Eli5 why is snow white?

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So why is snow the color white and not clear? Is it because of the way it freezes?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

It’s because of “total internal reflection”.

All water, when reflecting light at a shallow angle, will completely reflect it. This causes glare on the surface of still water, and causes choppy water to appear white.

It also causes snow to appear white. There’s just too many angles for the light to go through, at least one of them is going to be shallow, and will cause reflection, making the whole snow white.

(Fun fact, this is the same thing that makes polar bears white. Their fur is actually clear, and their skin is black, it’s only reflection that causes the white color.)

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