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Improved the answer, and removed the polarizing word 'misconception', in response to downvotes, and in the absence of comments.
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jkien
jkien
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The apparent origin of the light raysAn interesting option is more important than the rays themselves. Probably you already knew that from ray diagramsto treat your question as a simple geometrical optics problem with a virtual image, in geometrical optics. When looking at a rainbow by eye or by camerainfinity. Then, the rainbow image produced by the rain curtain is the single apparent origin of the light rays received by observers, either eye or camera, at different observation locations. ItThat apparent origin is a single 42° circle at infiniteinfinite distance. The cone formed by the light rays is not the rainbow image (although that isbecause parallel rays appear to originate from a common misconceptionsingle "point" at infinity).

In summary,So your question why the eye does not see a cone instead of a single, far-away rainbow image is at infinity, whereasis answered by pure geometrical optics. It is similar to looking in the conemirror and asking why the eye sees an image, instead of the light rays are nearbyand the particles of the mirror.

The apparent origin of the light rays is more important than the rays themselves. Probably you already knew that from ray diagrams with a virtual image, in geometrical optics. When looking at a rainbow by eye or by camera, the rainbow image is the apparent origin of the light rays. It is a 42° circle at infinite distance. The cone formed by the light rays is not the rainbow image (although that is a common misconception).

In summary, the rainbow image is at infinity, whereas the cone and the light rays are nearby.

An interesting option is to treat your question as a simple geometrical optics problem with a virtual image at infinity. Then, the rainbow image produced by the rain curtain is the single apparent origin of the light rays received by observers, either eye or camera, at different observation locations. That apparent origin is a single 42° circle at infinite distance (because parallel rays appear to originate from a single "point" at infinity).

So your question why the eye does not see a cone instead of a single, far-away rainbow, is answered by pure geometrical optics. It is similar to looking in the mirror and asking why the eye sees an image, instead of the light rays and the particles of the mirror.

Simpler first sentence
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jkien
jkien
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An image seen by eye or by camera is theThe apparent origin of the light rays, not is more important than the light rays themselves. You may know thisProbably you already knew that from ray diagrams with a virtual image, in geometrical optics. When looking at a rainbow by eye or by camera, the rainbow image is the apparent origin of the light rays. It is a 42° circle at infinite distance. The cone which is the path offormed by the light rays is not the rainbow image (although that is a common misconception).

In summary, the rainbow image is at infinity, whereas the cone and the light rays are nearby.

An image seen by eye or by camera is the apparent origin of the light rays, not the light rays themselves. You may know this from ray diagrams with a virtual image, in geometrical optics. When looking at a rainbow by eye or by camera, the rainbow image is the apparent origin of the light rays. It is a 42° circle at infinite distance. The cone which is the path of the light rays is not the rainbow image (although that is a common misconception).

In summary, the rainbow image is at infinity, whereas the cone and the light rays are nearby.

The apparent origin of the light rays is more important than the rays themselves. Probably you already knew that from ray diagrams with a virtual image, in geometrical optics. When looking at a rainbow by eye or by camera, the rainbow image is the apparent origin of the light rays. It is a 42° circle at infinite distance. The cone formed by the light rays is not the rainbow image (although that is a common misconception).

In summary, the rainbow image is at infinity, whereas the cone and the light rays are nearby.

typo
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jkien
jkien
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An image seen by eye or by camera is aways the apparent origin of the light rays, not the light rays themselves. You may know this from ray diagrams with a virtual image, in geometrical optics. When looking at a rainbow by eye or by camera, the rainbow image is the apparent origin of the light rays. It is a 42° circle at infinite distance. The cone which is the path of the light rays is not the rainbow image (although that is a common misconception).

In summary, the rainbow image is at infinity, whereas the cone and the light rays are nearby.

An image seen by eye or by camera is aways the apparent origin of the light rays, not the light rays themselves. You may know this from ray diagrams with a virtual image, in geometrical optics. When looking at a rainbow by eye or by camera, the rainbow image is the apparent origin of the light rays. It is a 42° circle at infinite distance. The cone which is the path of the light rays is not the rainbow image (although that is a common misconception).

In summary, the rainbow image is at infinity, whereas the cone and the light rays are nearby.

An image seen by eye or by camera is the apparent origin of the light rays, not the light rays themselves. You may know this from ray diagrams with a virtual image, in geometrical optics. When looking at a rainbow by eye or by camera, the rainbow image is the apparent origin of the light rays. It is a 42° circle at infinite distance. The cone which is the path of the light rays is not the rainbow image (although that is a common misconception).

In summary, the rainbow image is at infinity, whereas the cone and the light rays are nearby.

added 5 characters in body
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jkien
jkien
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Source Link
jkien
jkien
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