Rainbows+and+Clouds

 __RAINBOWS__ Rainbows are a light spectrum in the sky discovered by Sir Isaac Newton. The main colors are red orange yellow green blue indigo and violet. There are many different types of rainbows, including the twin rainbows, red bows, wheel, moon bow, seawater bows, dew bows, reflection bows and a few other types. They all look different, but they are all made up of small water droplets and sun reflecting just the right way so you get the "rainbow" effect and see different colors. The colors also depend on the way you look at them and the way that you are facing the sun. The determination of the brightness and dimness of the colors depends on the different speeds that the light travels. Like the one at the top of the page.


 * But, when the light travels faster, the colors are more brilliant, like this one.**

**Light interacts with water droplets in a region where rain is falling, and this causes a rainbow.The geometry needs to be just right between the observer, the place where it is raining, and the sun.The sun must be behind the observer, and the falling rain in front of the observer.The light from the sun passes over the observer, strikes rain droplets, and comes back to the observer. The key to the rainbow is what happens inside the raindrops. When a beam of white sunlight enters a raindrop, it refracts at the front surface of the drop into a spectrum of colors.**
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__CLOUDS__

 __Cirrocumulus__ Small, rounded white puffs that appear in long rows. The small ripples in the cirrocumulus clouds sometime resemble the scales of a fish. Cirrocumulus clouds are usually seen in the winter and indicate fair, but cold weather. In tropical regions, they may indicate an approaching hurricane.   **__ Stratocumulus __** Low, puffy and gray. Most form in rows with blue sky visible in between them. Rain rarely occurs with stratocumulus clouds, however, they can turn into nimbostratus clouds.  __** Cirrus **__ Composed of ice and are thin, wispy clouds blown in high winds into long streamers. Cirrus clouds are usually white and predict fair to pleasant weather. By watching the movement of cirrus clouds you can tell from which direction weather is approaching. ** __Cirrostratus__ ** Thin, sheetlike high clouds that often cover the entire sky. They are so thin that the sun and moon can be seen through them. Cirrostratus clouds usually come 12-24 hours before a rain or snow storm. __ Cumulus __ Large, white, puffy clouds that generally appear during fair weather, although they also form thunderheads on hot days, some carry rain. High winds can flatten the top of the cloud into an anvil-like shape. Cumulonimbus clouds are associated with heavy rain, snow, hail, lightning and even tornadoes. ** The word Nimbostratus means "rainstorm" and "spread out" in Latin. Rain and snow often accompany the development of nimbostratus clouds. Nimbostratus clouds color the sky a solid gray. These clouds are low altitude clouds that are not more than 5,000 feet above the Earth. These clouds develop when a front of warm, moist air meets a body of cold, dry air. **
 * __Cumulonimbus__ **
 * __Nimbostratus__ **

** __Stratus__ ** -Low clouds that stretch over large portions of sky, creating overcast conditions. (latin for "high blanket") Altostratus belong to the Middle Cloud group (2000-7000m up). An altostratus cloud usually covers the whole sky and has a gray or blue-gray appearance. The Sun or Moon may shine through an altostratus cloud, but will appear watery or fuzzy. **__ Altocumulus __ **   Altocumulus clouds are part of the Middle Cloud group (2000-7000m up). They are grayish-white with one part of the cloud darker than the other. Altocumulus clouds usually form in groups and are about 1 km thick. Altocumulus clouds are about as wide as your thumb when you hold up your hand at arm's length to look at the cloud.
 * __Altostratus__ **

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__Reflection By: Emily Fallucchi, Vanessa Kasper, Sarah Wood__ Working with Rainbows and Clouds expanded our knowledge in a great deal of ways. We all learned alot about how the rainbow gets its colors and how clouds have different weather. Using Wikispaces made it more fun and more knowledgable for our group. If we could pick another project to do, we would choose tornadoes and other severe weather!