Prisms and Rainbows: Rainbow Castle
High in a tower of Rainbow Castle, Princess Ruby has put a glass prism in a sunny window, and a band of rainbow light spreads across her white wall!
Remember: Sunlight looks white, but it is a mix of all the colours of the rainbow. A prism bends the light and spreads it out into red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Raindrops work like tiny prisms, which is how a rainbow forms. Light also bends when it goes into water, so a straw in a glass looks broken. A red strawberry looks red because it reflects red light and absorbs the rest.
Magic trick: Say the rainbow in order: ROY G BIV, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.
Seek and Find
Look carefully at the picture of Rainbow Castle and find:
- 🔺 Find the 3 glass prisms. The one in the window spreads white sunlight into a rainbow on the wall.
- 🥤 Find the 3 glasses of water with straws. Try it at home: a straw in water looks broken at the water line, because light bends as it goes into water.
- 🍓 Find the 5 strawberries. They look red because they reflect red light.
- 🐱 Millie and her kitten Biscuit are hiding in every picture. Can you spot them?