How big is a land based Rainbow?

[Gronich]

and read the details about it on Wikipedia but I couldn't find any size calculations.

So if anybody has actually measured one I would be curious.

 

[Witling]

The size of a rainbow in units like centimeters, inches, or miles, is not a meaningful question. If you think for a moment, you've probably see rainbows in the spray from a garden hose and you've seen rainbows that appear miles away. They are different sizes. It does make sense to talk about rainbows in terms of angular size. See Rainbow Size.

EDITED: Warning, reading the article associated with the link will: (1) Tell you more than you probably ever wanted to know about rainbows, and (2) Possibly take a considerable part of the magic away.

 

[Gronich]

Thanks nice link and I get your point. I was just curious if anybody had measured just a regular (rain formed) rainbow.

I was also interest in how triples and quadruples are formed (I've only ever seen a triple myself on a very bright day) would I be right in assuming that it would be further internal reflection from the second ray and that with a bright enough light we could possible see a fifth, sixth etc. rainbow?

 

[Gibsons]

Originally posted by: Gronich
Thanks nice link and I get your point. I was just curious if anybody had measured just a regular (rain formed) rainbow.

I was also interest in how triples and quadruples are formed (I've only ever seen a triple myself on a very bright day) would I be right in assuming that it would be further internal reflection from the second ray and that with a bright enough light we could possible see a fifth, sixth etc. rainbow?

You can flip forward a few pages on the same site Witling provided to here and get a nice explanation.