NCERT Solutions for Class 5th English Chapter 3 E. VIBGYOR — Let us Write
Book page 37 Updated on2026-09-19
Q1.
VIBGYOR — The colours of the rainbow.
VIBGYOR is an easy way to remember the seven colours of the rainbow in order.
V – Violet, I – Indigo, B – Blue, G – Green, Y – Yellow, O – Orange, R – Red
(Scroll on the page: When sunlight passes through rain droplets, it splits into these seven beautiful colours forming a rainbow in the sky.)
Answer
VIBGYOR is a made-up word. Each letter stands for one colour of the rainbow, and they are in the right order.
Letter
Colour
Where it sits in the rainbow
V
Violet
innermost band — the lowest arch
I
Indigo
next above violet (a deep blue-purple)
B
Blue
the middle-lower bands
G
Green
the middle band
Y
Yellow
above green
O
Orange
next to the top
R
Red
outermost band — the highest arch
The seven colours of a rainbow, in order. Reading from the inside out gives V–I–B–G–Y–O–R.
How a rainbow is made — in four small steps.
Sunlight is not really white. It looks white, but it is seven colours travelling together, all mixed up.
A raindrop bends light. When a ray of sunlight goes into a round raindrop, it bends. Every colour bends by a slightly different amount — violet bends the most, red bends the least.
Inside the drop the light bounces. It hits the back of the drop, bounces off it, and comes out at the front — bending once more on the way out.
The colours come out fanned apart. Because each colour bent by a different amount, they no longer travel together. They come out spread in a fan, and your eye sees them as seven separate bands.
Millions of raindrops are doing this at the same time, and together they paint the arch you see in the sky.
Sunlight goes into the drop, bends, bounces off the back, and comes out as seven separate colours.
Three things worth remembering:
The order never changes. It is always red on the outside and violet on the inside, in every rainbow, everywhere in the world.
To see a rainbow you must stand with the sun behind you and the rain in front of you.
Nobody can reach the end of a rainbow. As you walk towards it, it moves with you, because it is made of the light coming to your eyes.
Did You Know? (page 40 of your book) Isaac Newton painted a disc with the seven rainbow colours and spun it fast. The spinning disc looked white. So the story works both ways: split white light and you get seven colours; mix the seven colours quickly and you get white light back.
Ways to remember VIBGYOR: Say it as one word — “vib-gy-or”. Or read it backwards as ROYGBIV, starting from the outside colour. Or make a sentence where the first letters match: Very Interesting Boys Give Yellow Orange Roses.