Talk:Cloud iridescence

Rare Phenomenon?
Iridescence in clouds is not a rare phenomenon as the page presently states. It is pretty common and can often be observed in the edges of any clouds that pass in front of the sun. Should this be changed to reflect the actual occurance of iridescent clouds? Procellarum (talk) 04:54, 5 April 2008 (UTC)
 * I agree with you. You can definitely change it in my opinion. IceUnshattered (talk) 23:05, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

Wouldn't a rainbow be considered a type of cloud iridescence? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.21.37.87 (talk) 08:55, 11 July 2009 (UTC)

Iridescence is not rare - included in text.--Halos25 (talk) 12:16, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

A rainbow is not iridescence. --Halos25 (talk) 12:16, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Disputed
Irisation (a page I just put up) is "formed from small water droplets of near uniform size" (have a look at and ). According to the Answers.com reference at the bottom of Cloud iridescence, that phenomenon is caused by "ice-crystal(s)". Looks like we need further fact checking on one or both. Fountains of Bryn Mawr (talk) 01:06, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

Answers.com does not have an accurate explanation.

Ice crystals do produce iridescence (any paarticles of fairly uniform size do - transparency is not necessary. Ice crystals included now in text.

Color mechanism
What's the mechanism for producing different colors? The current page describes "diffracting light" and "first order interference effects". I think the mechanism section could use more detail. For instance, why are some frequencies diffracted differently? Why are the colors distributed randomly rather than as a function of angle from the sun? How does the diffraction mechanism compare to refraction (rainbows)? --Quantum7 11:41, 26 June 2019 (UTC)