Rainbow Colors

Color Order, HEX, history, and free printable worksheets

Colors of the Rainbow

Rainbows are a beautiful sight, and colors are truly amazing. The way light is refracted and dispersed in raindrops creates a spectrum of colors, consisting of seven distinct hues listed in the order of ROYGBIV: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Each color has its own unique wavelength, and when combined, they create a breathtaking and vivid display.

Rainbow Color in Order

Rainbow Color Code HEX

Red
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue
Indigo
Violet

History

Ancient cultures saw them as symbols of hope, promise, and good fortune while Aristotle was one who first recorded his observations in 4th century BC Greece. But it wasn't until 1672 with Sir Isaac Newton's groundbreaking work with a prism that we began to understand why these colorful arcs appeared when light passed through water droplets - revealing an array of seven distinct colors always appearing in the same order: red, orange yellow, green blue indigo and violet which he believed represented each day in our week-long cycle.

What Shape is Rainbow?

Rainbow expectation — How I think rainbow looks like

Rainbow reality — How it actually looks like

Rainbows are often seen as an arch in the sky, but did you know they're actually full circles? Depending on where a person stands and when they look up into the clouds, their individual rainbow will be shaped slightly differently. Truly a magnificent spectacle of nature! But did you also know that double rainbows can form when sunlight is reflected twice within the tiny drops? These produce a much fainter, inverted version of the primary bow.
The beauty of a rainbow is ever-changing, for no two people can view the same one in exactly the same way! Depending on where you stand and when you look up, it will take its own unique shape - like an ephemeral masterpiece crafted by nature itself.