I have to admit that I feel like the ONLY person out there who didn’t the Northern Lights this past little while. But I did get to see the beautiful rainbow coming home yesterday evening. The sunset had the clouds all aglow with brilliant oranges and yellows. And in those clouds was the brightest rainbow I have seen in a very long time.

My kids and were so excited that I pulled over so we could all get out of the vehicle and see the rainbow in all of its glory. My 7 year old asked excitedly if we could drive to the end of the rainbow. I explained that no matter how far we traveled, we could never reach its end. When he asked why though, I had no answers. Because you can’t just doesn’t cut it.

So here I am asking Google and AI the answer to “Where does a rainbow go?” and “Why can’t you find the end of the rainbow?”

There is no end to a rainbow because it is an optical illusion caused by water droplets in the sky. Rainbows are created when sunlight hits water droplets at a certain angle, causing the light to refract and reflect back to the observer. Rainbows are actually circles, but the Earth blocks our view of the whole thing from the ground. Rainbows are not located at a specific distance from the observer and cannot be physically approached. If you were to view a rainbow from a high vantage point, like a plane or mountaintop, you would be able to see the rainbow’s full, 360-degree circle.

There we go, now we have the facts to tell our kids all about rainbows. Or I could tell them what AI came up with.

“A rainbow is like a dream painted in the sky. It’s a bit of magic created when the sunlight hits the raindrops, and each little droplet acts as a tiny prism, splitting the light into different colors. We can’t touch it or reach the end because it’s a trick of light and water, moving as we move. But just because we can’t reach the end, doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy its beauty, right? Some wonders in the world are meant to be seen, appreciated, and felt rather than touched. Rainbows remind us of that magic exists everywhere we choose to see it.”

My skeptical side is rolling it’s eyes right now, but then again, heck yeah I want to believe in magic. -Tonya Cherry-