745
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] chickenf622@sh.itjust.works 71 points 3 days ago

Is the cross section of a cone not a circle, or semi circle in this case since we only see part of the "cone"?

[-] mushroommunk@lemmy.today 41 points 3 days ago

This. We don't as people define a rainbow as the path of light or anything like that. We define a rainbow as a circle of colors in the sky. That's how language works.

[-] irish_link@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago

Right, your point is taken but the point is more to explain the full portion of the rainbow. Not just the section you see.

[-] FishFace@piefed.social 9 points 3 days ago

Every person sees a rainbow in a different location because rainbows are an optical phenomenon not a real object - in that sense rainbows are occupying the entire space, not just a cone even. The expansion is dumb.

[-] athatet@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 days ago

I watched Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land and you are right.

[-] Neptr@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

There are gaps in between the rain drops which means we see other parts of the cone. Maybe?

this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2026
745 points (98.6% liked)

Science Memes

19196 readers
1223 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS