Giant Double Rainbow Explained

[dasuperjuke]

this is only true its it happens every day i demand a camra be placed for a whole weather cycle and the weather derctly after the event

[gebberjabber]

well the first one i saw was in 2004 never had i seen one before,catch is that every rainbow ive seen since is double,im shure this is true for everyone,thare are no single rainbows anymore.dont now why just is! i

[LIEPANEW]

lol 0:28 so constipated

[SlipAllCityToy]

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN!?

[dueddued123]

All this means is that there were TWO pots of gold.

[punkknup21]

@dueddued123 and two leprechauns.

[mylifeasamoma]

What this means is... God remembering His promise made to Noah never to flood the whole world again.

[brrunettebabyx]

Science only goes so far.

[samhainaz]

darn i guess ill stop trying to find that leprechaun since he wont be looking for his pot o' gold.

[thepascalhouston]

lol i senn double like 2 or 3 time the 2 wasent always complete but stil 2 raimboe

[MrDforizzle]

BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN!?!?!?

[tosgem]

the explin how it happens, but they still didn't explain what it means

[mickwillie1]

tell the discovery fellow to come back when he can make 1,explaining Gods work.shhhhh

[mickwillie1]

signs and wonders

[subhumanguy]

watch my parody :]]]]]

[Izakoe]

YEAH

[rungavagairun]

triple rainbow is when you're standing on the ground with the sun behind you shining through a raincloud while your a little bit toasted?

[midwestechnine]

This dude just explained wat a rainbow is not y double is awesome

[360vision]

hahahah - i love the auto-tune remix at the end

[DJd3monic]

dont explain it that ruins the magic.

[Mayhemncarnage]

This video fails.

[empyreanbeing]

this is so sad.

science offers it's neutral understanding - the sadness for me, is in the possibility that people deny any other experience of these rainbows as valid, real, or true.

this is a mistake.

[THORACS]

double rainbows how do they work !?

[gamehero77]

@THORACS MIRACLES 0_0

[flarbton]

doesn't everybody that's not a complete moron know what a prism is? and that is what is happening regarding rainbows? fuck read a book you retards.

[22quack]

so... what does the scientist mean?

[20DeeSee15]

i have no clue what that guy just said,but that double rainbow is so-

double rainbow. :D

[RogerRoids]

What does this MEAN?!?

[jeyshoon]

alguien me explica en español por favor

[justasunrise]

@MikeSquiresTV dumb

[iJooChan]

aww man! Tehy'res science behind it... >.<

[joc95]

i saw a double rain bow, but it didnt go Fully across

[picc01]

I still say that the explanation is the "Bad Acid" that was passed around at the first Woodstock concert.

[xxmag3erxx]

Double rainbow, all the way..

[yousef001]

Guys having an orgasm lol

[aoishounen]

I want what that dude was smoking!

[iateyourham]

According to primitive men this means god won't kill the entire world in a flood like he did that one time when he got really pissed off.

[themightyimp08]

There is always a double rainbow, you just don't always see it.

I have a video of one whilst driving around the cornish coast.

The outer rainbow is a reflection of the main inner rainbow. Notice the colours are reversed. There is always a darker area of the sky between the rainbows, but this is not shown very well in this clip. I'll dig out my video and post it for you guys.

[datdamonfoo]

Sorry, I don't trust explanations from Mac users. Thumbs down.

[armsja]

Yep; I've been that high before!

[bnk1310]

Perhaps it MEANS that the mushrooms are working.

[ThePrincessV5231]

Thanks for ruining to double rainbow video with science again THANKS!!

[dimbulb23]

WTF.. I've seen double rainbows in the spray when watering the lawn. It meant nothing, nothing except that's what happens under the certain specific conditions.

Of course, the rainbow in the original video means something entirely different and more profound. It meant that guy was a moron.

[qwickset]

Not to forget the other possibility that the dude is standing in front of a body of water that is causing the secondary reflection.

w w w.eo.ucar.edu/rainbows/rnbw8.g­if

I've heard of this happening in the city with the body of water simply being large amounts of water on a building's flat roof.

But really....WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?!?!?

[hoze187]

fucking rainbows after it rains, there's enough miracles here to blow your brain

[commentmutant]

@hoze187 Rainbows are crazy, especially seeing this one.

[Jaws8u]

It means there's a double fucking rainbow... Now SHUT THE FUCK UP! What a pussy.

[Freeformcabs]

Ive seen a large whitish circle overhead in the Sonoran desert. Would that be an upside down rainbow? The only thing, there was no rain. I figure it had something to do with high particle counts in the dusty and polluted air over the Phoenix metro valley.

[rmyarbro]

Let me spit some knowledge. There is always a double rainbow. One must be at the right vantage point in order to see the double rainbow.  So, if you ever see a rainbow, it is a double rainbow, you just might not be at the right vantage point to see the second one. Basic atmospheric science.

[RisingPhoenix120]

@rmyarbro

Indeed. Of the two rainbows I've seen here in Atlanta, both have been double rainbows. I figured the double was always the case; the right conditions (clarity in the sky, moisture in the air while the sun was shining) just had to be met. And indeed, on both those days, it was very clear out until it started raining off in the distance while the sun was out.

[Discchord]

Wow, I was expecting a lot more from Discovery... not just some dry "blah blah 40 degree angles blah". Both of you guys need to smoke a joint and go hang with the Yosemitebear.

When I used to smoke I loved watching Discovery channel so I could experience similar epiphanies about how amazing the natural world is. Now it's time for Discovery channel to toke up and watch us.

[SkeksisRule]

All I want to know is, were psychedelic drugs involved? ;)

[idlewild]

Hogwash! The answer? "Twin leprechauns."

[COZweAREbroken]

is it me or the man is crying and seems like he's in a lot of pain in the original video?

[Via231]

RAINBOWS!!!!! im wearing a rainbow shirt right now...hehe

[Izzebaya]

I saw one EXACALLY like that last summer. It was so cool! I stood out on a dock and stared at it while it rained, lol.

[SkillzThatKillz2114]

@Izzebaya It prolly wasn't EXACTLY like that...cmon...

[Izzebaya]

@SkillzThatKillz2114 No, it was pretty much like that, except on a lake.

[SkillzThatKillz2114]

@Izzebaya Key words "pretty much"..now you're changin your story...are you sure this even happened at all?

[Izzebaya]

@SkillzThatKillz2114 Pretty much, because it was on a lake! It happened, I'm not one of those crazy people who can't tell things appart form reality, and my story hasn't changed, because it's the truth, even if you don't choose to believe it.

[SkillzThatKillz2114]

@Izzebaya I just don't think its fair that you're making false statements and trying to deceive everyone. You've proven it yourself that it wasn't the exact same scenario.

[lucifera00]

I have seen a double rainbow before. It was one of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen. I still remember the wonderful, uplifting feeling that it gave me when I suddenly looked up into the sky. It simply turned my whole day around.

Sometimes science is just too "narrow". It reduces these wonderful giant arch rainbows into nothing more than the science of light.

[cDELOSSc]

according to the bible a rainbow is a sign that god will never again destroy the earth with a flood.

And otherwise it just means that your day is awesome.

[FixedByDoc]

we get those all the time here and have even seen 3 together. nothing special to me as i see them all the time.

[CharlieLanaRedcup]

oh i've seen a double raindow before! 

[kelvint03]

There's also one in Hong Kong right in Mai Po Wetland

[a0mich]

no offense but that guy was overeacting. wat a weirdo i've seen a double rainbow once, i was amazed but not freaked out.

[TheRealSweedie]

I have seen a rainbow as a circle around the sun once. It was cool, but I wasn't crying about it.

[CASLUVR]

actually there is always three rainbows - always! just that due to light levels you mostly only see one, two is visible most of the time in Australia the third is not visible by the human eye but can be see through special lens and filter

[TerryMMA85]

nibiru is near this is a sign

[Steaphany]

I don't understand why is the guy shooting the video so emotional ?

The only things a rainbow means is that it's raining. I've seen rainbows, both single and double, they are aesthetic and a challenging subject for photography, but they are nothing more than that.

[DiscoveryNetworks]

@Isthatafakemustache howdy - james from the video here - and you are correct. the only reason you don't see the rainbow as a circle is that the ground gets in the way. in fact - and i had to cut this out of the piece due to time constraints - ian made the point that if you see a rainbow from an airplane, you would in fact see it as a complete circle.

[Enringit3]

@DiscoveryNetworks I've seen the entire circle before =D it was straight above me. idr if it was around the Sun like TheRealSweedie saw it. how do those happen?

[notatrainedninja]

this guy who fimled the double rainbow needs tro come to my house. everytime there is a rainbow, there is another one. this isn't something amazing I see them all the time and i live in a rural city in Australia....

[PyroJesusFreak]

@Isthatafakemustache Half a circle, as its displayed from one end of the ground to another.

[RottenEggCreations]

that guy needs a real hobby.

[xxxBradTxxx]

DOUBLE RAINBOW SONG MP3 download at /watch?v=KmmFv3fLRsM

[Rueffilicious]

it's also a sign that God won't destroy the entire earth again by means of a world wide flood.

[dougmcarthur0]

way to take all the magic out of it. light refracting from water droplets in a cloud? that doesn't make me want to cry tears of joy at the beauty of nature. jerks.

[shivinski]

haha was the guy filming 5yr old? he was so amazed by the rainbow.

[goinsolo91]

THERES NO LEPRECHAUN AND POT OF GOLD AT THE END OF THE RAINBOW?!?!?!?!? PAAAARRAAADOOOOXXXXX *BOOM*

[Miyuri687]

oh my god that guy was high as hell lol

[PlutonGB]

for the stupid people that want to find the meaning of this: IT HAS NO MEANING!! IT'S JUST LIGHT BEING REFLECTED BY DROPS!!

[pinoyako147]

@PlutonGB YHBT

[m1ndz00]

@PlutonGB Everything has a meaning - it's up to you to decide what that is - my favorite involves leprechauns and orgasms :P

[totallnewbiefan]

Fucking rainbows.How do they work.

[chronikalz]

he was very high

[azngotback]

umm this ain't shocking see it a lot :D im just more shock that you see the end of the rainbow...!!!! now thats rare!!!!

[MrPointyarrow]

all these scientists SHUT UP ALREADY and just enjoy the orgasmic sight

[flea160]

Autotune the news at the end?! Wtf? lol

[DirectorMod94]

Hi im director a this is amazing !!

[MaxVFremen]

That guy was so excited as if he saw the Lord himself doing that rainbow. What a spirit)) He had definitely never been to physics lessos in the school.

[qwertythezippet]

lmfao

[jons4real]

Why is this guy crying... I mean I know why he is crying but geeez I've seen many many of these.

[BamiBoi]

0:29 - WHAT....*5 seconds later*...DOES it mean?

[dllckc]

he was high when he saw that

[fran2382]

in malta every rainbow we see is a double raibow

[Tmjr6]

Funny I once saw a triple rainbow

[xb0xher0]

the double rainbow was explained but wat about the guy in the vid lol. I'm going to with him being high the whole time.

[natethegreatness]

I have seen two double rainbows in my front yard twice this week. My yard is like is. :)

I live in the US (TN)

[NumbMuzik]

stupid Americans , come to Ireland there in the sky 365 days a year >:( ITS A F**KING RAINBOW get over it

[natethegreatness]

@NumbMuzik Well, some people like rainbows, so get over it.

[NumbMuzik]

@natethegreatness it doesn't need to get a f**kin explanation

[natethegreatness]

@NumbMuzik You dont need to watch the f**kin video.

[guitar11legend]

@NumbMuzik How exactly does that make us "stupid?" Just because we live in a different region and don't get as many sunny days or rainbows that makes us stupid? Wow.... (And not all Americans are like this just so you're aware, where I live we get double rainbows quite often.

[MartimationStudios]

singapore had one....last week??

[sakokosa]

what it means is he has some real good black friends

[Prohunter93]

I didn't notice that the outer one had the colors opposite way of the primary.

[m1ndz00]

You explained how it works but not what it means ;)

[74dorado]

@m1ndz00

means that if next time makes ten steps back and left will see triple rainbow :) and will not get an multiple orgasm, but a heart attack

[m1ndz00]

@74dorado LOL poor bastard but at least he'll die happy!

[DiscoveryNetworks]

@m1ndz00 James here, from the video. How's it going? So I tried to approach the rainbow sighting in reverse...as in...if you're seeing a rainbow, then it means the following conditions are being met: the sun is behind you, the rain in front of you and you're at a 40 degree angle from the direction of the sunlight hitting the water droplets. But I get your point. :)

[m1ndz00]

@DiscoveryNetworks Hi James - good of you to respond. The way that you explained your approach makes sense - you wanted to reference what the guy was saying, and explore this phenomenon functionally.

I have always been keen to distinguish between meaning and function, as one does not negate the other, in my opinion. How the brain works doesn't explain what it means for us to be aware, for example. Love your videos! :)

[FakePriest]

@DiscoveryNetworks How about the sign? I mean, there's a part in the video when the guy said "This is a sign" or "It's a sign" I can't remember :-/

[discolando]

Is Science equipped to answer philosophical or existential questions? :)

[goldenjabba]

@m1ndz00 It means... there are a lot of leprechauns nearby. 

[tint93]

last time i saw a triple rainbow!

[TDMinfinityS]

I saw it at Thailand, my home! Not in January though... In March!

[TheFamilyFrost]

You didn't explain the orgasm...

[kiralyszilard88]

i had one to not long ago

[TisbearA]

Double rainbow all the way across the sky. Yeah.

[GrendelPL]

how retarded americans are?

[gherk]

@GrendelPL I know don't. Tell us maybe you will?

[PyroJesusFreak]

The guy asked "WHAT does this mean?" NOT "How do fucking rainbows work?"

[nickrose83]

@PyroJesusFreak All it means, is that what the dude explained, is occurring. If you want to presume without reason that there is a greater meaning, feel free, but it doesn't make the presumption valid.

[PyroJesusFreak]

@nickrose83 This guy obviously thought that the double rainbows meant something. Again this video doesnt explain that. It explains why the rainbows are there´but NOT what for, in this case, Paul would like to know that.

[Lukie99]

@PyroJesusFreak

It means the following conditions are being met: the sun is behind you, the rain in front of you and you're at a 40 degree angle from the direction of the sunlight hitting the water droplets.

[PyroJesusFreak]

@Lukie99 Thanks.

[N1ntenOwned]

@PyroJesusFreak It means that the circumstances for the Rainbow to work were present. Nothing spiritual, no miracles happening, just light reflecting off raindrops. Which if you ask me, is a lot more beautiful then any spiritual meaning you can find from a rainbow.

[regleo]

It means that there were lots of water droplets of roughly uniform size in the air near where he was and the Sun directly behind him was low in the sky.

[leeeeni]

@PyroJesusFreak rainbows don´t work... they are there or they arn´t...

[MajinMan]

@PyroJesusFreak XDDDD

[TheCountess666]

it means he is between the sun at a low angle behind him, and a rain cloud ahead of him.

and that's it.

[PyroJesusFreak]

@TheCountess666 Ya I know thanks. I've gotten like 5 replies. I know what it means. But that's not what he meant in his way of speaking. I know its confusing.

[TheCountess666]

which is why i added 'and that's it'

there is no other meaning.

[Pierrezizou]

well people are very ignorant, this video could have been appreciated properly as a human being expressing emotion towards a beautiful and not usually that commont event of nature, who is anyone to tell someone what to fell or how to express themselves no? anyways i could be wrong as well. this world could also be a better place but everyone just makes it so much worse little by little

[GodlessHippie]

i think the only people that really needed this to be explained to them are Insane Clown Posse and their fans.

ie; "fuckin rainbows, how do they work?"

[LazlowM17]

What does this mean ? Gay parades !!

[PuppetXeno]

What's it mean is that there's not one but TWO crocks of gold to be found! What is means is that Hungrybear9562 would've been a multi millionaire if he had just run straight for it, instead of whipping out his camera and stand back, yammering about!

[Aquamarine560]

thats awesome

[Mickeywiki]

I have seen one of them, have driven through the end of a rainbow too...there was no pot of gold

[virgildog1950]

@Mickeywiki You can't actually get to the end of a rainbow because rainbows are actually circles (the other half is is invisible to you because it is underground)--they never end!

[Pierrezizou]

@virgildog1950 so there is no gold!?!?!? i want my money back!

[Mickeywiki]

@virgildog1950 I meant that I went through the part that was touching the ground.

One may point out that if a rainbow is underground, how are there water droplets suspended in the air? and how does the sun shine through?

I live in an area where what you see in the video occurs regularly. Apart from the lack of gold I have also discovered, much to my disappointment, that there were no munchkins on the other side of the rainbow, however I do live in the wonderful land of OZ (Australia)

[virgildog1950]

@Mickeywiki my point is simply that if somehow you could get a rainbow to appear in mid-air it would be circular, and would therefore have no "end". If you consider and intersection point an end, then yes it would be the end of the rainbow.

Of course if you got a translucent sheet and somehow got a mini-rainbow going on top of the sheet (hot day with a sprinkler?) and had the sheet raised above a certain point then you would see what I meant.

[TarikuKunn]

they didn't explain the reason why he over reacted

to scared to say that he was on drugs?

[echo707]

You say "Every rainbow is unique to the viewer's eyes and perspective." Does this then mean that this is a unique property of rainbows, or that all light (ie visible radiation) is relative to "the viewer's eyes and perspective." Thanks.

[twiztid83222]

What a fag! This happend in henreattia,ny like 3 weeks ago. Hes all like omgggg (cries) what does this meannnnnnn.

[GodlessHippie]

@twiztid83222 hes not a fag, hes just on shrooms obviously!!

[PINOYREBEL91]

Tosh.0

[DelDelincuentes]

That's not a big of a deal...I have seen others that have more than three and I am not surpriced with this...

[D3Y0G33]

IT'S SO INTENSE.

[skyblue2567]

LOL THT VID WAS ON RWJ lolzzzz

[VirtRampage]

imagine what he would do if he saw a triple rainbow

[VladvonRuuski]

@VirtRampage WHAT DOES IT MEAN

[TimidALFONS0]

Rainbows for dummies: Water reflects light in form of colors.

[AngryBF2Nerd]

we know wat a rainbow is dumbasses...

[brettonlee]

i dont think he was asking how rainbows are made, rather he was asking what dose it mean personally for himself. such as, "is this a sign?"

i cant believe discovery thought so literal about this.

[MrAlexbradley]

what the fuck is that guy on?!?!?!

[blackberryjuice1]

Your next video should be a biological explanation about how pot makes your brain overly sensitive to nature.

[blackberryjuice1]

Oh. That's what that means.

[injerreau]

i learned this in 8th grade............

[bones9088]

at my house i see them every time it rains

[amalgamation25]

its a tear in the fabric of space and time!!!!!

[Nukem169]

ITS A PORTAL!! D:

[jsweet83]

i  would like that in smaller words please

[williamsu3]

the day i saw the double rainbow vid i saw double complete rainbows

[bradzdestroyer]

Leave rainbow guy alone!

Where is chris crocker when you need him?

[djmakerz]

Oh man, he is awesome, he loves that rainbow... who in the world loves the rainbow like that?