12 Questions About Weather and Rainbows Kids Can't Stop Asking

There's a particular kind of question that only shows up when the weather does something dramatic. A storm rolls in, and suddenly you're being asked what thunder actually is. A rainbow appears after the rain stops, and someone wants to know why it's curved, why it disappears when you walk toward it, and where exactly it goes.

These aren't easy questions, even though they sound like they should be. Lightning, rainbows, and thunder are all things most adults have seen a thousand times without ever quite working out why they happen the way they do. Here are twelve real questions about weather and sky — with real answers waiting inside.

• Why does it rain?
• Why do rainbows appear?
• How does lightning happen?
• What is thunder?
• How do prisms split light into rainbows?
• Why do lightning bolts zigzag across the sky?
• Why do rainbows disappear when you get close?
• Why do volcanoes sometimes make lightning?
• Why do soap bubbles shine with rainbow colours?
• Why does lightning sometimes strike twice?
• Why does oil on water make rainbow colours?
• How do glasses change sunlight into tiny rainbows?

Most of these questions arrive in the middle of ordinary weather — a rainy afternoon, a storm at bedtime, sunlight catching a glass on the table. None of them need a science degree to answer, just the willingness to actually stop and look at what's happening, the way a curious kid already does without being asked.