Rainbows & Light: What Hides Inside Sunshine

Nova: Buckle up, Explorers.

Cosmo: Brains in!

Nova: Wheels up!

Nova & Cosmo: Brain Bus, let's GO!

Nova: You're on The Brain Bus.

Nova: I'm Nova, your driver.

Nova: And today we are going somewhere wonderful.

Nova: We're going to find a rainbow.

Nova: Here's something amazing, Explorers.

Nova: Rainbows aren't really up in the sky.

Nova: They're made of tiny raindrops.

Nova: Tiny raindrops doing a sparkly dance with the sun!

Nova: Isn't that the most beautiful thing?

Nova: Let's go find out how.

Nova: Okay, Explorers. Are you ready?

Nova: Let's start with sunlight.

Nova: Sunlight looks white, doesn't it?

Nova: Like... nothing. Just bright.

Nova: But here is a secret.

Nova: White light has colors hiding inside it.

Nova: Every single color of the rainbow.

Nova: Hiding. Right there. In the sunshine.

Nova: Imagine a big box of crayons.

Nova: Red. Orange. Yellow. Green. Blue. Purple.

Nova: Now squish them ALL together into one crayon.

Nova: What color would that be?

Nova: White!

Nova: That's what sunlight is.

Nova: All the colors squished together into one bright white light.

Nova: Can you say RAINBOW?

Nova: Rainbow! Wonderful!

Nova: Now. How do the colors come OUT of the sunlight?

Nova: That's where raindrops come in.

Nova: When sunshine shines through a tiny raindrop...

Nova: ...the raindrop bends the light.

Nova: It spreads the colors apart.

Nova: Like opening that crayon box back up again.

Nova: Red comes out. Orange. Yellow. Green. Blue. Purple.

Nova: And when millions and millions of raindrops do this all at once...

Nova: You get a rainbow!

Nova: Can you say RAINDROP?

Nova: Raindrop! You've got it!

Nova: Now, the rainbow always has the same colors.

Nova: Always in the same order.

Nova: Red is at the top.

Nova: Then orange. Then yellow. Then green. Then blue.

Nova: And purple at the bottom.

Nova: Every time. Never mixed up.

Nova: Now here is something truly magical.

Nova: You can never, ever touch a rainbow.

Nova: If you walk toward it... it moves away.

Nova: It's like it's playing a gentle game with you.

Nova: Isn't it amazing that something so beautiful...

Nova: ...is made of just light and water?

Nova: Oh, I love that.

Nova: And there's one more thing.

Nova: A rainbow is actually a full circle.

Nova: A big, round, perfect ring of colors.

Nova: But we only see the bottom half from the ground.

Nova: The other half is hiding below us!

Nova: Can you say CIRCLE?

Nova: Circle! There you go!

Nova: Now. Some people long ago told wonderful stories about rainbows.

Nova: In old Ireland - a beautiful green island far away - people told a story.

Nova: This story comes from the Irish people of Ireland.

Nova: It has been told for a very, very long time.

Nova: Once upon a time, there were tiny, tricky little creatures called leprechauns.

Nova: Leprechauns are fairy shoemakers.

Nova: Very small. Very clever.

Nova: And they had gold coins.

Nova: Lots and lots of gold coins in a big round pot.

Nova: Now, where did they hide this pot of gold?

Nova: At the end of a rainbow!

Nova: Because they knew something very clever.

Nova: No one can ever reach the end of a rainbow.

Nova: Every time you walk toward it... it moves away.

Nova: So the leprechaun's gold is safe. Forever.

Nova: And do you know what's wonderful about that story?

Nova: It's actually true!

Nova: You really, truly cannot reach a rainbow's end.

Nova: The Irish storytellers knew something real.

Nova: Ooh, Explorers! Quiz time!

Nova: Let's see what you know.

Nova: Question one!

Nova: True or false - a rainbow is made of paint.

Nova: False!

Nova: Rainbows are made of light and tiny raindrops.

Nova: Not a drop of paint anywhere!

Nova: Question two!

Nova: What do you need to make a rainbow?

Nova: Is it A - sun and rain?

Nova: Or B - just clouds?

Nova: It's A - sun AND rain!

Nova: Both at the same time.

Nova: Sunshine AND raindrops working together.

Nova: That's the magic team!

Nova: Question three!

Nova: True or false - you can pick up a rainbow and put it in your pocket.

Nova: False!

Nova: A rainbow is made of light.

Nova: And light has nothing to grab.

Nova: It's a beautiful picture your eyes make.

Nova: Not a thing you can hold.

Nova: Explorers, you were wonderful.

Nova: Every single one of you thought so hard just now.

Nova: That's what this Bus runs on - wondering!

Nova: Fun fact time! Ready?

Nova: Fact one!

Nova: Sometimes there are TWO rainbows at once.

Nova: A big bright one, and a soft quiet one above it.

Nova: Fact two!

Nova: Bees can see a color we cannot.

Nova: It's called ultraviolet.

Nova: Flowers look completely different to a bee!

Nova: Fact three!

Nova: Light moves faster than anything else in the whole universe.

Nova: Faster than a rocket. Faster than anything.

Nova: And it brings all those colors to your eyes in an instant.

Nova: Okay, Explorers. Here comes your challenge.

Nova: Close your eyes if you can.

Nova: Now imagine you're holding a giant invisible crayon box.

Nova: Inside are all the rainbow colors.

Nova: Take out the red one.

Nova: Now the orange one.

Nova: Yellow.

Nova: Green.

Nova: Blue.

Nova: Purple.

Nova: Now squish them ALL back together into one big crayon.

Nova: What color do you think that crayon would be?

Nova: White! That's sunlight!

Nova: And here is a wondering question for everyone in the car.

Nova: If you could invent a brand new color...

Nova: A color nobody has ever, ever seen before...

Nova: What would you call it?

Nova: Explorers...

Nova: Come in close for a moment.

Nova: Here is the most important thing we learned today.

Nova: White light has all the colors hiding inside it.

Nova: And raindrops let them out.

Nova: Every time it rains and the sun comes out...

Nova: The sky is full of tiny raindrops opening up the sunlight.

Nova: Setting all those colors free.

Nova: Red and orange and yellow and green and blue and purple.

Nova: They were there all along.

Nova: Just waiting.

Nova: Light has been hiding colors inside itself for as long as there has been a sun.

Nova: Long before there were any eyes to see them.

Nova: And then one day, yours opened.

Nova: Next time on The Brain Bus...

Nova: We are going somewhere very, very deep.

Nova: And very, very dark.

Nova: And very, very full of wonder.

Nova: I wonder what we'll find.

Nova: Stay curious, stay clever, and keep that brain working!

Nova: Until the next stop, Explorers...

Cosmo: ...keep wondering.