceded behind me, however that never happened. After sometime, the Rainbow changed directions and went back across the river.

[Drickon]

I used to drive around on one with my go cart. It's pretty tricky.

[jeremynolannolan]

Really? I made lots of rainbows over and around me when i was a kid spraying the water hose. BANG funku science.

[tcfmarch]

Believe it or stood in the end of a rainbow. I ran to it ...I was in a desert in AZ.No pot of gold but I felt very blessed.

[atlanticjem]

That's exactly what I've always thought. I've even seen a full circle rainbow from a plane. But one day I was driving on a freeway in California when I saw a rainbow that looked like it had one end pointing towards a section of freeway I was heading towards. I expected my viewpoint of the rainbow to move as I got closer, but it didn't. I saw it ending right on the road in front of me and as I drove through it, I hit a blinding light and hit my brakes. Everyone around me was doing the same thing at the same time, so I know it wasn't just me. Once through that patch of light, looking back there was no rainbow from the other side of it. I'm willing to believe there was more to that experience than an average rainbow, as I've never seen anything else like it and in trying to drive towards any rainbow's end intentionally has always resulted in it moving just as described in this video. But I really want to know what it was that I saw!!! I honestly would never have believed it if I hadn't experienced it myself. It doesn't make sense. But that's what it looked like! Like I was driving right through the end of a rainbow.

[melissapriddy]

On July, Friday the 13th, 2018, my oldest daughter & I were driving home during a long distance trip. There were a few scattered, lighter showers & then we saw a beautiful rainbow arcing to the right of us. As we approached we saw the end of the rainbow touching the road that the traffic was driving through & we drove right through the very end of 1 end of that rainbow. The light in the brief few seconds entering & exiting it was a light, yellowish gold color. My mom had told a story years ago about my brother & herself driving to & standing in the end of the rainbow. I honestly wasn’t sure what she saw but now that we experienced it, I believe her. What an amazing thing to witness!

[JosephJMcAllister]

Make scene, but my and my mom drove through the end of a rainbow one time. We were driving to get an oil change, and it just happened to us. We weren't trying to do that at all. Just driving down the road. We were very shocked. I thought it wasn't possible, but I think there can be circumstances where other variables are at play, and it actually happens. A lot of times science states that something is not possible, until someone has created an experiment that proves that under certain circumstances that an event can happen. Science is a great tool, but it's always evolving with new discoveries, not a static end of of knowledge. I think there were other factors at play then a standard rainbow observation. It seemed that as we passed through it, the water droplets ended, and that may be the extra factor that made it happen. A down·pour concentration.

[khinrajrai]

believe me or not, I have seen end of rainbow infront of me,

[lleytonsmith]

I've actually seen the end of a rainbow. I didnt have to travel all the way to where I thought it ended I just one day looked outside my window and saw the rainbow meeting the ground.

[michaelm]

I know you can because I drove through one

[keterguidance]

My boy friend and I saw one coming from over a church and ending in the center of a small intersection while sitting at a four way stop sign. It was impossibly clear and we were so stunned that we just sat there until it faded away. We can’t believe we didn’t get out of the car and stand in it while it wasn’t even 5yards away

[JasonWeakley]

Ok, I'm honestly not trolling you! I HAVE BEEN TO THE END OF A RAINBOW. Some friends and I were riding bikes one day when a rainbow formed on our street. We went through it stood in it, ran through it, waved our hands through it! Then we had the bright idea to find the OTHER END, and raced on bikes to the adjacent neighborhood. We were 50 feet or so from reaching the second end of the rainbow when it finally stopped sprinkling (it was barely raining in our South Florida neighborhood) and the rainbow vanished before we could reach the second end, but at least we got to see and "touch" the first end. We could all clearly see the fixed points where both ends touched the ground though, so this video is not completely accurate.

[nclbr]

Just because you have never seen the end doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. I’ve driven through one. I was at a stop light when it started and I drove out of it. It was about 45-50ft to get out of it and it was like driving through the colors, literally. It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.

[ineedtomovetothesuburbs]

You said if we were to go to the end of a rainbow we wouldn't be standing in the rainbow, well if you can't see it, it doesn't mean it's not there it has been proven that there is an end but no gold, and up you just can't see it.

[Lerkero]

The graphics for this video are great. The explanation is quite interesting too.

[garrett]

but.... how do double and triple rainbows form?

[Twihhh]

Once I saw a double rainbow and the "end" of it were around 50 metres from me