I Wonder ...

I wonder about lots of things, and can often find the answers to my questions through books, Google, the library Reference desk, asking some of my wise friends, etc. But lately I've been coming across some questions that I can't find the answers to. I started writing down my questions; maybe someday I will find answers.

• Is there a word for people that can't stand the feel of straps (or anything else) between their toes? I'm looking for new summer sandals, and because I'm one of those people, my sandal choices are very limited. I can't explain what an awful feeling this is to me; it doesn't hurt, but I just hate it. My search for sandals got me wondering what this might be called.

• You know those lovely, sparkly light reflections you see undulating on the bottom of a pool? What are they called and where are they reflected from? I've always been fascinated by them but have never known for sure what they're called. I read a poem once that led me to believe the word was coruscations, but I haven't been able to confirm this with a dictionary or physics professor. The dictionary talks about a sudden flash of light, but that's not how I would define these constant shimmerings. 

• Why do rainbows have an arced bow shape? I understand that raindrops act as prisms, refracting light to gives us the ROYGBIV colors, but I've never understood why rainbows are bowed; why aren't they just straight lines across the sky? Trying to find the answer to this question (in a way I could understand) raised more questions: 

          How many rainbows can appear at once and how do multiple rainbows happen?
          Why are the colors on the outermost rainbow of a double rainbow reversed?

• This winter, I had many tufted titmice at the feeders. They often fed upside down or sideways, so I wonder how the tufted titmouse, nuthatches, and woodpeckers swallow "up" when they are hanging upside down.

What are some of the things you wonder about? I wonder about that, too!