If water is transparent why is snow white?
In: Chemistry
Snow is made of individual ice crystals. These ice crystals scatter (send light in random directions) or reflect (send light away). The reflected light is actually what makes the snow white. All of the light that hits the snow is reflected back (if snow was lets say green, then all the light that hits the snow would be absorbed except for the green which would be reflected). Snow can actually be blue, purple, or pink depending on the time of day and how the sunlight hits the snow.
Water itself is actually colorless. However, when its in vast amount it does appear to be a blue color. This is the same as the snow, when light hits the water it is both absorbed and scattered. However there are many external factors that influence the color of water, such as sediment. Water near glaciers have a lighter blue color due to sediments from the glacier. After a major rain event, many streams and rivers may look brown due to sediment runoff from erosion.
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