Waterfalls & Rainbows

In March, we went to the Waterfalls again. There are actually many different waterfalls around Brasilia, but this one is probably the most "commercial." There is a big hut with a snack/lunch bar, music, a pool, and a couple of slides that are in the center of the "park". The path to the waterfalls is off to the side, and a little bit of a hike to get to the lower part. To get to the top, it is a pretty good hike up. Chris and the men, and the kids all went to the very top. We had a lot of fun, even though it rained on us for the first couple of hours. Then, we ate lunch. The sun ended up coming out just in time for everyone to have about an hour of play, then we headed home. It's a 2 hour drive one way on some really bad roads with random Speed bumps in the middle, so the drive is long. But it's worth it once or twice a year! :)

The most amazing thing however, was on the way home. There was an INCREDIBLE HUGE BRIGHT Rainbow!!! In fact, there were TWO! I have never seen TWO if you look very closely at the partial pic of the rainbow, you can see the very faint shadow of the second one about a centimeter to the left of the bright one.... you see it?? We actually see a good many rainbows in Brasilia during Rainy season, but I have never seen a FULL one that couldn't even be captured in one view of the camera!

I have never seen a FULL Rainbow this amazingly BRIGHT before!!! The pictures don't even do it justice. So... the SCIENCE GOOBER in me got to tell my car about prisms and the separation of the colors that make up light and their different wavelengths. :) In Physics, we got to really talk all about color and light and rainbows. We even got to talk about why our sky is blue and how it's really not reflection, or "colored" at all, but that the particles in the atmosphere allow the light to SCATTER and the higher frequencies of light get trapped first - which is Violet and Blue. Our eyes don't see Violet wavelengths as well, so our eyes pick up the Blue wavelengths. (in face, most animals and birds most likely see Violet!) :) ...AND... we only see the Blue with the "background" of black (SPACE!) and that looking down at earth from space, there is no "blue sky" ... AND... (sorry! :) ) in a city with SMOG, the reason you don't see Blue, (or much less of it) is because there are MORE particles in the air to SCATTER the light, so more wavelengths are trapped... making the sky almost Gray/White. (White is not a color, it's the combination of all wavelengths). ...Sorry for the little Physics lesson there... but it's COOL STUFF!! :)

So.... as I'm thinking of the SCIENCE behind these Rainbows, I'm just amazed at our CREATOR, SAVIOR, and LORD who thought up the complexity of these beautiful creations! How HE made light in its Perfection. How HE made this Earth to have perfect levels of the atmosphere that protect us from so many other parts of the Light that are not visible, that would cause us harm! We think UV rays are so damaging, well... we only get a VERY SMALL FRACTION of them, the rest are absorbed & reflected by our Ozone layer. How HE created everything with complete perfection beyond even our Scope of understanding! THEN... I get ANGRY at the very Science that I love that isn't fully capable of recognizing OUR SAVIOR! How can it be? Other than, of course, that God 'has confounded the minds of the Wise!' How can they DENY HIM??