Assertion (A): A rainbow always appears on the same side as the sun. Reason (R): A rainbow is a natural spectrum which occurs after a shower.
The Correct Answer and Explanation is:
Correct Answer: (d) A is false but R is true.
Explanation:
A rainbow does not appear on the same side as the sun. In fact, it always appears on the opposite side of the sky from the sun. This is a key point in understanding how rainbows are formed. When sunlight enters a raindrop, it is refracted or bent, then internally reflected inside the drop, and finally refracted again as it exits. This process causes the light to spread out into a spectrum of colors and project back toward the observer. For this to happen, the observer must have the sun behind them and rain in front of them. Thus, Assertion (A) is false.
However, the Reason (R) is true. A rainbow is indeed a natural spectrum of light that typically occurs after or during a rain shower when sunlight interacts with water droplets in the atmosphere. These droplets act like tiny prisms, dispersing and reflecting sunlight to form a multicolored arc. The appearance of a rainbow depends on the size of the raindrops, the angle of the sun, and the position of the observer. Most commonly, the sun is low in the sky, either early in the morning or late in the afternoon, which provides the correct angle for the rainbow to appear.
Although Reason (R) correctly describes the nature of a rainbow, it does not justify the Assertion (A) because the assertion is factually incorrect. The placement of a rainbow depends on the observer’s relative position to the sun, and it is always in the direction opposite to the sunlight. Therefore, while the Reason is true, it does not support the Assertion, and the correct choice is (d) A is false but R is true.
